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Despite the 52-40 setback to the Lady Pirates that ended their regular season, the Lady Raiders had clinched their first outright GTC East championship since 2001 in last Tuesday's, 55-27, romp at Mayville. They closed with a 10-2 record, dethroning five-time defending champion Sandusky, which was second at 9-3. Marlette takes a 15-5 record into District play this week.

Coach Fred Mroczek of Marlette said his team should take a lot of pride in winning the East title. "This is pretty special, especially in this league, this year, and this league being so competitive that any team, on any night, could win."

Mroczek added that the setback Friday would be forgotten.

"This is a senior team that knows what they want to do," remarked Mroczek. "After Tuesday's victory (at Mayville), all the focus shifted to Wednesday night (tonight in the District semifinals)."

With Senior Night in Marlette last Friday, Mroczek juggled his line-up. Harbor Breach took advantage by taking a 15-2 lead. The Lady Raiders battled back to trail 17-9 by the end of the quarter. In the third period, they shaved the Pirates margin to five, 33-28.

"We had a lot of runs at them, but to their (Pirates) credit, they answered every one," Mroczek added. "You always want to win, but with all the emotion the girls went through the last three or four weeks, it was pretty draining. We just didn't play our best."

Catherine Distelrath tossed in 12 points to lead Marlette. Kendra Smith and Jenna Lange each added 10.

On Tuesday night, the Lady Raiders were clearly ready against Mayville. They jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

"We did a nice job attacking inside, we played solid defense and we took control early," said Mroczek."

Senior center Kelsey Hall had a game-high 16 points and added seven rebounds for Marlette. Smith followed with 11 points and six boards while Lange passed out five assists.