Girl’s Basketball: Freshman Chemics begin year with convincing win

by Jason Wolverton

Sara Jeroue stood behind the empty bench and flashed the sort of grin that a first-year coach gives after she gets her first victory. Reflecting on the game, the Midland High freshman girls’ basketball coach admitted she was feeling the same nerves as her players on opening night.

Turns out, it was Bay City Central who should have been nervous.

The Wolves managed just five points on the evening and nine different Chemics scored as Midland kicked off its season Tuesday in impressive fashion with a 42-5 victory over visiting Bay City Central.

“I thought it was a very good start to our season,” Jeroue said. “I think they were all nervous because it was their first game as Midland High Chemics. I hope we can just build off of that and keep on getting some more wins when we have tougher games.”

The Chemics looked anything but nervous in the first quarter while blanking the Wolves 13-0. By the end of the opening half, Midland led 32-2 and any sign of a possible Central comeback was erased by a staunch defense that Jeroue said came to play from the start.

“We came from the tip of the game playing hard defense,” she said. “Our help side and our deny defense was there from the very start, and I think [Central] got scared and couldn’t get anything started.”

The second half was a slightly different story for the Chemics, though, as they managed only 10 points after the break and just two in the fourth quarter. Still, Jeroue was happy with the game’s final minutes as she was able to get all of her players into the game.

“It built confidence for every single one of those girls to be able to be out on the floor and feel like they contributed to the game,” she said.

Jeroue also said she was particularly pleased with the play of guards Ashley Cullison and Allison Vezina, who finished with 13 and 4 points, respectively.

“Allison and Ashley did a very good job of being leaders on the floor and running the offense and playing hard defense,” she said. Jeroue also said she was pleased with the team’s play out of the post, led by Emily Jerome who had 8 points and Lauren Keyser who had 3.

“They did a very good job on defense and in looking to score too,” she said. “I was pleased with their performances.”

The Chemics (1-0) return to action Friday when they host the visiting Heritage Hawks. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

For more photos from Tuesday’s game click on “Photo Slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos by Jason Wolverton