Nicole Elmblad drives to the basket for her 1,000th career point in the first quarter against Rudyard Wednesday, February Pictured (from left) are Chelsea Swope (32) and Emily Hepker (54) of St. Ignace, Brittany Brown (32), Rebecca Malaski (13), and Emily Jeffreys (4) of Rudyard, Grace Wheeler (34) of St. Ignace, and Abbie LaPointe (23) of Rudyard. (Photograph by Betsy Wheeler) The St. Ignace Saints closed out their road regular season schedule with Straits Area Conference victories over the Rudyard Bulldogs Wednesday, February 17, and the Newberry Indians 80-53 Friday, February 19, to clinch the league championship. The Saints upended the Brimley Bays 69-33 during a non-conference contest Tuesday, February 16, to improve their record to 17-1 overall and 8-0 in the SAC.

1,000 Point Scorers: The Saints’ Nicole Elmblad scored her 1,000th career point at Rudyard and the Bays’ Jessica Graham reached the milestone in the game against St. Ignace.

Saints Clinch SAC Title With

Wins Over Bulldogs, Indians

At Rudyard, St. Ignace raced out to a 29-9 lead after the first eight minutes and increased the margin to 52-19 at halftime with a 23-10 advantage in the second quarter.

The Saints closed out the second half by outscoring the Bulldogs 35-23, including 28-14 in the third quarter, before Rudyard held a 9-7 scoring edge in the final eight minutes.

Saints statistics: Nicole Elmblad, 30 points, 10 steals, seven assists, three rebounds; Grace Wheeler, 16 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals; Chelsea Swope, 10 points, two steals, two rebounds, two assists; Mallory LaLonde, nine points, two rebounds; Kristen Olsen, six points, five assists, two rebounds, two steals; Samantha Radecki, five points, three steals, three rebounds, two assists; Emily Hepker, five points, three rebounds; Katy La- Tour, four points, two steals, two rebounds; Mikaela Kelly, two points, two rebounds.

Bulldogs statistics: Emily Jeffreys, 13 points; Rebecca Malaski, 10 points; Leah Jarvie, nine points; Crystal Brownlee and Brittany Brown, three points each; Abbie LaPointe, two points.

At Newberry, Nicole Elmblad and Chelsea Swope combined for 51 points and the Saints captured their seventh SAC championship under Coach Dorene Ingalls.

The Saints started slowly and held a 17-14 scoring edge after the first eight minutes and opened a 42-28 halftime lead with a 25-14 margin in the second quarter.

St. Ignace increased the lead to 64-41 with a 22-13 advantage in the third quarter and closed out the game with a 16-12 edge in the final eight minutes.

Saints statistics: Nicole Elmblad, 31 points, 10 rebounds, eight steals, four assists; Chelsea Swope, 20 points, five triples; Kristen Olsen, 12 points, three steals; Grace Wheeler, eight points, four assists, three steals; Mallory LaLonde, five points; Samantha Radecki, two points, four rebounds, two steals, two assists; Mikaela Kelly, two points; Katy LaTour, five rebounds, two assists.

The Saints have recorded six undefeated league crowns in 1999

10-0), 2000 (9-0), 2001 (9-0), 2002 (9-0), 2003 (7-0), and 2008- 09 (10-0). The final SAC game for St. Ignace is Thursday, February 25, against Cheboygan in the “Hooping for a Cure” benefit at LaSalle High School.