MASON — In a hard fought, physical, heartbreaking game, the Niles girls’ basketball team had its season come to an end at the hands of the defending Class A state champion East Lansing Trojans, 41-36 in the Regional Final game at Mason High School Thursday night.

The game started with East Lansing attacking the basket regularly, but after two missed shot attempts the Vikings had the rebound and were looking to make things happen themselves. Niles’ Savannah Wolnik drew the foul on her way to the basket, but she was unable to connect on the ensuing free throws.

An East Lansing turnover gave the ball right back to the Vikings and this time senior Nichole Sly made the Trojans pay as she buried a deep 3-point basket from the wing, and the Vikings were on top 3-0.

A basket by Natalie-Rose Brogan cut the Vikings lead to one, 3-2. Niles scored the next five points as they built its lead to 8-2 with 2:23 remaining in the quarter. Wolnik and Whitney Ellis scored baskets, while Sly added a free throw on the 5-0 run.

The Trojans answered right back with a free throw from Grace Whelan and a basket by Piper Tucker, but Maureen Craig scored a basket with the clock running down to give the Vikings the 10-5 lead after the first eight minutes.

Sly would get the Vikings started in the second quarter the same way she did in the first as she buried her second three of the game giving the Vikings the eight point advantage, 13-5. The Trojans would not go away however, as baskets by Whelan and Kelcie Haizlip and two free throws by Alex Green pulled East Lansing within two 13-11.

Wolnik was able to score the next four points for Niles as it built a 17-11 lead that East Lansing cut to 17-13 at the break.

A four-point lead at the half against the defending state champions gave the Niles faithful a lot to be excited about with just one half of basketball remaining.

The Trojans came out of the locker room with the look of a champion however, and the fight they needed to take control of the game.

In the first two minutes of the second half the Vikings watched their four-point lead turn into a five point deficit as East Lansing scored the first nine points of the quarter on the strength of their three best players, Tucker, Brogan and Deborah Hoekstra.

Wolnik and Sly would combine for the next five points as Niles battled its way back to tie the game at 22-22 with just 3:15 remaining in the third period. Shortly after the game was all knotted at 22, Sly would collect her fourth foul of the game, but coach Touhey made the decision to stick with his senior leader.

“My two assistants said you have to take her out, but I just thought that their pressure is so intense that they could get a 15, possibly 20 point swing on us,” said Touhey. “I said at that point that I am leaving her and hopefully she won’t get that fifth foul. We needed her on the floor, her composure and her ability to handle the pressure they put on us, and it worked out for us.”

Over the last three minutes of the period, Sly would score four more points for the Vikings, but Tucker and Brogan each connected on 3-point baskets and the Trojans had the 28-26 lead heading into the fourth and final period.

“To start the second half, they (East Lansing) switched from a man to man full court pressure, which we were handling pretty well, to a zone full court press. So when we would pass the ball into the corner they would rotate over in zone coverage instead of man, and Nichole would try to get through the traffic, but there were too many people in there and so we got caught with three or four turnovers,” said Touhey.

To start the final stanza, Wolnik once again was fouled going to the basket, but once again she was unable to capitalize as she only connected on one of two, bringing the Vikings to within one 28-27 with six minutes to play.

Over the next four minutes, the Vikings saw their offense struggle as the Trojans increased their lead to 36-27.

Sly scored another basket for the Vikings to pull back within seven, but East Lansing went to a stall offense to try and protect its lead.

“I thought there could be a chance that one of their kids could bank in a three, and of course they did later on, so I didn’t want to allow that so I told the girls to put it in the corners and we were going to shoot free throws, and that’s what we did,” said East Lansing coach Robert Smith.

East Lansing would attempt nine free throws in the final period, connecting on seven of them, and those free throws proved to be the difference in the game.

Niles cut the lead to 36-32 after Alexis Arnold banked in a 3-pointer from the wing with one minute left to play, but four consecutive free throws from Hoekstra and Aimee Konkel put the Trojans up 40-32 with 28 seconds remaining.

A free throw from Ellis, and a long-range bomb from Sly pulled the Vikings to within four, 40-36, but they just didn’t have enough on this night. A meaningless free throw from Green put the final touches on a great basketball game and once again the East Lansing Trojans were moving on to the Class A Quarter finals. Just like their boys team the night before, Niles’ season comes to an end at the hands of the defending state champions.

“I don’t know another team that works as hard as our kids do, that fight as hard as our kids do, there’s no quit in them,” said a proud Touhey.

The Vikings received the same type of praise from the opposing team and coach as well. “The real story of this game is the incredible effort that the coaching staff at Niles did tonight. You know we had them out manned. We had the deeper bench and after losing one of their better players, it’s just a reflection of their coaching staffs’ effort and the players’ commitment. They just came out here and gave us a dog fight. They put away all the numbers, and all the stats and they got down with one of the best teams in the state,” said Smith.

Niles (18-7) was led by Sly with 19 points and those points were enough to move her past Timothia Clemmer into third on Niles’ all-time scoring list with 1,086 career points.

Niles also got nine points from Wolnik and three each from Ellis and Arnold.

NILES 36

Savannah Wolnik 4 1-6 9, Maureen Craig 1 0-0 2, Nichole Sly 7 2-5 19, Whitney Elllis 2 1-2 3, Lexi Arnold 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 14 4-13 36

EAST LANSING 41

Deborah Hoekstra 1 6-6 9, Natalie Brogan 3 0-0 7, Piper Tucker 4 0-0 9, Aimee Konkel 0 2-2 2, Grace Whelan 2 1-2 5, Alex Green 0 3-4 3, Demetria Thompson 2 0-0 4, Kelcie Haizlip 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 13 12-14 41

Niles 10 17 26 36

East Lansing 5 13 28 41

3-point baskets: Niles 4 (Sly 3, Arnold), East Lansing 3 (Hoekstra, Brogan, Tucker). Total fouls: Niles 15, East Lansing 12. Fouled out: Craig (Niles). Varsity records: Niles 18-7, East Lansing 22-3