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Coach Al DeMott used a traditionally strong man-to-man defense and timely shooting from freshman Lauren Krause to find their way past the Lady Green Devils, 35-27, in a Class C District first round contest at the Thumb Dome. The win put the Lady Redskins, now 17-3 overall, into tonight's (Wednesday's) semifinal with rival Marlette (15-5). The Lady Raiders won the GTC East and gave Sandusky two of its three losses this season.

Brown City (11-10), after trailing 8-6 in the first quarter, dominated play in the second quarter with its defense and built a 17-8 lead. Sandusky, switching to man defense late in the half, cut the deficit to 18-12 by the break.

The Lady ‘Skins had the only bucket in third quarter until Krause, a 5'7" guard, came off the bench and delivered a pair of three-pointers to put Sandusky ahead for good, 20-18. BC failed to score in the quarter and trailed by three.

Sandusky took command early in the fourth when junior Maddie Hale hit a jumper from the left baseline, Krause followed with a pair of free throws and Monica Chambers buried a three to build a 28-20 lead. The Lady ‘Skins put it away at the line in the final minute when Lauren Armstrong and Marissa DeMott combined to sink seven of eight free throws.

"The biggest thing for us was our defense after halftime," said Coach DeMott. "Actually with about two or three minutes to go in the first half, we switched from zone to man-to-man and we held (Brown City) to 10 points the rest of he way."

BC, meanwhile, was tough, defensively, on Marissa DeMott and senior post Cassy VanConant, holding Sandusky's top two scorers to a combined 14 points.

"They did a good job on defense against us," credited DeMott. "They were double-teaming Marissa all the way down the court and they were covering up Cassy inside. They made our other kids shoot the ball, and they came through."

DeMott added, "Lauren Krause came in and hit those threes and then our kids also showed good poise and patience the rest of the way."

Krause and DeMott, a sophomore, finished with eight points each. Hale had seven points and eight rebounds.

For Brown City, junior Sandi Oligney notched eight points, all in the second quarter. Sophomore Kristen Greene, BC's top scorer, had seven.

Class B at Millington

The Lady Pioneers of Cros-Lex saw their season end Monday night with a heart-breaking 50-48 loss to Yale.

The Bulldogs' Kelsi Fulmer hit a short jumper with 1.5 seconds left to win the game. Cros-Lex (6-15) had the lead most of the night, holding a 30-22 edge at the half and 46-42 margin late in the game.

"It's tough," said C-L coach Darren Bongard on the loss. "I thought coming into this District that Yale and us were the best two teams, and I still think so. Hopefully, Yale can move on and win this." Both teams are members of the BWAC.

Senior Erin Lamb led the Lady Pioneers with a season-high 18 points. Amanda Kalso added seven. Fulmer led Yale (9-12) with 14 points.

Class D at Deckerville

The host Lady Eagles will be moving on to tonight's District semifinal against New Life Christian after ousting Peck, 46-38.

Eleven different players scored for the Lady Eagles, who built a 42-23 three lead through three quarters.

Senior Ashley Szymanski was the only player in double figures, netting 10. She also had six rebounds and three steals. Aleesha Smith added eight points and Dana Stolicker and Nicole McConnachie combined for 15 rebounds.

Peck (4-17) had seven points from Savannah Wilcox and six each from Kaitlyn LaFleur and Shayna Bedy.