Devils season ends in loss to Mustangs
Northpointe 45 Holton 30 The Red Devils fell short in their Regional semi-final when OK Siver co-champ Northpointe opened up a lead in the second half and held Holton off to advance to Wednesday’s final. Coach Jordan: “Game was back and forth the entire first half and we had the ball down two with about 10 seconds left in the half. On what was supposed to be a last shot scenario turned into a turnover and a fast break layup for them going into half. We were down 23 to 19. We battled and played as hard as we could. We had some foul trouble for two starters that we worked through in the first half and I was very happy to be sitting where we were going into the locker room. “Third-quarter was a different story, a key starter picked up their fourth foul 30 seconds into the quarter and had to sit until the fourth. This played a factor In the 12-5 quarter It had us going into the fourth quarter down 11. They switched from a predominantly man defense in the first half to his zone in the second and we were unable to get as many quality looks as we did in the first half. “We knew there were two girls that we had to stop and thought we had a decent game plan to do that but they still scored 39 of the 45 points. We didn’t give them any open looks, most of the damage came off of rebounding and put backs, And a few deep threes which you can live with. That’s after those two girls they are phenomenal basketball players “My girls fought tonight. We took really good care of the ball in the first quarter and only had two turnovers but we ended the game with 22. Fatigue and a little bit more pressure on their end seemed to be a real difference maker in the second half. Our season ended tonight but as a coach I’m more than proud of what the team was able to accomplish this year, An absolutely great group of girls to be around and coach. Special group of ladies that I will miss. . “Ryann Robins had another double double(21st of the season) with 11 and 1. Abbie Fowler had 5 points 6 assists and 5 steals .We accomplished a lot as a team and individually this year. As a team we won the holiday tournament. We got off to best start in school history with a 7-1 start and finished with the second most wins in school history. And we captured the second district title in School history “Individually, Ryann Robins broke all time school scoring record , and with tonight’s 11 rebounds and now holds every single rebounding record at the school .24 in a game, 309 in a season and over 1000 in her career.Abbie Fowler broke every assist record this year 10 in a game, 128 on the season as well as the career assist records and there’s a good chance she has a few steal records as well that I’ll know over the next week or so. These two have been 4 year starters and are the main reason we have turned this program around the last few years.. they will be missed.”
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Cold start proves too much to overcome Photos by Matthew Zerfas Story by Ken De Laat Spring Lake 58 Fremont 29 The Packers remarkable season came to an end Monday night in Sparta as they ran into a buzzsaw when they took to the court to face the Lakers. Spring Lake got on the board first and was quickly answered by a Taylor DeKuiper bucket for a 2-2 tie. Then the Lakers led by all-state shoo-in Erin Andree ran off the next 13 points to end the quarter with the Pack facing a 15-2 deficit. In the second Fremont made a mini run early with DeKuiper hitting another basket and following it with a three pointer then Mia Clemance making a welcome return to the lineup also canned a triple. Eliana Vandenberg scored and the Packers found themselves within 10 and with the ball. A turnover, one of many that plagued the Pack on this night, led to a Spring Lake score and once again they finished the quarter running off the last 9 points to get to intermission with a 31-12 lead. Riley Chase, Jessica Bennett and DeKuiper all scored in the 3rd as the Packers played the Lakers even but the comfortable lead Spring lake had built proved too much to overcome. Coach Zerfas: “We got off to our normal slow start but against a really good Spring Lake team, we were not able to come back and make it competitive. Bottom line is Spring Lake earned the win and was better than us. “ The Packers ended their season the same way they began with a loss to the Lakers. Coach Z.: “It doesn't diminish from the historic season our girls had though. We finished overall at 20-5, the most wins in 46 years and second most in program history. We went undefeated in League at 12-0, also the first outright conference championship in 46 years and we won districts for the first time since 2009. Tonight wasn't our night, but our girls have a lot to be proud of. I would like to recognize the outstanding contribution of our seniors, who without such great effort and leadership we would not have been successful. Thank you Jessica Bennett, Katie Ackerman, Olivia Hansen and Elise Pfeiffer....you will be missed.”
