Solid Second Half Scoring Seals the Deal for Lions Photos and story by Alexis Mercer Newaygo 64 Lakeview 42 The gym had a palpable excitement leftover from the girls’ game double OT and the boys ran out on the court ready to match that emotion. As he loves to do, Josiah Long started the scoring for the Lions by draining a 3. Caris Nelson quickly after that followed up with his own 3 for the Lions to tie the score at 6. But there wasn’t much more scoring after that in the 1st quarter, ending with the Lions down 8-9. The 2nd quarter proved to be more of a defensive battle as well. The scoring was sparse but the effort was not. At halftime the Wildcats were up 19-17. Coming out of the locker room, the Lions had had enough. The scoring was on. Once again Josiah Long drained 3 to start and then very quickly drained yet another 3 with a foul to make it a 4 point play. The visiting crowd went wild.
There was a mid-quarter lull by the Lions, which allowed Lakeview to get within 5, but Dyllan Bazzett ended the lull with an offensive rebound and put back to go 37-30 at the end of the quarter. Caris Nelson found himself another 3 point shot to open the 4th quarter and then the Lions opened it up and finished strong with this lead until the buzzer. Newaygo was led by Josiah Long with 19 points followed by Bryce Decker with 13 points and Caris Nelson with 11 points and 8 assists and 6 steals. Dyllan Bazzett anchored a solid Newaygo defense. “After a low scoring first half Newaygo was able to get their offense going,” said Coach Jason Long. “Newaygo scored 18 in the third quarter and 27 in the fourth.” This win keeps the Lions tied for first place in the conference.
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Lions Ballers Win Thriller in Double OT Photos and story by Alexis Mercer Newaygo- 45 Lakeview- 44 Final 2OT "The crowd definitely got their money's worth tonight,” said Coach Nate Thomasma. At the start of regulation, the Newaygo Lions and Lakeview Wildcats appeared well-matched. They were back and forth with solid, quick defense; sharp passing; and balanced scoring. This would prove to remain true until the very last few seconds of the second overtime. Lakeview was up 10-8 at the end of the first quarter and then came out strong to start the second quarter. Newaygo got good looks at the hoop, but couldn’t get the ball through the bottom of the net. Fortunately for the Lions, the Wildcats had the same problem. 5 full minutes into the 2nd quarter each team had only scored 2 additional points from the end of the first. Walking into the locker room Lakeview was up by only 1 point at 16-15. After the teams found themselves maintaining that 1 point differential with the Wildcats up 20-19 for a long, long time, Grace Painter finally hit a 3 for the Lions, which sparked a flame in the team. The end of the 3rd quarter, the Lions were on top 26-23. Wildcat Mollie Willison nailed a 3 to go up, but Naomi Schillman returned the favor with her own 3 to pull the Lions back up 29-28. Later in the quarter, Lion Kija Westbrook managed a well-timed offensive rebound and dropped a shot from under the basket to go up by 3. The Lions got the ball up by 2 points with 1:00 left in regulation. But they were unable to maintain possession to close out the game and Lakeview scored with only 2 seconds left on the clock. Into OT they went. Nothing came easy for either team thanks to aggressive play and determination to win the game. Newaygo had two shots at the end of the 1st OT that rattled in and out, which meant a 2nd OT. The crowd was pumped and no one seemed ready to give up on their team. In the 2nd OT, Naomi Schillman hit a 3 pointer with 7 seconds left to put Newaygo up 3. Lakeview made a layup at the buzzer but fell 1 point short.
