By Mike Gesler
Photos By Catalpa Photography Grant 44 Newaygo 31 The Lady Tigers matched up against the Lions of Newaygo in a near north CSAA Gold Conference rivalry. Coming into tonight, the two teams had two nearly identical records, and were tied in the conference standings at 1-5 apiece. But the parity did not end at their records. Both teams are using every game to create experience in their young squads, to learn from their mistakes, and to build on their successes. So tonight would be a chance for either team to mark the season’s midway point on a high note. The first half of the game would prove how evenly matched the Tigers and the Lions are. At the end of the first quarter, Newaygo led by one; ten points to Grant’s nine. The second quarter would see each team score six buckets thus Newaygo went into the half still maintaining their one point lead; sixteen points to Grant’s fifteen. Grant made some adjustments coming into the second half that would include junior center, Kylie Patton, to which Newaygo would have no answer. “Truthfully it was a lot of attacking the basket, and finding Patton inside,” stated Coach Paulsen of Grant. Patton’s height was too much for Newaygo as Grant dominated the boards during the third quarter on both ends winning offensive rebounds and giving Newaygo few looks at the hoop. Yet, as Patton rested early in the fourth quarter, the Lions took every opportunity to wrangle in the score and bring it back to a one point difference with about four and half minutes left in the game. That would be as close as the Lions would get. Grant went on an eight point run, and never looked back. As the final buzzer sounded, Grant defeated their northern rivals 44-31. “I thought it was pretty evenly matched. I thought about two or three minutes of the third quarter and two or three minutes of the fourth quarter, Grant kind of took it to us. We doubled our mistakes up, and they hit shots. That was kind of the difference in the game,” shared Newaygo coach Jason Long. Leading the way for the Tigers was Kylie Patton with a season high 14 points, followed by sophomore guard, Nicole Whan, with eight. Jill Arends and Kirstyn Throop each scored six, as Cecelia May and Savannah Passage each added four. Emerson Cole also added to the Tiger’s victory with two point. For the Lions, freshman guard, Jaylee Long led with nine points. Alexis Brocker (7), Lillian Ruehmeier (6), Daisy Hagen (5), and Dana duChemin (4) also added to the Lion’s effort. The Tigers move to 3-8 (2-5 conference) at the midpoint of the season, and will next see Lakeview in a non-conference matchup at home on Tuesday at 5:30. Newaygo sits at 2-8 (1-6) and will visit Morley Stanwood on Tuesday.
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Fremont could not shake loose from a relentless Viking group in the first half building a 10 point lead only to see it nearly evaporate by intermission. TC spotted their visitors a quick 6 point lead but a cold shooting spell saw the first quarter come to a quiet 12-4 lead for Fremont. The Packers pounded the ball into Logan Karnemaat early for 8 first half points before the hosts employed a collapsing defense that double and triple teamed him whenever he touched the ball. Down 18-8 Wil McClurken and Nick Poprawski sandwiched a triple by Mason Clewley before McClurken answered a Wyatt Kaastra bucket with a triple to pull the Vikes within 2 at 20-18. TC had the ball with a chance to tie at the half but a steal by Carter Moon led to his trip to the charity stripe where he converted the pair to make it 22-18 Fremont at intermission.
Dylan Krim came out of the locker room and scored twice followed by a 2 and 1 by Kaastra and the lead was pushed to 13. Freshman Cameren Friend canned a 2 and a 3 for TC but the Packers were finding their game and when Moon fired in a three pointer at the end of 3 Fremont had built a 19 point advantage and cruised to the win. Fremont(7-2, 6-1) remains tied atop the conference standings with Big Rapids who posted a 63-41 victory over Chippewa Hills. The Packers will host Whitehall Tuesday before returning to league action against Chip Hills on Friday. By Ken DeLaat The two teams put on an exciting performance Friday night with Tri County coming out on top but Fremont may have lost more than a basketball game. Brianna Noordyk part of the sister duo who joined the team last week went down in the closing minutes and was helped off the floor. The extent of the injury has not been determined. This one was a battle from the onset as a Grace Miller bucket to open the scoring was answered by Calla Miller before Brianna Noordyk fired in one from beyond the arc, followed by two from the line for Calla Miller and a Paige VandenBerg bucket to stake the visitors to a 9-2 advantage after one. Turnovers were plaguing the Vikes before freshman Alicia Bowen came on in the second. Coach Chris Overbeek commented,“It’s not very often that a freshman gives you a calming effect, but that’s what Alicia did for us tonight when we were turning it over a ton in the first half.” The hosts came back to grab a 15-11 lead and Fremont was struggling to score when Calla Miller put a nasty spin move on her defender to pull the Pack to within 2 and VandenBerg canned another for the tie then answered TC baskets twice more to keep the teams knotted at 9. With halftime approaching Emma Overbeek speared a 3 pointer from the wing and then managed to draw a foul.Tricia Slavens grabbed the missed shot and with a put-back gave the Vikes a 24-19 edge at intermission. Taylor Reed opened second half scoring giving TC a 7 point lead the only points tallied for nearly half of the period. That’s when the Pack came back with 10 straight points as Sydney Noordyk joined her sister in scoring before a two and one converted by Miller and another Brianna Noordyke triple off a slick pass from her sibling gave Fremont the lead. The Vikes pushed in front with a Dayoni Mahlich bucket before Natalie Jamieson tipped the scales back to the Packers to end the 3rd with Fremont holding a 31-30 edge. The 4th was wild as Patenge split from the line followed by Miller banking in a triple from the top of the key. TC answered with a bucket but after another split by Patenge a Brianna Noordyke steal was fired into the hands of Jamieson who canned it to put the Pack up by 5.