Dekuiper led the Packers with 9 points, Bennett finished with 7 and Clemance hit for a half dozen. There are 167 teams in Division 2. Fremont was one of only 32 who made it to the Regionals. And just one team of those 167 ends their season with a win. Packers look to avenge early loss to Lakers in Regional Semifinal
By Ken De Laat, N3 Sports The Fremont Packer Girls team is the sole local survivor of 2 weeks of tourney play having captured the Newaygo District last Friday with a comeback performance over Grant. And now they arrive at the Regionals to find themselves facing Spring Lake, the team that delivered a thumping in the season opener on the Packer home floor. The 20+ point loss didn’t derail the Pack however. The team went on to win 10 of their next 11 games and enter this one with 20 victories under their belt. The Districts were no picnic for Coach Zerfas’ squad. They lost one of their key players when Clemance went down pre-tourney with an ankle injury that had her rooting for her Packer teammates from the sideline. She might be able to return to action tonight depending on her recovery status. Her absence may have been part of the reason for a pair of slow starts Fremont endured in the two District games. Fortunately the team regrouped both times behind some sparkling play by Chase, Bennett, DeKuiper Vandenberg and Ackerman and Noordyk was absolute money coming off the bench. But Noordyk also came off the floor with an injury in that final game and will not be in uniform tonight. Spring Lake competes in the OK Blue where 3 of the 4 teams in the Sparta Regional reside. The last time the teams met the Lakers were up 36-11 by halftime. The Packers held their own in the second half but their first half excavation made the climb out of that hole a bit out of reach. Laker sharpshooter Andree is a lot. She can light it up especially from distance as can Wrona. And Carter makes for a strong presence in the paint. Can the Packers stay with the Lakers? Well, they cannot start slow. I know, I know, we said the same thing about the Grant game and sure enough the Packers total scoring in Q1 came from a DeKuiper free throw while the Tigers took a 10 point lead. While they finally found some scoring they were still down 13 early in the second half. A furious run with some clutch shooting by Chase and Bennett and a strong defensive showing got them back in the game and led to an eventual win. I would be amazed if a similar script could be followed when they meet the Lakers. Spring Lake can squeeze the air out of teams with a stifling defense that holds teams not named West Catholic or Holland Christian to under 30 in most games. Being able to beat the Laker pressure and more importantly score off early opportunities would be vital since Andree likes to get on the board early and often. The defense will have to solve Carter and without Noordyk to provide some of her much needed blue collar work down under, other players have to step up. Bennett was hot from the arc last time out and Chase has played masterfully in this tourney. Both need to be on from tipoff to buzzer tonight. Then there are the officials. Fremont saw two vastly different types of calls in those 2 games. If this turns out to be like the Sparta matchup look for some physical play and a lot of banging underneath. If they are like Friday’s crew, the calls will be tighter and foul trouble could loom when trying to contain a pretty productive Laker offense. Of course the standard ‘minimize turnovers, hit the foul shots, play good defense’ cliches all fit the 'what we need to win' category There weren’t a lot of high expectations for the Packers coming into this season and some of those early wins left many unconvinced. But not the Packers. They seem to have believed in themselves since the beginning and the conference championship and District title they’ve collected make for a pretty good argument that they were right. Now they face the team that humbled them at home, their first game of the season and first game with Coach Zerfas at the helm. After Friday's hardware haul, Coach Z. brought up that opening loss to SL. “In the locker room after that game I told the girls if they worked hard, worked together and if they trusted what I was going to teach and coach them, we would see Spring Lake again in Regionals. Not sure they believed me then, but Here We Come.” Go Pack! Holton heads for the Regionals
