2023 DISTRICT CHAMPS!

2022-23 BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
DATE	TIME	OPPONENT	RESULTS
11/29/22	5:30 p.m.	@ HARBOR SPRINGS	L 53-41
12/1/22	6:00 p.m.	VS. EAST JORDAN Marlatt, Tobias lead J-L to first win over East Jordan GAME PHOTOS	W 40-28
12/7/22	6:00 p.m.	@ INLAND LAKES	W 49-33
12/9/22	6:00 p.m.	VS. MANCELONA	W 51-29
12/15/22	6:00 p.m.	VS. ONAWAY (VARSITY ONLY)	L 44-39
12/19/22	6:00 p.m.	@ MIO (VARSITY ONLY)	W 60-28
12/21/22	6:00 p.m.	@ HILLMAN	W 40-36
1/4/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. RUDYARD JoBurg storms out against Rudyard	W 59-20
1/6/23	6:00 p.m.	@ CENTRAL LAKE JoBurg's Gloria House wins first GHT Player of the Week Award of 2023	W 40-30
1/11/23	6:30 p.m.	VS. BELLAIRE - (VARSITY ONLY) Johannesburg girls pick up fifth-straight victory	W 41-24
1/13/22	6:00 p.m.	VS. GAYLORD ST. MARY'S Bebble's 22 points, Schultz's double-double push St. Mary's to victory over JoBurg GAME PHOTOS	L 58-37
1/17/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. FOREST AREA - (VARSITY ONLY) Johannesburg-Lewiston's Jocelyn Tobias wins GHT Player of the Week	W 50-20
1/24/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. INLAND LAKES - (VARSITY ONLY)	L 55-51
1/26/23	6:00 p.m.	@ MANCELONA JoBurg drops matchup with Inland Lakes, rebounds with win over Mancelona	W 44-28
2/1/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. PELLSTON	W 51-3
2/3/23	6:00 p.m.	@ ONAWAY Johannesburg-Lewiston's Jayden Marlatt wins GHT Player of the Week	L 47-45
2/8/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. POSEN	W 41-26
2/10/23	6:00 p.m.	VS. CENTRAL LAKE J-L adds two more wins	W 51-23
2/14/23	6:00 p.m.	@ BELLAIRE	W 42-27
2/16/23	6:00 p.m.	@ GAYLORD ST. MARY'S St. Mary's girls clinch another Ski Valley Title with win over JoBurg GAME PHOTOS	L 62-38
2/18/23	1:00 p.m.	@ Pellston	W 58-15
2/21/23	5:30 p.m.	@ FOREST AREA - (VARSITY ONLY)	W 49-25
2/27/23	5:30 p.m.	DISTRICTS @ ROGERS CITY J-L VS. ATLANTA	W 55-17
3/1/23	5:30 p.m.	DISTRICTS @ ROGERS CITY J-L VS. HILLMAN	W 66-38
3/3/23	6:00 p.m.	DISTRICT FINAL @ ROGERS CITY J-L VS. ONAWAY Marlatt records three-straight double-doubles, pushes JoBurg girls to D4 district title	W 47-32
3/7/23	7:00 p.m.	REGIONALS @ CHEBOYGAN J-L VS. INLAND LAKES JoBurg girls fall to Inland Lakes in regional semifinals	L 60-32

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JoBurg girls fall to Inland Lakes in regional semifinals
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

CHEBOYGAN ― Another winter sports season has come to an end for an area hoops team.

The Johannesburg-Lewiston girls team entered the week looking to extend their best playoff run in recent years after a three-win week brought them an MHSAA Division 4 district title and put them in a position to make a run at a regional title.

To get to the regional finals, the Cardinals would have to find a way to get past Inland Lakes after splitting their two regular season matchups during their Ski Valley schedule. Unfortunately for them, that familiarity may have been more of a detriment than a benefit as the Bulldogs' took it to the Cardinals, running away with a 60-32 victory to move on to the regional title game and knock JoBurg out of the postseason.