Coach Overbeek called time out toright the Viking ship and soon after the tide turned toward TC. Mahlich hit a triple to cut the lead to 2 and soon after VandenBerg who had been a force in the paint all night fouled out. After Calla Miller split a 1:1 Overbeek went the length for 2. Seconds later a technical fouls but Overbeek at the line where she split to tie the game with 3 minutes to play Reed scored to make it 41-39. The next trip down saw the injury to Brianna Noordyk. Jamieson was sent to the line and promptly drained a pair to tie it up once more but Reed answered again with what proved to be the game winner after a stop by the Vikes forced Fremont to foul putting Slavens at the line to split a pair at the 2 second mark. “That’s two in a row where we had to make a fourth quarter comeback,” added Coach Overbeek A hard fought game between two impressive teams who will both be making their presence known in the Gold race during the second half of the conference season. A well balanced Viking scoring attack featured Slavens with 9 points Mahlich, 8, Grace Miller 7, Reed and Overbeek 6 and Bowen 4 Slavens pulled down 9 rebounds, Jessica Thompson finished with 7, Overbeek dished out 4 assists and Mahlich snared 6 steals. Calla Miller knocked down a game high 13 points while Brianna Noordyk and VandenBerg notched 8 apiece. The Vikings (6-6, 4-3) will host league leading and undefeated Central Montcalm on Friday while The Packers (6-5, 3-4) will travel to Montague Monday for a match up with the Wildcats before resuming to conference play against Chippewa Hills in Remus on Friday. By N3 Sports
GOLD Central Montcalm 6-0 Reed City 5-1 Big Rapids 5-1 Fremont 3-3 Tri Count 3-3 Newaygo 1-5 Grant 1-5 Chippewa Hills 0-6 Midway through the conference season Central Montcalm has edged out in front and remains undefeated on the season.The Hornets have done enough to beat the better teams like Big Rapids and Greenville this season while annihilating others in the process with half of their wins by 20 or more points. They face Reed City Friday a team that cruised through the first half without a loss before being humbled on their home floor by Big Rapids on Tuesday. The same Cardinals who came into the Hornet Hive last Friday with an unblemished record and left with a loss and a tumble into second place. Chippewa Hills has not reached 20 points the past two games. Fremont visits Tri County Friday in a matchup of teams huddled in the middle of the conference standings. The Pack took a big hit with the loss of playmaker and top scorer Bre Harris in just their second conference game. They followed with a non-con win over a struggling Orchard View team then lost a pair to the frontrunning Cards and Hornets. The Packers seem to be finding themselves with several players beginning to step up, notably the freshman Calla Miller and now they have added the Noordyk sisters Sydney and Briana to the fold. This is a team with a lot of talent despite the key loss of Ms. Harris and the new additions should give them a boost. The Vikes are hot. They took a Christmas Break trip to the Hoosier Gym in Indiana and came back with a pair of losses but a heightened confidence. TC runs pretty deep as Grace Miller, Tricia Slavens, Dayoni Mahlich, Emma Overbeek, Jessica Thompson and others take turns leading the stat sheet each night. If they continue to resolve an early season tendency toward slow starts they will be making some noise in the second half and on Tuesday the Hornets should see a different team than the one they took down early in December. Grant went 1-9 last season before pulling together for a strong second half and reaching the district finals. This season they are 2-8 The youthful team has shown some sparks as evidence by an 18 point output in Tuesday’s second quarter but it has been a struggle for them to put together a complete game. Sophomores Kirstyn Throop and Savannah Passage seem to be gaining confidence and will help amp up the scoring in what has been a struggling offense. Newaygo can score, particularly with the hot hand of freshman phenom Jaylee Long who is lighting it up from all over the court. Trouble is, they’re giving up over 50 a game in the last four of their current 5 game skid that includes a pair of tough losses this past week. The game could go either way and will likely depend on which team gets out to an early lead but it is, after all, Grant and Newaygo the oldest and wildest rivalry going in these parts. It's unwise to ever speculate on any game between these two schools but the one thing you can pretty much bet on? It won’t be boring. SILVER Kent City 4-0 White Cloud 3-1 Morley Stanwood 3-1 Holton 1-3 Lakeview 0-3 Hesperia 0-3 In the Silver Hannah Brown has White Cloud in a second place tie with Morley Stanwood who they visit Friday in a huge game for both teams. Brown is a scoring machine and gets some key inside help from Elexis Plotts. Coach Brown has some bench help as well this year with Breanna Sutherlund and others posting some quality minutes. The Indians have notched 4 in a row while the ‘Hawks are coming off a loss at the hands of the high flying Eagles of Kent City who currently rule the Silver. This game might be a measure of how far the Indians have come as