Holton 41 Shelby 39 (2OT) The Red Devils and Tigers were doing battle for the third time this season, this one for a District title. Holton had won their first two meetings but this was tournament time and the game would be played on the Shelby home court. And what a game it was. A 13-10 halftime lead by the Devils evaporated in the third as Shelby took over with a 13-4 run and the game entered the 4th with the Tigers up 6 in a game where points came at a premium. Behind 5 clutch points by Layla Cannady the Devils fought their way back and the teams finished regulation tied at 31. Coach Jordan: “OT was back and forth with both teams only scoring 3. The play of the game with Lexi Bart not giving up on a fast break layup and was able to contest it with only a few seconds remaining in the overtime to force a miss. If she doesn’t give it all out effort on that play we don’t win this game. “In the 2nd overtime Kenzie Greene came through with a huge 3 to start the quarter and we were able to get a lead of about 6 points with 50 seconds left. I thought we finally had it in the bag, but Shelby I would just not go away. Molly Shultz hit a deep three and got another two and trimmed a six point lead down to 1 very quickly. We had the ball, got fouled and Abbie Fowler split to put us up 2 with 10 seconds left.They had the ball and we were able to take away any good looks. They tossed one up at the buzzer and lucky for us it didn’t go in.” “First I want to give Shelby a ton of credit, those girls played hard and it was a back and forth game all night, that team is way better than their record. “If you believe in omens then we had a chance tonight. We only have one district title in school history and that was 9 years ago at Shelby where we played Hesperia on Wednesday and Shelby at Shelby. This week 9 years later it was the same layout.. Hesperia on Wednesday and Shelby at Shelby. So it was all lined up for us. “So proud of this team for the effort tonight. Several girls made big plays for us in this back and forth game and we earned every point.” Ryann Robins was a force on the glass hauling down 24 boards to go with her 15 points.Aubrey Goyings finished with 13 rebounds while Lexi Bart hit for 11 points and added 5 steals. Holton moves on to the Regionals at Covenant Christian where they will take on Northpointe Christian on Monday. Game time 7pm. First Title since ‘09 sends Packers to Sparta Regional Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken De Laat Fremont 49 Grant 40 The Packers notched their first District title since 2009 with a gutsy comeback performance against a determined Tiger squad. But once again, it did not come easy. Grant took control early in the game behind a stellar first quarter by Bella Welch. After she hit the opening basket teammate Jocee Pleune popped one in from distance to make it 5-0. Welch then made it to the free throw line where she notched a pair, broke away after a stop to go the distance for a layup and after Packer Taylor DeKuiper finally got her team on the board by splitting her free throws, Welch scored again and the first quarter ended with the Tigers up 11-1. The second saw more of Welch as she answered the three pointer by Eliana Vandenberg with a trio of buckets. Riley Chase hit a 2 and Grant responded with a triple by Liliana Krepps giving the Tigers a 20-6 lead. The Packers responded with Jessica Bennett hitting the first of her clutch shots on the night, a missile from outside the arc and Khaila Noordyk knocked down a bucket bringing the game to halftime and cutting the Grant lead to 9. The Tigers struck first after intermission with their all time leading scorer Julie Ashbaugh getting her first points of the night and Emma Thompson following with a basket to push the lead to 13. Then the Packers went on a run. Noordyk scored off a rebound, Chase wove her way in for a score and Noordyk hit again before going down with an injury. Her teammates responded by running off another 7 points and when Chase hit to tie it up Grant called time out to regroup having seen their double digit lead disappear. Bennett stuck a deuce and a three while on the Tiger side Natalia Rodriguez converted from the line and Pleune ripped another distance shot and a wild third came to an end with the teams knotted at 29. Tiger Payton Bouwkamp scored and DeKuiper answered, then scored again after a steal. Reese Gragg tied it up with a 2 and Chase put the Pack back up. Gragg responded with a 3 pointer to give Grant the lead at 36-35. And it was the last lead they would see. Bennett was on fire scorching a three then going to the line and converting a pair. Chase hit a 2 and Fremont grabbed a 6 point lead with just under 2 minutes left. Forced to foul, Grant saw the Packers hit7 of 10 down the stretch to secure the win. Coach Zerfas: “Our girls are just resilient and have no quit. I am so proud of them for not giving up or hanging their heads when we were down at least 14 points early. We have so many that contributed throughout the game. Riley Chase was again Huge just like Wednesday. Taylor DeKuiper scored 7 of her 9 in the 4th quarter and Jessica Bennett is just Clutch. She had 8 of her 16 in the 4th including a 27 foot 3pt shot after Grant scored mid 4th. She is fearless.
