FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Kirtland Firebirds knocked out in first round

ROSCOMMON – Having sustained first-round losses in National Junior College Athletic Association tournament play, both Kirtland’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have now drawn their seasons to a close. The Lady Firebirds were defeated on Thursday, March 2, by St. Clair County Community College, 83-47, while the men’s team fell to Vincennes University in Indiana on Monday, 80-66.

“It was a bad night for us to have a bad night,” said Kirtland’s women’s coach and Athletic Director Teresa Stuck about the Lady Firebirds’ dismal post-season performance. “We prepared harder for that game than for any other all season,” Stuck said. “But it was as if we couldn’t make a shot all night, and they couldn’t miss.”

Freshman Lizz Stempki, of St. Ignace, was the only Lady Firebird in double digits, posting 19 points. Stempki has been awarded a spot on the Michigan Community College Athletic Association’s Eastern Conference All-Star team which plays Sunday, March 12, at Lansing Community College. Emily Henion, of Frederic, Rena Barnett, of LeRoy and Chelsey Williams, of Houghton Lake, were all given Honorable Mention recognition from the MCCAA.

Despite the sad end, the Lady Firebirds posted more regular-season wins – 13 – than have been achieved in any other season in the five-year history of the team.

In the men’s team loss to Vincennes, Tony Brown, of Battle Creek, netted 34 points for Kirtland, while Juandrel Lewis, of Detroit, added 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Ahead 46-39 at the half, Kirtland coach Glen Donahue said his Firebirds played hard and played intelligent, but lost that advantage in the second half.

From Kirtland, Brown and Sal Kabara, of the Central African Republic, have both been tapped to play in the men’s MCCAA All-Star game. The duo have led the Firebirds in the scoring column all season and helped launch the team to sixth place in the NJCAA offensive team ranking, with a team average of 92 points per game.

The Firebirds also gave Donahue his 500th junior college win recently; one slice of the more than 700 career wins he’s achieved in his 49-year career.