A look at the CSAA Basketball race (Boys)
Three teams remain undefeated in the CSAA race. Big Rapids, Reed City and Newaygo would look to be on a collision course, while Kent City, White Cloud and Grant lurk just behind the top three. The Redbirds have been favored from the start, and boast a #5 ranking in D2. The Lions were languishing a bit at the start with a 1-3 mark but a dramatic come from behind win over Kent City seemed to build their confidence and they have won 4 out of 5 since. The ‘Yotes have the edge of home games on that singular court of theirs.. Hang on. Could be a fun run right down to the first conference tourney Big Rapids 2-0 6-1 The Cards only loss was a track meet against Hart when the teams put up 176 points and BR’s 84 proved to not be enough. But then again,everyone’s lost to Hart. There have been a few close games against Coopersville and White Cloud but the Cards find a way to win. Kent Ingles is a good bench coach and he has Ruggles, the Dunns and a deep group of talent. Who’s going to beat them? Tough to say. They don’t play a team with a winning record until they host Reed City a week into February. Kent City and/or Grant could give them trouble before then but they better bring their A game. Reed City 3-0 6-3 The Coyotes have been resilient. They started the season somewhat short handed due to injuries and peeled off 4 wins in their first five games losing only to Big Rapids when Coach Walsh’s team took the air out of the ball in hopes of containing the high octane Cardinal offense.The other losses included undefeated and highly ranked Ludington and a strong Ithaca team in the Coyotes holiday tourney. They play yet another state ranked team this week when Standish Sterling comes to town. They’ll win most games, especially at home, but whether they can beat some of the better teams around remains to be seen. Newaygo 4-0 6-4 The Lions are the frontrunner thus far posting 4 conference wins and with a struggling Lakeview up next they could likely move to 5-0..Then they play Reed City up in the enigmatic Coyote facility. The winner of that one will be the primary challenge to what looks to be a Big Rapids title quest. Decker, Nelson and Long are frequently found at the top of the stat sheet but Coach Long has made effective use of his roster in finding productive combinations. The loss to Shelby was surprising but the Lions aren’t going to win many games scoring 40 points. Outside of the ‘Yotes they don’t play anyone with a winning record until back to back battles against two of the regions best teams, BR and Hart toward the end of the season. Kent City 2-1 3-3 The Eagles dropped their first three and have won three straight since. They averaged 40 per game in those losses and just under 60 in the wins. They will know a lot more about their conference status in a one week stretch coming up when they will play the three teams ahead of them in the standings White Cloud 2-2 4-4 Surprising nearly everyone but themselves the Cloud moved to the expanded single division and promptly ran off wins in their first four games including two conference W’s against teams from the former ‘upper’ division. Since then they’ve come down to Earth a bit dropping 4 in a row including 3 straight to state ranked teams with a combined record of 21-2. WC is going to give up points so they have to score in bunches to win. If they aren’t hitting early they can get in trouble but Coach Jones’ team has some toughness and grit and while it might be a stretch to crawl past four teams to challenge for a title they still have games against 3 of those teams and nothing this team does will surprise me. Grant 2-2 4-5 The Tigers really needed that win over White Cloud. They snapped a 4 game skid against a solid conference opponent and showed some D after yielding an average of 80 points in their last 3. The emergence of Obenauf and Whitnet as primary scoring threats has helped and though they give up some height in most games they have players who can bang in the paint. Their next 3 games aren’t a cakewalk but winnable if the Tigers play their game. Then the high scoring Big Rapids team comes to town to test what has been an inconsistent defense. Tri County 2-2 3-5 The Vikings 3 wins have come against teams scuffling through losing seasons with a collective record of 3-21.The closest they have been to any other opponents was a 13 point loss to White Cloud. While they possess a couple of shooters they struggle against the press and tend to be mistake prone at times. Middle of the pack at season’s end. Chippewa Hills 1-2 3-3 The Warriors are in a rough part of their schedule with back to back losses to Reed City and Big Rapids and state ranked Baldwin up next. CH doesn’t score a lot most nights and is unlikely to match up with the better teams on the schedule. There are some winnable games ahead for a school that hasn’t had a lot of success on the court in recent years. Morley Stanwood 1-4 3-6 An inconsistent offense that is prone to slow starts has hindered the ‘Hawks. So has their schedule. 6 weeks between home games is a lot and when the team takes the floor on their home gym on January 27 it will be the first time since December 16. They do, however, close with 5 straight at home but still…. Lakeview 0-4 1-6 The Wildcats beat Hesperia in their first game and in the 6 games since they have lost by an average of 25 points.. They could pick up another win or two but barring the discovery of another 30 points or so currently sitting anonymously at the end of the bench any wins will likely be few in number. Central Montcalm 0-3 0-8 Granted, a brutal schedule to begin the season, still, it's rough on the players and coaches to be in pursuit of that first W. almost halfway through. Best shots at getting off the schneid seem to be later on down the road since Big Rapids and Grant will be coming to town this week.