“We play Spring Lake Monday at Sparta. We lost to Spring Lake in the first game of the season. In the locker room after the game I told the girls if they worked hard, worked together and if they trusted what I was going to teach and coach them, we would see Spring Lake again in Regionals. Not sure they believed me then, but Here We Come. “ Fremont (20-4) faces Spring Lake (17-6) Monday at 7 pm at Sparta High School. West Catholic (23-1) and Unity Christian (15-9) will play in the 5:30 pm game with the winners facing off Wednesday at 7 pm. Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken De Laat Fremont vs Grant District Finals. Friday 7pm at Newaygo High School Tough one to pick. Fremont has been a juggernaut all season, capturing the WMC-Lakes title and piling up 19 wins in the process. This is a group of players who know each other well, play to each other's strengths and aren’t afraid to mix it up if the game calls for it. Coach Zerfas makes use of a pretty long bench and there isn’t much lost on the court when he goes to it. The catalyst for this group all season has been Mia Clemance. And here lies the problem. The player Coach Z. describes as ‘the glue’ for his team is out with an untimely injury that will keep her in street clothes for this and any possible future games this year. On Wednesday her absence could be seen in the way the Packers started the game. Not just missed shots but few opportunities early on as Soarta used its physical style of play to silence the Packer offense. But it didn’t take long for the team to regroup. They went at the Spartans from distance to begin with, popping in enough triples to widen the floor a bit. Then they took over the glass. Chase was outstanding, Noordyk came in and provided a strong presence in the paint and DeKuiper could be found anywhere there was a scramble for the ball. Bennett and Ackerman hit some key buckets and they pulled away late to secure a spot in the finals. Now they have a game under their belt without ‘the glue’ and the talent on this team is augmented by the way they play together. Grant has had an interesting season to say the least. A second place finish (thanks to Kent City) in the CSAA is a mark of a good season for any team, but there were title aspirations in Tiger country and a pair of overtime losses took those away. The Tigers have Ashbaugh the all time leading scorer for Grant and to use an old expression, “You can’t stop her, you only hope to contain her.” She will get her points and teams know this. The strength of Coach Delamater’s team is the ability of other players to hit their shots when she is being doubled by opponents and they have the talent to do so. Gragg, Rodriguez, Welch and Pleune have no fear when putting up shots and Ashbaugh and Rodriguez both excel at pulling down offensive boards. Krepps, Thompson and Obenauf come off the bench ready to contribute and are also valid options when the team needs points. This should be a good one. Grant cruised in their semi game with an obviously overmatched Comstock Park team but with or without Clemance, Fremont is not Park. The first time these teams played it was a grinder. The Tigers were up a bit at the half but ran out of gas in the latter stages of the game, which is understandable given they were playing for the first time in almost a month. Cancellations and Christmas break delivered a far too long layoff and the team went on to win their next 8 straight. Officials really let the teams play on Wednesday. There was a lot of banging and bodies hitting the deck and I don’t recall seeing quite so many jump balls called in a game as I did during Fremont/Sparta. If the game is called tighter than those two games foul trouble might be a factor since Wednesday’s crowd saw about 30 more fouls than the referees seemed to see. The Packers will need to get off to a good start and not seem rudderless as they did in the early stages of Wednesday’s game. The Tigers have to get production beyond Ashbaugh and win the battle of the boards. Interestingly, whoever wins is probably looking at a rematch with Spring Lake next week in Sparta. The Lakers schooled the Packers in the season opener then took apart an undermanned Tiger team 2 weeks later. But there’s been a lot of season since then. Two good teams, District Finals, and a shot at advancing to the Regionals. Man. I love this time of year. Best show in town. Holton faces Shelby for District title Friday
The Red Devils moved on to a Friday final matchup with Shelby with a convincing win over the Panthers. Coach Jordan: “We jumped out to a 13-0 lead after the first quarter and we kind of took our foot off the gas a little . Our intensity level dropped and we coasted at times which allowed them a few easy buckets but we went into half up 30-12. At half we talked about picking it up to the needed level and I felt the girls responded better. We pulled the starters for basically the entire 4th and let several of the JV players that were pulled up get some decent minutes in a district game , which was nice to be able to do. It got my starters plenty of rest, something they will not get on Friday when we play Shelby for the title. “Our goal all year was to get a district title. Just one more game against a dangerous Shelby team who are way better than their