they face down an old rival in what can be an unwelcoming venue for visitors. A tough year for Hesperia doesn’t get any easier as they head to Kent City. The Panthers have only scored more than 40 twice this season and the Eagles are averaging over 55 a contest. Holton will be playing Lakeview in what will be their second game in as many nights after a Thursday matchup with Fruitport Calvary. Neither team seems to score many points so it will likely be a close contest Fremont 55 Grant 50 Story by Mike Gesler Photos by Catalpa Photography The Fremont Boys came into tonight’s CSAA Gold Conference match up needing a win in order to stay tied atop the conference with Big Rapids. Grant however needed a win just to stay within a hope of possibly making a second half of the season run at the conference title. The fans came though because, well, it was Fremont-Grant. Fremont’s junior, Wyatt Kaastra, opened up the game with a three point bucket which ignited the home team crowd. The Packers then built their lead to seven before Grant senior, Michael Frey, finally found the net with three of his own to get the Tigers started. It was then game on as Grant settled in with aggressive play and winning the battle of the boards. By the time the buzzer sounded for the first half, Grant was up by four leading 22-26. “I think for thirty minutes that’s as bad as we can play. We just had absolutely no energy what-so-ever,” Fremont’s coach, Pete Zerfas, emphasized. “I think it’s because so many of these games have gone down to the wire. A week ago, Big Rapids going down to the wire, and coming back and finding a way to win. Then with Newaygo having a big lead, down five with twenty seconds to go, and we find a way to win in double overtime. I think mentally it’s just been draining. And we just had no bounce or energy what-so-ever tonight which is tough because it’s hard; you need to have energy against Grant.” That energy did not come during the third quarter either as Grant continued to stretch out their lead by eight. But, in an homage to Keith Jackson, “Whoa, Nellie,” that energy sparked in the fourth quarter, and it took on a life of its own.
Within two and a half minutes, Fremont brought the game within one. Yet somehow Grant managed to reign control back in, and then went into possession ball with four guards on the floor. With one minute left on the clock, it looked all but over for Fremont. And then Fremont senior, Riley Krim, showed up. If it was a crime to steal the ball, Krim would be locked up for life. Krim had two back-to-back break away steals to move the Packers ahead by one. The Tigers then had no answer, and could not knock down free throws to tie, as the Packers came from behind to seal it, 55-50. "Oh man, we gave that game away,” stated Grant’s coach, Matthew McCorkle. “They got the job done though. I mean they did what they need to do so we lost and they won, and that is the game of basketball. I got faith in my guys. The bottom line is I believe in my guys, and I have faith in them executing the game plan. That’s what I asked them to do, and they did it. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t work.” Fremont will next play Tri-County this Friday at Tri-County while Grant will be at home against near north rivals Newaygo. Leading the charge for the Packers was senior, Riley Krim, with a season high 22 points, followed by junior, Logan Karnemaat with 14 points. Also helping with Fremont were Ben Schmidt (8), Wyatt Kaastra (5), Carter Moon (4), and Jaxx Miller (4). The Tigers were led by seniors Tyler Naffziger and Michael Frey with 14 and 12 points respectively. Frederick Hull added 10 to the Tigers effort as well as Alex Longcore (6), Brett Long (5), and Carter and Cole Chase each with one. Fremont 45 Grant 31 Story by Mike Gesler Photos by Catalpa Photography A young Grant Lady Tiger team came into Fremont’s house tonight for a CSAA Gold Conference matchup. The Tigers have been showing steady improvement all season, but would be facing, as most of their season has gone, a more experienced Packer team. While neither team has much hope of winning the conference, Fremont needed a win to get to .500, and at least keep some momentum going. The Packers opened up the game and built a six point lead before the Tigers brought it within two about half way through the first quarter. But easy turnovers would hurt Grant, and by the time the quarter ended, Fremont stretched their lead by seven, 13-6. “We started out well. We had a great beginning of the game. We put a lot of pressure on them, and they didn’t handle the ball particularly well,” said Fremont’s coach, John Krim. The second quarter, however, would see just the opposite. Suddenly Grant was putting on a sneak peak of the type of team they are developing into. “We really came out that second quarter and played the brand of basketball we kind of have been waiting to play. I mean we were moving the ball. We played a little bit up tempo. The kids were involved; confident in what they could do, and the product showed. I mean you don’t always expect to score eighteen points in a quarter, but you think you could get twelve,” said Coach Paulsen of Grant. That eighteen point run lifted the Tigers into a halftime lead of 18-24.