In the recap of the game, Coach Thomasma said: “I’m really proud and impressed with the Lady Lions tonight. We struggled to put the ball in the hoop and had chances to close the game out a few times and didn't but they never quit. They continued to work hard and kept playing ball. We have a lot of young kids that are learning on the fly and they hung tough in an exciting atmosphere. They executed the last play extremely well and Naomi hit a big time shot. Great win for this group of girls." Newaygo had a balanced scoring effort. Grace Painter and Kija Westbrook had 9 points, Naomi Schillman 8, Maria Riddering and Addison Goodin with 8 and Amaya Lathrop with 5 points. Newaygo improves to (2-4 in conference) and 4-9 overall Lakeview drops to (0-5 in conference) and 1-11 overall. WC Photos by Bobbie Cruzan
White Cloud 57 Chippewa Hills 24 Coach Jones: "We played our best defensive game of the year and our shots from deep were falling again. 13 of them. But this game was all about the defensive side. They really worked their tails off tonight. Four players in double figures, eight players scoring and ten players all contributing with rebounds and taking charges. A total team effort. " Kevin Strait finished with a game high 13 points, while Mason Ruether and Noah Robinson each knocked down a dozen and Jared Watson hit for 10. White Cloud (3-2, 6-4) continues conference play Tuesday when they host Lakeview (0-5, 1-9) Fremont 64 Manistee 35 The Packers evened their conference record at 3-3 with a convincing win over visiting Manistee Coach Bowen: “We came out very strong on the defensive end holding them to only 3 points in the first quarter. I think that really set the tone for the game. We’ve been playing with great effort the last few weeks and I’m proud of how far the kids have come. We did a better job of rebounding and taking care of the ball. If we continue to do that we’ll be in good shape.” Jordon McDonald paced the Pack with15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Chaz Miller fired in 10 points to go with his 7 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds. Gavin Richards dropped a dozen points while pulling down 6 boards. Fremont (3-3, 5-4) will head for Scottville Monday for a cross conference matchup with Mason County Central (5-1,9-1) of the Rivers Division. Hart 65 Holton 20 The Pirates are undefeated, ranked #1 in D2 and average over 70 points a game. The Red Devils have yet to post their first win and have scored over 40 just once. And they were playing on the Pirate home court. No surprises. Coach Swanson: “That’s a really tough team. We knew we had our work cut out for us going in and Hart really delivered on that.” Brodrick Fialek led Holton with 8 points and 6 rebounds while Carter Brant dished out 4 assists to go with his 5 boards. Holton (0-5, 0-11) will host Ravenna (2-2, 3-6) on Monday Mason County Central 71 Hesperia 29 Ian Fox led the Panthers with 8 points and Jared Tanner scored 5. Hesperia (1-5, 2-9) will host Mason County Eastern (1-8) on Monday. Photos by Bobbie Cruzan
White Cloud 24 Chippewa Hills 15 In a low scoring conference matchup the Cloud pulled out the road win to halt a 2 game losing skid. Coach Wilk: “Tonight we picked up our 6th win of the season, but it was not pretty. With time winding down in the first quarter we held a 6 to 2 point advantage, but their point guard hit a deep three at the buzzer to close the gap. In the 2nd quarter Chip Hills regained the lead and went into halftime up 11 to 10. “At halftime we talked about turning up the pressure, and in the end that is what won us the game. When points are at a premium like they were tonight every basket seems to be worth more than what they really are. The best way to get a few easy buckets was going to be to force a few turnovers, and that was our plan. In the third quarter both teams continued playing good defense. We were able to score 4 points while they only managed 2. Going into the 4th quarter with a 14 to 13 point advantage I knew that if we could muster a couple more points we would be able to run out the clock. Jaden Gomez called out a play that gave us a great shot at the basket early in the 4th, and Gaby Reeve sank it. The next time down the floor we found Reeve again for another basket. With a five point lead our defense hit another gear, and we were able to get another couple easy baskets off from turnovers. From that point on we were able to run the clock out.Gaby Reeve led us with 12 points. Jaden Gomez connected for 8, and Kiara Edwards rounded out our scoring with 4. “Although the scoring was not spread out tonight we had multiple girls step up in other ways tonight. Kadence Nickoloff earned a start tonight. She played great defense, and helped pull down some key rebounds for us. The combination of our other players not mentioned all did their part playing great defense.” White Cloud (2-3, 6-5) continues conference play on Tuesday when they host Lakeview (0-5, 2-11). League leading Orioles arriving Tuesday