JoBurg started fast, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, but Inland Lakes was able to stay composed to take the lead right back. After going on a 12-0 run between the first and second quarters, the Bulldogs took firm control of the lead in the second with a 15-2 run to put them up 29-11 at half.

Foul trouble plagued the Cardinals as the star of their district rounds, Jayden Marlatt, picked up three fouls in the first quarter alone, leaving the Cardinals without their best player during the long Bulldogs' scoring runs. It also slowed down their offense, accounting for just four second-quarter points as Inland Lakes started to pull away.

Meanwhile, Inland Lake's Natalie Wandrie was on her game, leading the team with 18 points while cementing her legacy in the Bulldogs' program history as the all-time leading scorer with a bucket in the fourth quarter.

“Natalie’s just an incredible, athlete, obviously, four-sport all-state, just exceptional, but I think one of the things that we don’t get enough credit for is how good the other players on our team are,” head coach Daryl Vizina said. “There’s some really good quality athletes who are good basketball players, and they put a lot of time in. Some of these girls are pretty young as far as being freshmen and sophomores in our top seven or eight, we’ve got a couple freshmen and couple sophomores that play for us, so once they got their confidence and kind of learned what it was like to play varsity basketball, we just have been improving gradually and gradually and gradually, and I think it reflected tonight."

Foul trouble eventually caught up with Marlatt, who led JoBurg with 10 points, as she fouled out early in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs ran away with the victory.

It brings the successful season for the Cardinals to a close, finishing with a 19-7 overall record while finishing third in the Ski Valley Conference with an 11-7 record.

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Marlatt records three-straight double-doubles, pushes JoBurg girls to D4 district title
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

ROGERS CITY ― Another district title is coming home to the Otsego area.

The area girls basketball teams started the MHSAA basketball playoffs this week as the pre-district rounds kicked things off on Monday, February 27, and it ended up being a successful week for the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals, rattling off three-straight wins in Rogers City over Atlanta on Monday, Hillman on Wednesday and Onaway on Friday en route to a Division 4 district championship.

Their first two games were relatively easy games as the Cardinals coasted past both Atlanta and Hillman for double-digit victories.

Gloria House led the team in scoring against Atlanta, finishing with 17 points, while Jayden Marlatt finished with a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as they wrapped up a 55-17 victory.

In the 66-38 win over Hillman, it was Marlatt leading the way throughout, recording another double-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Jocelyn Tobias helped out with 23 points of her own along with seven rebounds.

That set up a third and final matchup with Onaway after two disappointing, close losses in the regular season. The Cardinals knew they had a chance at revenge if they could meet up with their fellow Ski Valley opponent in the finals, and that's exactly what they got. JoBurg was the better team on Friday, pulling away late for a 47-32 victory to secure the district crown.

Again, Marlatt had her hands all over the stat sheet as she secured yet another double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Sophia Townsend chipped in with 13 points, while Tobias finished with nine points and nine rebounds in the championship victory.

The victory advances to the MHSAA Region 27, where the Cardinals will face another familiar foe in Indian River Inland Lakes. Those teams split their regular season matchups in SVC play, with JoBurg winning 49-33 in the first matchup while Inland Lakes took the second 55-51.

The winner of that will play the winner of Mackinaw City and Brimley in the regional finals on Thursday, March 9.

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St. Mary's girls clinch another Ski Valley Title with win over JoBurg
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

GAYLORD ― The Snowbirds' reign over the Ski Valley continues.

All season, the hunt for the Ski Valley Conference Championship has been St. Mary's against everyone else as they rolled through conference matchup after conference matchup en route to an undefeated record through two and a half months.

Their dominance put them in a perfect spot entering Thursday, February 16, looking to wrap up the outright conference title on the same night as they completed a season sweep of their rivals from Johannesburg-Lewiston in their final home game of the season.

