TRAVERSE CITY — Paul Seeley just felt he wasn’t done with basketball.
The 1994 Cadillac High School graduate and former Northwood University player took over the girls basketball program at his high school alma mater, and has the Vikings out to a 2-0 start.
Cadillac jumped out to 2-0 record for the first time in three seasons, taking a defensive battle from Traverse City St. Francis, 27-20, Tuesday night.
“I decided that I wasn’t quite done yet,” Seeley said. “I was able to recruit Todd Hamlet, who’s coached for years and years and, of course, coach (Dave) Simons. So we have a lot of really good basketball knowledge on the bench.”
His daughter, Joslyn, graduated last spring after a successful career with the Viking volleyball and basketball programs.
The Vikings (2-0) and Gladiators (0-3) both struggled to score early on, with St. Francis holding a slim 9-8 halftime lead.
Kaleigh Swiger led all scorers with 11 points, going 3 for 7 from 3-point range. She was 2 for 2 in the third quarter after a 1-for-4 start from deep.
“It was a rough start,” Swiger said. “Just a tough place to play, but we had a locker room talk and got our heads in it. We didn’t really change any of our plays or anything. We just had to calm down a little and not let the environment get to us. We’ve got a lot to work on, but we’re getting there.”
St. Francis won 48-42 last year in the first meeting since 2018. The Glads won six of nine meetings since 2011, including five of the last six.
Both teams have experienced a lot of turnover since then, especially TCSF, which graduated its entire starting lineup.
Adriana Spranger was the only Gladiator player coming back with much varsity experience.
“The rest of our team is either young or they just haven’t played a lot,” St. Francis coach Adam Warren said. “But they all are willing to play hard. We’ve played good defensive games the first three. We just have to score more points.”
The Gladiators have allowed an average of 36 points in three contests, including one that went to double overtime.
Harper Nausadis led the Glads with six points and four rebounds. Zoey Jetter added four points, five rebounds and a block, Sidney Peters had four points and two steals, Hunter St. Peter contributed seven steals and five boards, Maya Padisak had three steals and three rebounds, and Sophie Hardy grabbed four rebounds and had two steals.
“Our transition still wasn’t the greatest, but TC St. Francis, I give them credit,” Seeley said. “Every time we had a breakout, they caught right up to us. They’re very quick.”
Madisyn Lundquist put up nine points and six steals for Cadillac, while Madelyn Shamanek chipped in four points, six steals, four rebounds and three assists. Makenzie Johns added a block and three rebounds, and Jazmin Angell grabbed three rebounds.
“We got our flow going and started working together more,” Swiger said. “In the start, we were just we were just chaotic. We started calming down, slowed down our offense and found the looks we were looking for.”
The teams combined for 51 turnovers and 10-for-24 shooting from the free-throw line.
“Both teams really played hard defensively,” Warren said. “We just really never had an open shot. All of our scoring was through hustle plays, and trying to get to the basket, and I would say they’re very similar. That was a tough battle, for sure.”
Cadillac’s turnovers went up from three in the first half to 13 in the second, but the offense went from eight points in the opening half to 19 the rest of the way.
“Their press did a number on us, and we just have to figure things out a little bit better,” Seeley said. “We knew that they were going to play an up-tempo game, and our kids were kind of not ready for that.”
The Viking offense jump-started in the third quarter with a 9-2 spurt highlighted by a pair of Swiger 3-pointers as the junior guard scored eight of the nine in the frame.
“Kaleigh is a very confident shooter,” Seeley said. “We just need to find her the right slots and start making that extra pass, because sometimes we drive too deep and don’t kick out. We have a couple of kids that can shoot the ball. But we’re a team that just needs to get to the hole overall, and then we can get her open looks.”
Cadillac would lead by as much as 10 in the fourth quarter.
The Gladiators host Elk Rapids on Thursday, while Cadillac takes off a week before visiting Bay City Western next Tuesday.