Ravenna 32 Fremont 26 The Packers have scored over 40 points just 4 times this season. The Bulldogs have only reached that plateau once. The likelihood of this non conference battle becoming a scoring slugfest was slim and, true to form, the teams struggled on the offensive end throughout the game. The score was tied at 5 after one and Ravenna edged ahead and took a 16-13 lead at intermission. With a 5 point lead after 3 the host Bulldogs shifted into a four corner offense, essentially taking the air out of the ball for most of the period and keeping it out of Fremont’s hands. Coach Zerlaut -- "We got a lot of good shots tonight, they just didn't fall. Credit Ravenna with going to the four corners and taking a lot of time off the clock. Our girls worked hard on defense against that, and got some steals, but they didn't turn into points often enough and they were able to whittle the clock away." Jessica Bennett finished with a game high 10 points while teammate Khaila Noordyk hit for 8. Ravenna was led by Emily Postema's 9 points with Emma Gillard contributing 8. Fremont (2-4, 4-10) wil welcome in conference frontrunner Ludington on Tuesday. Schillman, Painter tally 11 apiece
MCC 50 Newaygo 36 The State ranked Spartans have cruised through their schedule with the exception of their lone loss to conference rival Hart. The Lions had a rough start to the season but have improved on the court if not in the W-L column. MCC paid a visit to the Lions Den and while the hosts didn’t pull a win they stayed with the Spartans for the first half trailing by just 7 at the break. Even after the visitors boosted the lead well into double figures in the 3rd Newaygo battled back to within a half dozen points in the 4th before MCC pulled away to capture the non-con win Coach Thomasma: "Tough battle tonight. MCC is a good team and well coached. They made some big shots in the third quarter and we couldn't catch back up. Our team continues to battle and show some growth and we just want to keep that upward trajectory going. If we do that, we can be a competitive team the rest of the season.” Naomi Schillman and Grace Painter led the Lions with 11 points a piece. Painter had 6 rebounds and Schillman 3 rebounds. Addison Goodin chipped in 9 points and 7 rebounds. Newaygo (1-4, 3-9) will travel to Lakeview Friday Story and Photos by Mike Gesler Grant 61 Ravenna 16 The Tigers once again have another three game week, and tonight was game two. Last night the Tigers faced a very good and physical squad in Ludington. Even though Grant did not come home with the victory, Coach Delamater felt his team played better than the score would let on. Tonight’s big question then was with the Ravenna Bulldogs coming on to the Tiger’s court, would Grant have the legs and stamina for back-to-back challenges. “From the very beginning,” shared Coach Delamater, “I’ve said to you it’s probably going to take us until the middle of January to get to a spot where I said this is who we are. We’ve talked about that every pregame. Who are we? That’s a big thing for us. We saw that tonight. That was the first time that we put together a complete game and did exactly the stuff that we are trying to do against another team.” The Bulldogs had the chance to draw first blood on a very early foul that sent Nikki Saxton to the line for two. She missed both and the Tigers totally took over from there in a game that would see twenty-seven combined team fouls plus a coach’s warning to Ravenna in just the first half. The Tigers played both ends of the court in a near complete package. Even though Ravenna had the height advantage over Grant, the Tigers were tenacious on the boards. Defensively the Tigers tore apart the Bulldogs not giving up a single field goal. And offensively, Ashbaugh and company found plenty of open space to drive the lane. When the dust of the Tiger’s first half pouncing settled, the Tigers were in strong control with a 39-3 lead, Ashbaugh accounting for twenty-three of those points. The second half was obviously more of a scrimmage half for the Tigers. While Grant still maintained the control they held in the first half, Coach Delamater used this half to give his players valuable game experience with different personnel packages and looks. Ashbaugh sat out for quite a bit of the second half forcing the Tigers to find ways to manage their game without her. Hance and Zerlaut stepped up to the challenge with a combined ten points of the Tiger’s twenty-two second half points (Ashbaugh accounted for six of those points). In the end, this was just the game Grant needed to boost their confidence going into the second half of the season. The Tigers now know who they are. “Our rotation on defense was absolutely fantastic. Offensively we were still trying to find ourselves some in the half court. When Julie can’t put the ball in the bucket like last night then we got to find who that part of ourselves are. We still have some work to do but big steps forward for us in that’s for sure,” stated Coach Delamater. “Julie is obviously playing extremely well still. Jayci Hance and Jocee [Pleune] just can flat out play defense on anybody. Makayla Zerlaut tonight, she’s had two really good back-to-back games for us last night and tonight. And then other girls just stepping up and doing what they need to do; getting into their roles and filling those really well. It was nice to see.”