record. We have beat them twice on the year but that means absolutely nothing come Friday as North Muskegon can attest to. “We know what it will take and we are up for it.” Ryann Robins continues to excel on the court knocking down 17 points and collecting 11 rebounds Aubrey Goyings finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds and Layla Cannady hit for 8 points, Holton will face Shelby Grisay at 7pm at Shelby High School. The winner advances to Regional play at Grand Rapids Covenant Christian Defense steps up to hold back Panthers Photos by Alexis Mercer Stroy by Ken De Laat Grant 48 Comstock Park 27 This one was a game for about 12 minutes . A plucky Park squad came out and played the Tigers tough early on, but the Grant defense rose up to keep the Panthers in check long enough to allow the Tiger shooters to heat up. Bella Welch opened the Tiger scoring with a bucket and Reese Gragg converted from the line but the Panthers answered with shots from Megan Pelfley and Sierra Fonseca. Jocee Pleune hit off a rebound for Grant and Lilly Wollen sank a pair from the line for Park. As the quarter wound down Julie Ashbaugh got on the board and Fonseca countered with a triple to bring a slow, turnover-ridden 1st quarter to an end with CP up 9-8. Gragg and Ashbaugh both hit to begin the second but Fonseca scored and the Panthers split in a couple trips to the line and CP was up 13-12.Nineteen Tiger points later it was deep into the third quarter and the Tigers had taken total command of the game. Liliana Krepps hit a bomb, Welch shoveled a steal to Emma Thompson for 2, Alexa Obenauf canned one from distance and Thompson found the hoop again and the teams hit halftime with Park down 22-13 and hoping the break might cool off the Tiger run. It didn’t. Another triple by Krepps and baskets by Ashbaugh, Welch and Gragg kicked off the second half before Fonseca hit one of her 2 free throws to finally end the 19-0 run. It was 38-15 entering the 4th and the Tigers kept the Panthers at bay the final 8 minutes to secure the win and move on to Friday’s finals where a rematch with Fremont awaits. Coach Delamater: “It was a good start to district play for us. We struggled to make baskets early and I equate that to nerves. We got our groove in the second and took the game over from there. I thought we played extremely well defensively, including making some key adjustments that kept CP from getting to the basket. At the midway point of the fourth CP still only had 15 points. Friday is a rematch of our January game with Fremont. We lost by 6 after being off for over a month without playing. Both teams have been battle tested since then and Pete will have them playing intense and well prepared for us.” Ashbaugh led a well balanced Grant scoring attack with 12 points. Gragg and Krepps counted 7 each while Welch and Obenauf hit for a half dozen.
Grant will play Fremont this Friday, March 8th at 7pm at the Newaygo High School gym. Rematch with Grant coming Friday Fremont 45 Sparta 32 In a game that saw a high level of physical play from both teams the Packers were able to finally shake loose from a relentless Spartan squad and move on to Friday’s District Finals But it wasn’t pretty Coach Zerfas: “It was probably the sloppiest game I’ve seen but we were able to come out of it with a win. We’re mostly a high scoring, up and down, shoot the ball team, but we’ve had a few like this against Ludington and Grant where we’ve had to grind it out.” Missing a key starter in Mia Clemance who is out with an ankle injury the Packers struggled early, not only missing shots but rarely getting off decent attempts. The free throw line was no refuge from futility with the Packers going 0-4 during that stretch. As a result the Spartans were able to build an 8-0 lead. Then 5 ½ minutes into the game Riley Chase wove her way to the basket to put her team on the board. After Sparta went 2-2 at the line Chase nailed 2 triples on successive possessions and suddenly the Pack were on track Fremont took the lead early in the second with Katie Ackerman hitting twice then Jessica Bennett joined in the fun finding net from beyond the arc twice. After Taylor DeKuiper pulled off a steal and score, Spartan Averi Peot popped in a 3 and the Packers hit halftime up 21-18. Peot was keeping the Spartans in the game accounting for 7 of the 8 Spartan points in the period. Sparta kept hanging close early in the third before Chase got to the line and converted followed by Khalia Noordyk taking an offensive rebound and muscling the ball in while also drawing a foul in the process. Her conversion made it a 6 point lead and the next 2 Spartan baskets were answered by another Bennett three and another Noordyk put back off a board. The teams headed to the final frame with Fremont holding a 35-28 edge. The 4th belonged to the Packers. Chase scored from the field and the line and Bennett also hit from the stripe down the stretch. The Spartan offense had gone mostly silent and their season came to an end and the hands of the Packers. Coach Z: “I thought two players in particular had really good games. Riley Chase had a monster game for us and I thought Khaila Noordyk came off the bench, rebounded and played extremely well in the middle. I don’t think we win without big games from Riley and Khaila.”
