And Then There Was One

Photo by Alexis Mercer

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!

Photo by Alexis Mercer