Julie Ashbaugh led the Tigers tonight with twenty-nine points. Jayci Hance also had double digits with ten. Makayla Zerlaut added seven to the Tiger total followed by Reese Gragg with six. Jocee Pleune and Madison Thompson each had three. Emma Thompson scored two, and Alexa Obenauf shot for one. The Tigers will get a couple of days to rest before the Vikings of Tri-County come for a visit on Friday evening. Game time is 6:00. Photos by Bobbie Cruzan
White Cloud 59 Pentwater 50 Kevin Strait was on fire as he dropped a cool 30 on the Falcons and the Cloud halted their 4 game skid with a non conference road win. Coach Jones: “It wasn’t a pretty win , especially on the defensive side but it's a win. Sometimes you have to win ugly. Give them credit they played their guts out but there were some good stats on the offensive side. The team shot 20 for 24 on the free throw line with 13 of 14 coming down the stretch to seal the win. We have a lot of work on the defensive side to fix before Friday’s game at Chip Hills.” Jared Watson also reached double figures with 11 points and Noah Robinson tallied 8. White Cloud (2-2, 5-4) returns to CSAA action with a bus ride to Remus on tap for Friday. Grant 79 Ravenna 55 The Tigers and Bulldogs were in a dog (and cat) fight through the first half as visiting Grant took a 5 point edge to the locker room. A red hot Tiger squad took the floor by storm in the 3rd, draining 31 points while holding the hosts to 10. The run put Grant in the driver's seat as they picked up their second straight win. Austin Whitey and Oakley Obenauf once again landed on the top of the stat sheet knocking down 15 points apiece but they weren’t alone in the Tiger scoring spree. Zak Barnhart (14) , Lucas Swanson (11) and Zaiden Phillips (9) also found paydirt. Grant (2-2, 5-5) will look to make it 3 in a row as they host Tri County in a conference matchup Friday. Whitehall 56 Fremont 41 The Packers fell short in their conference matchup with the second place Vikings. Coach Bowen: “We struggled with the physicality of the game I thought. They made a lot of tough contested shots and we did not shoot well. The offensive rebounds hurt us again as well. I thought we played hard again which is good. We have to improve with our shooting and rebounding if we’re going to compete with the top teams in the conference.” Chaz Miller fired in 16 points to pace the Pack while Jordon McDonald tossed in a dozen. Fremont (2-3, 4-4) will welcome in Manistee for another Lakes Division game on Friday. The Chips are still looking for win #1. North Muskegon 65 Holton 22 Outside of losses to conference powerhouses Hart and MCC the Norse have cruised through much of their schedule. Tuesday night in Holton was no exception as the visitors took a 23-11 lead into intermission then exploded after the break puring in 29 points and holding the Red Devils to just 4 as they notched the Rivers Division. Coach Swanson: “We really didn't get anything going offensively tonight. A really rough third quarter defensively broke it wide open. Hoping to learn from it and get better.” Brodrick Fialek finished with 10 points while Carter Brant grabbed 6 boards and dished out 5 assist. Mason County Central 42 Fremont 30 The Spartans came into town as one of two state ranked teams from the WMC Rivers Division, the other being the Hart team that delivered MCCs only loss of the season. The Packer offense started out cold as the visitors jumped to a 16-4 lead after one but in the second frame the shots began to fall and by intermission the Spartans lead was cut to 9 25-16. Fremont’s shooting cooled off again after the break and MCC built their advantage to 34-21 and held off the Pack in the 4th to secure the win. Coach Zerlaut: "We had some early turnovers that turned into points for MCC that put us in a hole, but otherwise I was pleased with our effort tonight, especially on the defensive end of the floor. They are