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Wildcat women showing promise

T hinking out loud on a cold February morning:

  • Troy Mattson would no doubt have liked his Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team to be better than its 12-3 overall record and 11-8 GLIAC mark this season.

But the Wildcats’ head coach has to be pleased with what his team has managed to do to date, espeially after posting road wins against Ferris State and Hillsdale this past week.

The club’s roster sports five true freshmen and three redshirt freshmen among the 12 players listed. Many of those rookie cagers are geting significant playing time.

In fact, Mattson started two true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen in a recent game.

He knows there are going to be some growing pains as his club gains more experience.

But Mattson also knows sometime down the road – maybe sometime soon – the Wildcat women will be a force to be reckoned with.

  • Dylan Larkin has been nothing sort of sensational for the Detroit Red Wings this season.

The rookie forward is tied with Henrik Zettergerg in team scoring, each with 38 points. Larkin has 18 goals.

He was also a plus-26, one of the top plus-minus figures in the NHL.

Larkin has shown amazing on-ice skills far beyond his 19 years of age.

Picked for the NHL All-Star game, he wound up winning the fastest skater contest.

Can he continue to play at the pace he has been? After all, he has a lot of games left to play this season and fatigue may become a factor down the road as he only played a total of 56 contests last season at the University of Michigan and tournaments all over the world.

He’ll become more of a target the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, should the Wings qualify once again.

His linemates and teammates will have to have his back if he’s going to continue to shine. ? The Detroit Pistons retired Chauncey Billups’ jersey Wednesday night.

It’s an honor he deserves and fittingly, the jersey bore the No. 1.

“Mr. Big Shot” helped lead the Pistons to an NBA championship in 2004, when he was named the finals’ Most Valuable Player.

He had a penchant for hitting clutch shots, hence his nickname.

Billups was not only a great player, but a great leader as well.

His jersey hanging in the rafters of The Palace will be a reminder of how great a Piston he was.

Craig Remsburg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is cremsburg@miningjournal.net.

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