And in the final time playing at Monsignor Kaminski Gymnasium for a decorated group of seniors, they checked off multiple boxes of their team goals at the end of the night.

Despite a back-and-forth game early, the Snowbirds did what they do best and overwhelmed the Cardinals in the second half, running away with 62-38 victory for their third-straight Ski Valley Conference title.

PHOTOS: St. Mary's clinches Ski Valley Title in win over Johannesburg-Lewiston

Close game early on

As the GSM-JL rivalry usually does, the game brought out the best in both teams, providing for an exciting first half of back-and-forth basketball.

With Jocelyn Tobias absent, junior Jayden Marlatt had to take on an even bigger role for JoBurg, and she did well to keep the Cardinals in the game early on, scoring 12 of her team-high 14 points in the half as the Cardinals trailed by just six points by the end of the first.

Third quarter explosion puts GSM ahead for good

The third quarter is usually the most important when playing against the Lady Snowbirds due to their high-pressure, aggressive trapping defense. While many teams get overwhelmed right away, the third quarter is usually where a lack of depth begins to show on opposing teams when faced up against St. Mary's.

With JoBurg missing one of their best players, the third quarter turned out about as expected.

St. Mary's continued to pour in buckets, with Bebble and Schultz both scoring seven points in the third, while the defense shut down JoBurg, holding the Cardinals to just six points in the quarter as the GSM lead ballooned.

From there, the Snowbirds were able to coast to the 24-point victory, wrapping up the season sweep of their rivals, winning their 18th consecutive game and, most importantly, clinching the outright SVC Championship on their home floor.

Grusczynski led the Snowbirds in scoring with 18 points, while Bebble and Schultz added 15 points apiece. Schultz also added six rebounds, three steals and four assists, while Bebble had four rebounds, six steals and three assists.

Jayden Marlatt was the Cardinals' top-scorer with 14 points.

Not only is it the third-consecutive SVC title, but it is also the 20th conference title for the St. Mary's girls since 1995, all but cementing their dominance over their peers in the conference.

Now 18-2 overall and 15-0 in conference play, the Snowbirds are almost to the point where they can shift their focus on the postseason. However, with two regular season games left, the girls will need to defeat Inland Lakes on Tuesday, February 21 to complete a perfect season in the conference.

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J-L adds two more wins
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

Speaking of the Lady Cardinals, the JoBurg girls are continuing to improve throughout the season, seemingly hitting a groove right as the postseason begins to loom.

After dropping a heart-breaker to Onaway their last time out, the JoBurg girls looked to bounce back this week with two winnable games and did just that, securing double-digit wins over Posen (41-26) and Central Lake (51-23) as they build momentum towards districts.

Jocelyn Tobias led the way in the victory over Posen, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds. Sophie Townsend had 11 points, while Jayden Marlatt finished with eight points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Against Central Lake, it was Gloria House leading the Cardinals with 17 points along with four steals. Townsend had 15 points while Tobias had 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

JoBurg improves to 13-5 overall and 8-4 in conference play. They will match up with Bellaire next, with that game scheduled for Tuesday, February 14.

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Johannesburg-Lewiston's Jayden Marlatt wins GHT Player of the Week
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG ― The Johannesburg-Lewiston girls basketball team is making up for some lost time in the spotlight from the fall.

Many weeks during the fall 2022 season, a Johannesburg-Lewiston athlete was up for the Gaylord Herald Times Player of the Week (many of those being volleyball players) and, despite some deserving nominations, found themselves on the wrong end of the weekly polls.

The JoBurg community has not let that happen this winter.

For the third time in five weeks, the GHT Player of the Week winner is a Cardinals' basketball player, this time junior Jayden Marlatt earning the honors after quality performances against Pellston and Onaway.

Marlatt played a major role in the most lopsided result of the season thus far, helping the Lady Cardinals run away with a 59-3 victory over Pellston on Tuesday. The junior guard finished with 14 points and four rebounds, a stat line that certainly could've gotten larger if the score had been close enough to keep her in the game.