a good basketball team that has been winning a lot of games, and by big margins. We competed well, but we struggled to put the ball in the basket which ultimately prevented us from getting back in the game." Jessica Bennet led the Fremont scoring once again knocking down 13 points and grabbing 7 boards Olivia Hansen also took 7 off the glass for the hosts. Mallory Miller led a well balanced Spartan scoring attack with 9 points while Wren Nelson finished with 7 rebounds and Grace Weinert tallied 5 steals. Fremont (2-4, 4-9) is back in action Thursday with a visit to Ravenna Newaygo 38 Muskegon Orchard View 25 The Lions broke open a close game with a 10-0 run to begin the 4th and held off the Cards to notch their 3rd win of the season. Coach Thomasma: "Wasn't our best shooting game of the year. We attacked the rim well and got to the line but shot 29% from the stripe (6-21). It doesn't mean that I'm not proud of them though. They continued to battle and stuck together when the shots weren't falling and gutted the win out. Their mental toughness continues to get better everyday." Grace Painter had a huge game dropping 17 points snaring 5 boards and dishing out 3 assists. Maria Riddering grabbed 5 steals to go with her 5 rebounds and 8 points. Shelby 35 White Cloud 29 Coach Wilk: “Coming into Shelby tonight we had a defensive plan to take away Molli Schultz. As a collective effort we held her to only 6 points. Unfortunately, as a team we did not capitalize. We took care of the ball pretty well tonight, but we just missed too many open shots. We also did not do a good job rebounding. Bad rebounding and missed shots are not the recipe we were looking for tonight, and we can contribute our loss to these two things. Out of our 29 points Annie Feldpausch and Kiara Edwards had 10 points apiece. White Cloud (1-3, 5-5) will head to Remus Friday to take on Chip Hills. Ludington 50 Grant 31 In a low scoring first half the Orioles took a 17-8 lead. In the second half the shooting heated up but the hosts kept the Tigers at bay and inched their lead to 11 points entering the 4th. The last 8 minutes belonged to the O’s as they ran away from their visitors and won their 4th in a row. Julie Ashbaugh and Danica Gee led Grant with six points each. Grant (4-1, 7-4) is off until next Tuesday when they visit Fremont A look at the CSAA title race (Girls)
The Cardinals and Eagles seem to be the frontrunners thus far and will play what looks to be a huge game next week Tuesday in Cardinal country. We’ll know more about the Hornets after the next few games and Morley hasn’t played well against tough competition. Grant seems on the edge of taking that next step but still runs a bit cold now and then. Lots to learn in the next couple of weeks. And bonus! The teams will play a conference tourney before the state tourney. Should be fun. Big Rapids 3-0 9-1 The Cardinals began the season with an 8 game winning streak before the height advantaged Covenant Christian squad shut down their offense holding a team averaging 50 a game to 35 including just 11 second half points. BR has beaten up the conference teams so far but they have yet to play any of the teams in the top tier of the league, a situation that changes in the next 2 weeks when they play CM and Grant on the road and Kent City at home. Haist and Gorczewicz lead a pack of talent and Warren keeps getting better by the game, but no one is going to hand them the crown and there are 4 teams waiting in the wings for a shot at the preseason fave. Kent City 4-0 9-2 The Eagles are likely the best team in the conference right now. Their high octane offense was smothered in the opener against D1 powerhouse (and undefeated) Lowell and a week later another D1 school delivered a loss. Since then? 8 wins in a row including hauling hardware at the Cornerstone Classic, winning three conference games by an average of over 50 points and knocking off two state ranked