Jade Summey finished the year with 297 rebounds for a single-season program record.
(Photo by Wes Morgan)
Marcellus Howardsville Christian’s Jessica Glass tore up Burr Oak Monday, scoring half of her team’s points in a 40-28 victory in the first round of Class D district play.
The host Bobcats kept things close but too many turnovers, on top of a pile of reaches and blocking fouls that kept sending the Lady Eagles to the line, prevented an upset.
Glass scored 14 of her game-high 20 points at the stripe, converting all but three attempts.
“Too many fouls,” Burr Oak coach Jennifer Sutton said. “If we could have played a little bit better defensively it could have been a different game.”
Jade Summey registered 10 points and ended her senior season with 297 rebounds — a single-season program record. Former Bobcat and Michigan State player Becky Gray held set the previous mark of 293 back in 1995.
As disappointing as the loss was for Burr Oak, which didn’t win a game in 2012-13 and finished this campaign with seven victories, Summey was proud of her accomplishment.
“It feels really good,” she said. “I showed the younger girls that you can achieve a goal and you can break records. I feel like I’ve been looking at these [record] boards for years and it has been the same people up there for years and years. I thought it would never be possible, but I gave it a shot.”
Burr Oak took a 10-8 lead halfway through the second quarter, but foul trouble started to limit the team’s options. Fellow senior Michaela Ultz picked up her third at the 4:08 mark and MHC went on a 6-0 run.
A Summey free throw with one second remaining in the half cut the deficit to 20-15. She had six boards at the break and needed three more to own the record.
Ultz, who finished with two points, was called for her fourth foul 10 seconds into the third quarter and took a seat on the bench. Hannah Root scored two of her seven points in the third frame and Jade Lown, who was also battling foul issues, posted her only bucket of the contest. But the Bobcats were staring at an eight-point deficit going into the fourth quarter.
Senior Tori Everitt drained a 3-pointer in the fourth to finish with five points and Chelsey Boyd added a free throw en route to two points. Summey tossed in three points over the last eight minutes.
The Eagles remained poised and closed out the win by outscoring Burr Oak 11-7 down the stretch.
“We’re going to use that momentum to continue next year,” Sutton said of the seven wins. We had three starting seniors and two of them have played since the eighth grade. They’re going to be hard to replace and missed a lot.”