In the week's finale, the Cardinals came out on the wrong end of a heart-breaker against Onaway, but Marlatt was still all over the stat sheet, putting up 13 points, six rebounds and four steals against one of the top teams in the Ski Valley Conference.

JoBurg has an 11-5 overall record while a 7-4 record in Ski Valley play. With most teams having around six games left, the Cardinals will need some help if they hope to track down Gaylord St. Mary's, Onaway and Inland Lakes over the final month.

In the week's finale, the Cardinals came out on the wrong end of a heart-breaker against Onaway, but Marlatt was still all over the stat sheet, putting up 13 points, six rebounds and four steals against one of the top teams in the Ski Valley Conference.

JoBurg has an 11-5 overall record while a 7-4 record in Ski Valley play. With most teams having around six games left, the Cardinals will need some help if they hope to track down Gaylord St. Mary's, Onaway and Inland Lakes over the final month.

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JoBurg drops matchup with Inland Lakes, rebounds with win over Mancelona
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

Johannesburg-Lewiston also had a pivotal conference matchup to begin the week, hosting their own second-place matchup with Ski Valley Conference foe Inland Lakes.

Different conferences, but same scenario; with JoBurg entering at 6-2 in conference play and Inland Lakes at 5-2, the winner of Tuesday's game would decide which team would hold second place in the standings for the time being.

For much of the game, it looked like that team would be the Cardinals, but Inland Lakes pulled it out in the fourth quarter for a 55-51 victory over JoBurg when all was said and done.

It was a back-and-forth game much like the Gaylord game, but it was JoBurg out in front after three quarters, leading 42-40 heading into the fourth.

In the final quarter, the Cardinals were up 51-50 with 1:29 to go and had the ball, but it was the Bulldogs' defense that stepped up in the end, pulling of two quick stops and scoring five straight points to pull off the comeback victory.

The Bulldogs' Natalie Wandrie had a game to remember, scoring a game-high 30 points while hitting the 1,000 career-point milestone in the win. JoBurg's Jocelyn Tobias led the Cardinals with 17 points and eight rebounds while Sophie Townsend added 13 points and three rebounds.

Later in the week, JoBurg was able to bounce back and get a conference win on the road, traveling to Mancelona on Thursday and leaving with a 44-28 victory.

They started fast against the Lady Ironmen, jumping out to an 18-8 lead by the end of the first before taking a 25-12 lead into halftime.

From there, strong defense helped the Cardinals coast to the double-digit victory, holding Mancelona to just five points in the fourth quarter.

Jocelyn Tobias finished with a double-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Jayden Marlatt added eight points, 12 rebounds and three steals

The Cardinals improve their record to 10-4 overall and 7-3 in Ski Valley matchups.

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Johannesburg-Lewiston's Jocelyn Tobias wins GHT Player of the Week
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG ― As some of you may have noticed, the Otsego area received some icy weather last week.

The inclement weather and road conditions experienced on Thursday led to some canceled games across the Northern Michigan area, affecting the Johannesburg-Lewiston girls basketball team as its game with Pellston had to be rescheduled, leaving them with just one game over five days. That meant for one of their players to win the Gaylord Herald Times Player of the Week Award this week, they would have to make that one game against Forest Area count.

Senior Jocelyn Tobias did just that.

In the Cardinals matchup with Fife Lake Forest Area on Tuesday, January 17, Tobias led JoBurg as they coasted to a 30-point victory. She finished with team-highs in four different statistical categories, including points (17 points), rebounds (eight rebounds), steals (two steals) and blocks (one block), helping the Cardinals secure the 50-20 victory.

It was a bounce-back game for the Cardinals after falling to their rivals from St. Mary's the previous Friday, keeping the Cardinals in the middle of the fight for the Ski Valley Conference championship. They currently sit in second in the standings with a 6-2 conference record, a half a game up on Inland Lakes while railing the Snowbirds by two games. Their overall record sits at 9-3 to this point in the season.