teams in Hart and Fowler. The toughest non con schedule in the D3 universe has served them well and from this perspective the road to the title runs through Kent City Central Montcalm 4-0 6-5 The Hornets look ok. But just ok. They’ve lost to a couple of good teams and beaten the teams they should best. Their next 3 will be tough with perennial powerhouse P-W on the road and CSAA foes BR and Grant at home. They will need one of those conference wins to stay in the race. Lose both and they will be playing for a better seed in the conference tourney. Morley Stanwood 4-1 7-2 While I am acutely aware of how difficult it is to win basketball games, some are easier than others. The “Hawks are 7-2 but it is a pretty soft 7-2. The distance between MS and Kent City can be seen in the 33 point rout the Eagles put on them a couple games ago. They will continue to win most games they should win but Big Rapids, Hart, and Oakridge remain on the schedule and outside of a season opener win over Grant the ‘Hawks have yet to beat any of the stronger teams they have faced. Grant 4-1 7-3 The Tigers have a talented cadre of players and in addition they have one of the area’s best in Juie Ashbaugh. They dropped an early game to Morley, battled a much taller Spring Lake team before falling short and perhaps had one taken from them in a controversial loss to Montague. They could move up with some key upcoming games next week at CM and home against BR. Should they survive both they close regular season play in Kent City. And nothing brings the talons out in the Eagles like a title game. Reed City 2-2 4-8 Have the Coyotes come alive? After going 1-8 to start the season they have peeled off 3 wins in a row. Granted a couple of those teams aren’t giving opponents much trouble but the OT win over Clare on the road impresses and after averaging well under 40 a game they have found some offense scoring over 50 in all three. They aren't likely to reach .500 but after that start any win is a bonus. White Cloud 1-3 5-4 After a 4-0 start the Cloud hit a roadblock as Mason County Central, Central Montcalm and Big Rapids laid a three pack of beatdowns.. To their credit Coach Wilk’s squad regrouped to beat North Muskegon then battled a solid Grant team before falling short. I like this team. Gomez is becoming one of the area’s best and Reeve plays hard on both ends. They don't score enough to stay with teams like Hart and KC who remain on their schedule but they have a few more wins ahead of them this season and could be a tournament sleeper. Newaygo 1-4 2-8 The Lions have gotten better. They play pretty good defense but are still looking for an offensive catalyst, a shooter who can heat it up from near and far and keep games from getting away. Those are hard to come by especially with few veterans on the varsity. The team seemed to take a step forward staying close to Grant then lost badly to WMC and Morley. It will likely be this way through the season with some progress and a bit of regression at times, but it is after all a rebuilding year and talk about a tough act to follow… Chippewa Hills 0-4 2-8 Speaking of needing some offense…In 5 of their 8 losses Chip Hills failed to make it to 20. In the other 3 they only got over 30 once. How they won twice is a mystery but their best shot at #3 will be this week at Tri County and the regular season finale at Lakeview. Lakeview 0-4 2-9 The Cats can’t stop teams from scoring and can’t score enough to stay with them. A winnable game or three ahead but nothing is going to come easy. Tri County 0-4 1-10 The Vikings have some enthusiastic players but Johnson and Pfeiffer aside, few who can put points in the book. They have been having turnover problems and have trouble getting offensive rebounds. Like the 3 teams above, they have some winnable games and, like the 3 teams above, they are mostly with each other. |
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