Chase finished with a team high 17 points to go with her 8 steals. Bennett hit for 14, rejected 7 shots and added 7 rebounds while Noordyk scored 6 and pulled 9 off the glass. DeKuiper was a demon on defense collecting 7 steals and battling for 7 boards Fremont will face Grant in the District Finals Friday at Newaygo High School beginning at 7 pm. The winner moves on to the Regional play in Sparta. Packers, Tigers hoping to advance; Red Devils look to sweep Panthers
By Ken De Laat D2 District at Newaygo Sparta vs, Fremont 5:30 pm The Packers record has few blemishes on it in what has become a breakout season under the tutelage of Coach Zerfas. A pair of close losses to MorleyStan, a defeat in the season opener to perennial powerhouse Spring Lake and a late season stumble against the Wren Nelson led MCC Spartans. Other than those, it’s been a magical year for this team. A pair of wins over a really good Ludington team helped them sweep the conference schedule and knocking off former CSAA rivals Grant and Reed City were part of the 18 wins they collected on the season heading into tournament play. There are a lot of ways Fremont can beat you. They put less talented teams away early with a bevy of consistent scorers and a couple of defensive gamers who have corralled some of the area’s best players. They also have a talented freshman who makes one recall other prominent Packer players who began their Girls Varsity careers just out of middle school. Sparta held off a gritty Newaygo group to get here. They can score in bunches but it tends to be inconsistent and they lapse into periods when turnovers become a problem. Not saying they won’t give Fremont a game. The Packers and Spartans have a long history of playoff matchups between them that ended unpredictably. But this looks to be a pretty good Packer squad and Coach Z won’t let them come in not prepared to win. Side note: For an aging sportswriter the Spartan uniforms with their dark blue numbers against a dark background aren’t a personal favorite due to the challenges it brings when attempting to ID players. Granted, they do look pretty cool though. Comstock Park vs. Grant 7 pm Park was 2-10 at one point in the season. Since then they are 6-4 and a pair of those losses were tightly contested games against 2 of the area’s better teams in Belding and Calvin. During that early slump Sparta bested them by 24 points. Less than a month later the Panthers played them at home and beat them by 8. Grant won 4 to start the season. Lost 3 in a row then peeled off 8 straight wins. Then Kent City took them in OT forcing a title showdown with MorleyStan a game they also lost in OT. A rematch with the Eagles saw them lose by double digits and they wrapped up the conference tourney beating the Coyotes by a point. Are the Tigers ready to make a run? They need to close games out and it has been a struggle these last couple of weeks. Ashbaugh and Welch can score. Rodriguez can get to the line and convert and while Pleune, Thompson and Krepps slap down some righteous defense, they can get it in the basket if needed. Obenauf, Gragg and others add to the depth on the Tiger bench. I like this Tiger team. Along with having the school’s all time leading scorer on the squad there are tenacious ballers who know the game and play it with a passion. When they are in sync the team seems unstoppable. When they’re not…? I think the Tigers will get by Park but they’d best be careful and not let the Panthers hang around. While we’re unsure why Grant hasn’t come close in their 2 OT games….well… They haven’t. D3 District at Shelby North Muskegon vs, Shelby 5:30pm The Norse beat the Tigers twice in the regular season but neither win was easy and this one remains anyone's game, Holton vs. Hesperia 7 pm In their previous 2 games this season the Red Devils have outscored the Panthers 110-25. Holton moves on. |
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