With games with Inland Lakes and Mancelona this week, Joburg has a chance to keep the pressure on their rivals from St. Mary's with two more conference wins.

If Tobias keeps playing the way she has, the Cardinals should be in good shape.

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Bebble's 22 points, Schultz's double-double push St. Mary's to victory over JoBurg
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG ― During a boy's basketball game between St. Mary's and Mancelona on Thursday, January 5, three members of the Snowbirds girls' basketball team joined the online video stream during halftime for an interview.

Seniors Emma McKinley, Macey Bebble and Sydney Grusczynski talked with the host and were asked about the teams on their schedule that they thought could give them some trouble.

The answers were unsurprising.

"Inland Lakes and JoBurg," said senior Emma McKinley.

"Definitely, JoBurg is always fun for us," said fellow senior Macey Bebble.

With the history of the rivalry between St. Mary's and Johannesburg-Lewiston, it was safe to assume the Snowbirds had their eyes on their two matchups with their crosstown rivals since the season began. And, with both teams coming into their first matchup of the season on hot streaks (St. Mary's entered on a seven-game winning while JoBurg entered on a five-game streak), the game took on extra meaning with two teams fighting for supremacy in the Ski Valley Conference.

It ended up being a fun night for the Snowbirds after all.

Macey Bebble and Ava Schultz led the way, with Bebble scoring all of her game-high 22 points in the first half and Schultz dropping a double-double in a 58-37 road victory over their rivals for their eighth-straight win, remaining perfect in conference play.

GAME PHOTOS

Bebble dominates first half, Marlatt keeps Cardinals afloat

Taking on St. Mary's girls and head coach Pat Schultz is a chess match that starts before the game begins for opposing head coaches as they must decide how they want to deal with the aggressive, trapping press defense that the Snowbirds employ. Without a proper game plan going in, St. Mary's can overwhelm you, fast.

Head coach Ryan Marlatt was well aware of that and had his girls ready. Mainly, he had his best athletes in the back-court handling the ball and ready to make passes over the top of the pressing defenders, which proved effective at getting open looks in transition.

His daughter, junior Jayden Marlatt, found success early in those press-break scenarios, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to help the Cardinals stay close on the scoreboard, down just seven after one quarter.

Unfortunately, they weren't flawless, and with the way Macey Bebble was playing, it may have taken a flawless effort to keep things close.

Bebble bested Marlatt in the first quarter, leading all scorers with 12 points after the first eight minutes of play. She followed that up with another 10 points in the second quarter, giving her 22 points by halftime and putting the Snowbirds up 38-24 at the break.

JoBurg slows down pace, cannot slow down Schultz

Coach Marlatt was not out of ideas to beat the St. Mary's press. If they couldn't beat the Snowbirds in transition, they were going to make St. Mary's beat them in the half-court.

That meant a slower pace, an emphasis on patience and running the play flex until they got an open shot. And, while it did slow down the pace a bit, it also slowed down their offense as many of their trips went one-and-done as they left empty-handed.

Meanwhile, the Snowbirds had no trouble transitioning their offense to a half-court style.

The slower pace meant Bebble went from a shot taker to a shot creator, and Ava Schultz ended up being on the receiving end time and time again as she buried 3-pointer after 3-pointer in the second half, eventually finishing with 17 points overall in the 21-point victory.

Bebble led all scorers with her 22 points to go along with four rebounds and two steals. Schultz finished with a double-double, adding 12 rebounds to her 17 points. Sydney Grusczynski (nine points, four assists) and Emma McKinley (five points) also had their hands in the win.

Jayden Marlatt led JoBurg with 21 points.