The third and fourth quarters conversely, were all about the Packers. The Tigers could not get the looks they needed, and their shooters went cold only scoring a total seven points in the entire second half. “We kind of struggled to get a few things going. We’re not the highest shooting percentage team so when you’re not getting shots, and the shots you are getting count for everything in the world because they’re the difference between you going up one or going down five, you have got to make them. When you don’t, it sets you back. We didn’t get a high volume, and then we didn’t make the ones that we needed,” stated Coach Paulsen So while Grant couldn’t get anything going on the boards, Fremont took every opportunity to re-grab the lead and not look back; putting up twelve points in the third quarter and fifteen in the fourth. “We needed to make some adjustments. One of that was we need to fake passes a little more, and fake high pass, low pass, that kind of thing, and make sure that we were bounce passing; just had to do a better job of taking care of the ball because we were our own worst enemies in that first half,” Coach Krim offered. The Packers move to 6-4 (3-3 conference) on the season while the Tigers fell to 2-8 (1-5 Conference). The Packers will next face Tri-County on Friday at Tri-County, and the Tigers will see Newaygo in Grant on Friday. Leading the way for the Packers was freshman, Calla Miller, with 12 points followed by senior, Anna Patenge with 10 points and sophomore, Chloe Shriver with nine. Also scoring for Fremont was Natalie Jamieson and Paige VandenBerg both with four, and Riley Sweet, Katie Nicholas, and Briana Noordyk each with two. For the Tigers, sophomore, Nichole Whan, led with eight points, followed by Jill Arends (7), Kylee Wemple (5), Kirstyn Throop (4), Savannah Passage (4), and Kylie Patton (3). Boys: Newaygo 67 Tri County 44
The Lions ran out to a 23-6 lead after one then held off the Vikings for a much needed win. “It was nice to get back out on the court tonight and compete after a tough loss Friday,” said Lion Coach Joe Barrette. “ We were very solid tonight.” Mitch Karrip fired in a game high 17 points with Noah Cantu hitting for 14 for the Lions who evened their conference record to 3-3. Connor Swinehart and Morgan Manlick added 8 points apiece. Viking freshman Cameron Friend got on the glass for 13 rebounds to go with his 10 points while Bryce Hallman knocked down a team high 13 points.Nick Poprawski helped on the boards finishing with 8 rebounds and also contributed 9 points for TC “We played an even 3 quarters with them, but that first quarter was our undoing,” said Viking Coach Josh Delamater. TC hosts the Packers of Fremont Friday while Newaygo heads a bit south to face their long time rivals from Grant. Girls: Tri County 53 Newaygo 49 Down by 10 at the break the Lions came out of the locker room and put on a furious rally scoring 23 points to pull even heading into the final frame, but the Vikings edged ahead and held off the hosts for the win. Dayoni Mahlich led the offense canning 16 points with the trio of Summer Longstreet, Tricia Slavens, and Grace Miller finishing with a half dozen each. Jessica Thompson led the Vikings on the glass pulling down 10 boards with Slavens adding 8. Julia Bice snared 6 steals for TC and Emma Overbeek dished out 4 assists. “We made just enough plays to pull it out, but we’ve got to shoot better than 13/36 from the line,” said TC Coach Chris Overbeek. “We learned tonight how good and how tough Jaylee Long is. I was so impressed by her tonight.” The Vikes improve to 3-3 in conference play and will welcome in Fremont Friday. Newaygo heads to Grant for a matchup with the Tigers. Fremont Wrestling made the finals at the Sanford-Meridian Invitational Sarurday going undefeated in their pool and finishing the day at 4-1. Their team scores were: Fremont 79 Midland 0 Fremont 71 Ithaca 9 Fremont 37 Caro 36 (9th criteria) The most exciting match of the day was against Caro in the 3rd round when the Packers won 37-36 due to the 9th tie breaker criteria of first points scored. The key takedown of the match was by Sophomore Chase Knudsen, who scored first against the number one ranked wrestler in the state, DJ Daniels. Although he lost the bout, his 2 point takedown gave his team the 14-11 advantage needed to grab the victory from the Tigers. In pool crossover wrestling, Fremont beat Montabella 54-21 and then went on to wrestle a close one with host Sanford-Meridian before losing 30-46. Undefeated wrestlers on the day were freshmen Trey Breuker and Cody Routley. Wrestlers going 4-1 were Cade Breuker, Parker Dalson, Chase Knudsen, and Kyler Kolk. The Packers will have an individual tournament on Saturday at Hopkins High School. Their dual meet record now stands at 22-8. By N3 Sports
