“Don’t Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up” is the phrase that Jim Valvano used during his speech at the ESPY Awards and these words could be used to describe the play of the St. Ignace girls basketball team when the Saints dropped a 49-40 Straits Area Conference (SAC) decision to Cheboygan Thursday, September 29.

The Saints are a true image of Coach Dorene Ingalls as she doesn't quit coaching and her team continues to pressure the basketball on defense and push the ball on offense.

Kelsey Cryderman led the Saints with 11 points, Stevie Gould and Ashley St. Louis added eight, Jenny Massaway chipped in three, and Krista LaVake and Sam Wyers notched two.

Amanda Blaskowski scored 16 points and Carrie Dombroski chipped in 11 to lead Cheboygan.

St. Ignace never led in this SAC contest and trailed 13-0 as Blaskowski scored seven points before St. Louis scored the Saints’ first field goal with 12 seconds left in the first eight minutes.

The Saints, 2-8 overall and 2-2 in the league, held an 11-10 scoring edge in the second quarter as Gould hit two triples to cut the Chiefs’ lead to 23-13 at halftime.

Cheboygan, 9-1 on the season, opened up the third quarter with a 10-2 advantage for a 33-13 lead at the 4:30 mark before Gould scored a two-point field goal and St. Louis notched a trey at 2:30, but the Chiefs scored two field goals to inch the lead to 39-18 inside the two-minute mark.

Cryderman knocked down a triple in the closing 30 seconds and, with one second remaining, converted a three-point play to cut the Cheboygan lead to 39-24 with eight minutes left in the game.

The pesky Saints continued to slice away the Cheboygan lead and with 2:08 on the clock trailed 44-34. During the final seconds, Cryderman scored two field goals to close the gap to single digits.

Both teams suffered poor shooting from the free throw line as the Chiefs made 12 of 26 for 46 percent, while the Saints connected on nine of 21 for 42 percent. Cheboygan scored 18 field goals and one trey and St. Ignace scored 13 field goals with five triples.

Saints Fall in JV Contest

St. Ignace junior varsity fell to Cheboygan 60-31 as Jessica Massaway and Amanda Coveyou scored six, Sunny Cole added five, Marcie Rickley and Aniesha Lucas chipped in three each, and Stacee Schnicke, Alyssa Pechta, Kayla Gustin, and Page Paul notched two apiece.