The result pushes St. Mary's winning streak to eight games, pushing their record to 8-2 overall and 7-0 in the Ski Valley Conference, staying in firm control of first place in the standings. Meanwhile, it snaps JoBurg's five-game winning streak, pushing their record to 8-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

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Johannesburg girls pick up fifth-straight victory
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG ― The outlook of the area basketball conferences is beginning to take shape, and things are becoming clearer and clearer with each game.

And, as we have learned more about the Ski Valley and their girls basketball teams this season, it is beginning to look a lot like the volleyball season did, with teams like Johannesburg-Lewiston, Gaylord St. Mary's, Inland Lakes and Onaway all near the top of the standings.

As those matchups loom larger, the need to pick up wins intensifies as the conference schedule rolls on.

The Johannesburg-Lewiston girls are led by the same duo that led their volleyball team to a 40+ win season in senior Jocelyn Tobias and junior Jayden Marlatt, helping the Cardinals storm out to a 7-2 record and bring a four-game winning streak into their matchup with Bellaire on Wednesday night. Again, those two were the difference as they combined for 27 points in the Cardinals' 41-24 victory.

Early on, it was the Cardinals defense making the biggest difference, holding Bellaire to just two points in the opening quarter before taking a 23-9 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was Bellaire's best opportunity to comeback, doubling their score while frustrating JoBurg's scorers to pull within ten points heading into the fourth, but the Marlatt-Tobias duo proved too much in the final quarter as the Cardinals pulled away for the double-digit victory.

Tobias had a team-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds, while Marlatt finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists.

The win pushes their record to 8-2 overall and their conference record to 4-1.

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JoBurg's Gloria House wins first GHT Player of the Week Award of 2023
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG ― The Gaylord Herald Times Player of the Week Awards are back for the winter sports season.

With the number of high-quality basketball, hockey, skiing and wrestling teams in the area, we are bound to have a wide variety of athletes honored in the coming months.

This first week, it's a Johannesburg-Lewiston basketball player that gets the nod.

While most teams had a little problem shaking off the rust after the holiday break, perhaps no team looked as prepared for the first game of 2023 as the JoBurg girls, and they showed it in a big way against Rudyard as they started the game on a 16-0 run while ending the first quarter up 26-4.

With a double-digit victory for the Cardinals, it ended up being a great individual performance for senior point guard Gloria House. She led the team in scoring with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor in the 59-20 victory, helping start a 2-0 week for JoBurg.

House is a part of a talented Cardinals team made up of mostly upperclassmen that looks to compete in the Ski Valley Conference this season. Along with senior Jocelyn Tobias and junior Jayden Marlatt, House makes up a trio of Cardinals that put their team among the best in the area.

Currently, JoBurg sits with a 7-2 overall record and a 3-1 record in the Ski Valley as they enter one of the biggest weeks of their season, hosting Bellaire on Wednesday, January 11 before hosting rival Gaylord St. Mary's, a top team in Northern Michigan and current leaders of the Ski Valley Conference, on Friday night.

JoBurg storms out against Rudyard
By Dylan Jespersen - Gaylord Herald Times

Just a few minutes down the road, the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals were playing a game with a similar script as they stormed out of the gates on a 16-0 run against Rudyard before ending the first quarter up 26-4.

The difference was the Cardinals' defense, as they made every pass Rudyard tried to make difficult. Meanwhile, J-L found quick success on their long-range jumpers, with Sophia Townsend, Jocelyn Tobias and Gloria House all burying jumpers and pushing the offensive tempo.

Rudyard found a bit more success in the second quarter, but the deficit was already close to insurmountable. Then, as the second half started, the Cardinals went on another long run to push the lead past 20+ and put the visiting Bulldogs away for good.

It ended up being a big night individually for both House and Tobias, who both shot extremely well from the floor while playing great perimeter defense. House finished with 16 points on a 7-for-9 shooting performance, while Tobias finished with 10 points while shooting 6-for-10 from the floor.

The win pushes the Cardinals' record to 6-2 overall and marks their third straight victory.

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