Some key games this week as the conference races begin to heat up at the schedule’s halfway point. The Gold looked like it could shape up to be a Cardinal/Coyote race early on before Fremont took down Big Rapids in a thriller at home and a 1-4 Grant team knocked visiting Reed City from the unbeaten ranks. The Pack followed up by grabbing a road win in Stanton over the Hornets then fighting off a relentless Newaygo team for a double overtime victory. The Tigers fell to Chip Hills on the road before delivering a trouncing in Tri County. The two teams meet Tuesday night in Fremont’s gym and the stands will be filled with fans from both sides in what should be a tough matchup. While Fremont heads out for a Friday game against the Vikes, Grant’s task gets no easier as they host their rivals up the road. Newaygo stayed in contention for a win in each of their losses to the three teams sharing the top spot. They were in contention for a win at the highly unfriendly Coyote gym in the season opener, nearly beat Big Rapids on the Cardinals home floor then took the Packers to double overtime before falling just short, also on the road. After hosting TC they get to the halfway point by taking their game to the Tiger court. The good news is all four of the teams the Lions are staring up at will play in the Den the second half. Tri County is struggling to get in the win column and haven’t the height to compete with bigger squads who control the glass on both ends. The conference his filled with good teams possessing an advantage in depth as well as height. The Vikings will battle every opponent and any team looking past them on the schedule could be in trouble. After Tuesday the trio atop the standings will whittle to one or two depending on the outcome of the Tiger/Packer matchup. Big Rapids and Reed City go at it for the first time so one team will emerge with their second loss. Tiger Coach Matt McCorkle feels Fremont might be the team to beat for the title. “They have size and are scoring the ball right now.” By N3 Sports Team
Girls Tri County 53 Grant 29 The Vikings took control early and never let up as they rsn their home record to 4-1 with a victory over the Tigers. "That was likely our most complete effort of the year,” said Viking Coach Chris Overbeek. “Offensively, our spacing and timing was the best it's been. We did a great job of not turning the ball over. Jessica Thompson was a force inside on both offense and defense. We received a lot of contributions from a lot of girls." Grace Miller knocked down 15 points, Thompson hit for 11 and Dayoni Mahlich added 8. Emma Overbeek cleaned up the glass pulling down 10 boards. Tricia Slavens dished out a team high 4 assists. White Cloud 53 Holton 27 The Indians made it three in a row with a win over the Red Devils and moved into a tie with Morley Stanwood for second in the Silver.White Cloud was led by Hannah Brown with 20 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Olivia Bowman chipped in 9 points and 5 rebounds. Alexis Strait stuffed the stat sheets with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 steals. Hallie Schulz controlled the boards securing a team 10 rebounds. The Indians improve their record to 6-4. White Cloud will be back in action tomorrow when they host Walkerville. Boys Grant 82 Tri County 53 The Tigers clawed their way back into the Gold race with their win over the Vikings and look to take the next step when they face Fremont on Tuesday. “It was nice to get all of my players who played in the scoring column,” said Tiger Coach Matt McCorkle. Holton 51 White Cloud 41 The Red Devils evened their conference record at 2-2 while the Cloud fell to 0-8. Buck Seabrook led the Indians with 14 points,Steven Holt hit for 9 and Jared Elder finished with 8. |
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