Dearborn Divine Child girls’ basketball takes down Riverview w/ PHOTO GALLERY

Less than a week into the new season, two of the stronger teams in the region clashed on Friday night when Riverview headed to Dearborn Divine Child.

Riverview at Dearborn Divine Child girls’ basketball photo gallery

While the visiting Pirates had a 12-point lead at halftime, the Falcons came out strong in the second half and went on to a 67-59 victory.

Riverview (1-1) and Divine Child (1-0) could meet again, as both teams are in the same region in the MHSAA playoffs.

This winter, the talented Bucs are after a fourth consecutive district title. They are also the defending Huron League champs and finished last year 15-2 overall. A COVID-19 issue ended the team’s impressive run before regionals.

The Falcons are looking to follow up a 7-3 finish in 2020-21, which marked the program’s fourth consecutive winning season. In the playoffs, they fell just short of a fourth consecutive district championship.

Both sides have some talented and experienced players back in the mix for this winter, including Divine Child’s Kennedy Blair and Riverview’s Elyssa Kincaid.

Blair netted a team-high 19 points Friday and had a major impact on defense. Kincaid led all scorers with 35 points and showed she could easily hit from anywhere on the floor.

Also for the Falcons, Abbey Scott finished with 18 points and Cecilia Vitti had 12 while the Bucs’ Rayah Kolbusz contributed eight and Maelyn Sorenson had six.

Kincaid hit a jumper with 17 seconds left in the first half. The junior’s shot capped off her 16-point performance in the second quarter and sent Riverview into halftime leading 36-24. Kolbusz also had two 3-pointers in the second quarter and Cadence Kaminske hit once from behind the arc.

Athe break, Divine Child hit the floor and outscored the Bucs 23-11 in the third quarter. Blair and Scott combined for 17 points, with Blair sinking a trio of 3-pointers and Scott consistently getting open near the basket.

“It was really motiving to see that they can pull together,” said Falcons coach Mary Laney of her team. “I think we had a lot of first-game jitters, (easy shots) that we shouldn’t have missed that we did in the first half. (Riverview’s) a great team, they just play so hard and they attack the basket so hard.”

Just 20 seconds into the second half Blair hit from behind the arc. With 3:20 left in the third, she erased her team’s deficit with another triple. Scott followed it up with two points and gave the home team a 42-39 advantage.

Riverview regained the lead with two points from Brooklyn Poe and Kincaid nailed a shot to put the Bucs up by three.

Blair’s third triple of the quarter evened things up at 45-45. Two points from Kincaid inside the last minute sent the two teams into the fourth deadlocked at 47-47.

“You’re never fully prepared for that first game and what’s going to be thrown at you,” Laney said. “We left it all out there. I think the best part for us was the balance. We had such balance and we shared the ball well.”

In the final quarter, the Falcons struck quickly and their defensive pressure aided in building up a sizeable lead over the Bucs.

Vitti hit a shot 12 seconds into the fourth and made another 18 seconds later. Soon after, Hill struck for four quick points, in about 20 seconds, and made it a 55-49 game. Scott added two and brought the score to 57-49.

“We’re not as deep as we’ve been before,” said Riverview coach Rob Sauter. “We’ve still got decent depth (but) in a game like tonight it’s tough because they play such good defense. Divine Child does such a good job.”

Halfway through the quarter, Sorenson was fouled as she hit a shot for the Bucs. She missed the ensuing free throw but the visitors got the rebound and Kincaid scored to make it a 57-53 game.

A bucket from Scott increased the lead again to six and it quickly became eight after a turnover led to two more points for Blair.

Eventually Riverview had to foul out of desperation.

One free throw made by Blair put the Falcons up 62-53 with a minute left on the clock.

Riverview did keep fighting and made things interesting in the final minute.

One made free throw from Sorenson and two from Kincaid cut the Falcons’ lead to six with 41 seconds left. A triple from Kincaid brought the score to 63-59 with 17 seconds remaining.

“What I liked is that we battled all the way,” said Riverview coach Rob Sauter. “We’re tough and that’s going to give us a lot of wins down the road.”

In the final seconds, Blair halted any Riverview comeback hopes.

She hit two free throws with 15 seconds left and then followed it up with a steal and two more shots from the line to seal the victory.

Early in the contest, the Falcons led 12-11 after one quarter, with six different players contributing at least one point, including four from Sydney Bourdon and one from Isa DePaulis. For Riverview, Haley Guest had five first-quarter points.

Next on the schedule for Divine Child is a game at Royal Oak Shrine on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.  The Bucs host Dearborn Fordson Monday, Dec. 6.