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Photos by Bobbi Cruzan Girls Grant 44 White Cloud 32 The Tigers kept pace in the conference race with a win on the road but the Cloud didn’t go down easy. Many of the current players on the WC team recalled the season opener last year when Grant dominated first year Coach Caleb Wilk’s young team running away with a 60-15 win. Friday’s game showed how far they’ve come since then. Coach Wilk: “Tonight was a ball game, and that is what I wanted. Last year Grant put it to us, and our girls didn’t want a repeat of that. We may not have won, but we fought to the end. I was very happy with our effort tonight. This loss came down to turnovers, and unfortunately we had 12 more than Grant. Our goal was to hold Grant to 40 points or less, and we came very close to accomplishing that feat. Grant has some very talented players, and our defense held them in check.” The hosts took a 6-5 lead after one as the teams went through a cold spell to start the game. By the half Grant had edged ahead 17-15 but a huge third quarter saw the visitors extend the lead to 11 points and the teams played even down the stretch. Coach Delamater: “The story of the game was our inability to put the ball in the bucket. I won't have stats until we get the film but I'm wondering how many more shots we took than them. Credit to Jayci (Hance)and Jocee (Pleune) for the awesome defense they played tonight on Jaden Gomez holding her to 4 points, all free-throws. They never really let the WC guard get comfortable and it completely disrupted the WC offense. “ I'd like to see us get into a rhythm, but we’re looking at another three game week starting with a tough Ludington team on Monday.” Gaby Reeve led the Cloud with 14 points and 9 boards white Annie Feldpausch hit for 8. Laura Ashbaugh continues to pile up the points for the Tigers finishing with a game high 20 with Pleune and Hance adding 6 apiece. Grant (4-1, 7-3) will follow up Monday’s game in Oriole Country with a Tuesday home contest against Ravenna. White Cloud (1-3, 5-4) will head to Shelby to take on another Tiger team. Hart 63 Holton 36 The Pirates not only own sole possession of first place in the WMC Rivers, this past week they moved into the D3 top 20 landing in the #11 slot. With a stifling press defense they have held 4 teams below 20 points and kept a potent Mason County Central team to under 40. So it was no small feat when the Red Devils stayed with the Hart girls staying within 4 points by intermission. Coach Jordan: “We probably played one of our better halves of the season. and battled foul trouble all night. Two of my starters picked up their 3rd early in the second and then each were called for a 4th early in the third, eventually fouling out in the fourth. “I was very pleased with the fight we put up, we all know how great of a team Hart is and to be able to compete with them for a half is something I'm hoping we can build some confidence off. Their pressure, especially in the third, busted the game open. They have been shutting teams down for most of the year so for us to put up 36 on them is something we can be happy about. We had 30 turnovers combined with the foul trouble but we kept fighting and that was all we could ask for. They’re a great team and it's hard to keep up with them for an entire game. They wear on you.I can't say enough of how proud I was of the fight we put up. If we can find a way to duplicate this I feel we can go on a good run to close out the season. “Abbie Fowler played a great game putting in 1 and Ryann Robins did her part on the boards with 16 to go with 6 points.” Holton (2-4, 5-6) will be at home Tuesday when they welcome in Whitehall. Boys Tigers Outlast Cloud Grant 65 White Cloud 50 The Tigers were able to halt a 4 game skid Friday with a win on the road while delivering White Cloud’s 4th loss in a row. Coach Jones: “We were down just 3 points after three but we just simply ran out of steam. We will look to right the ship on Tuesday Coach Schuitema: “Balanced scoring and team defense led to the win.” Oakley Obenauf paced the Tiger attack with 15 points, Austin Whitney hit for a dozen, Blake Rider and Lucas Swanson dropped in 11 apiece and Zak Barnhart added 9. Kevin Strait knocked down a game high 18 for the Cloud and Jared Watson reached double figures with 11. Grant (2-2, 4-5) will travel to Ravenna Tuesday to take on the Bulldogs while White Cloud (2-2, 4-4) will visit Pentwater. Morley Stanwood Comes To Town, Split Wins Story and photos by Alexis Mercer Girls: Newaygo 33 Morley Stanwood 63 Boys: Newaygo 64 Morley Stanwood 53 The girls game was a tale of two halves. First half? Evenly matched play, evenly matched misses, evenly matched effort. Maria Riddering of Newaygo found herself driving a wide open lane more than one time throughout the first quarters. It wasn’t until the last second buzzer 3-point shot that Morley found themselves with a little gap in the lead. Then came the second half. The Mohawks’ defense dominated. Newaygo wasn’t able to find a way to the basket and the outside shots weren’t falling. Maria Riddering led the Lions with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Amaya Lathrop, Kija Westbrook, Addison Goodin each chipped in 6 points. Grace Painter had 3 points and 9 rebounds. "Good effort from the girls tonight. I thought we played a pretty good 1st half against a good Morley Stanwood team. In the second half, we just gave up too many offensive rebounds and Morley took advantage of that,” said Coach Nate Thomasma. Newaygo falls to 2-8 (1-4 in conference) Morley improves to 7-2 (4-1 conference) The boys game was a come from behind story for the Lions. It was also a story of 3 point shots.
Bryce Decker started Newaygo out with a 3 point shot. Morley answered with their own. Caris Nelson joined in on the pattern and drained one for the Lions. Newaygo found themselves down by just 1 heading into the half, so this was going to be a battle to the buzzer. The teams were well matched and evenly effective at offense. It ended up being Newaygo’s solid defense that led to their victory. Morley never gave up despite a relentless pursuit from behind the 3 point line the entire game from the Lions. Newaygo was led by Bryce Decker with 29 points and 8 rebounds followed by Caris Nelson with 13 points and Josiah Long with 13 points and Grant Harkness pulled down 5 boards. Newaygo moves to 6-4 overall (4-0 in the conference) and remains tied for first in the league. Fremont 52 Orchard View 27 The Packers pounded out their third win in the last four games as they shut down the host Cardinals Thursday night. Coach Bowen: “ I thought we came out really strong, especially on the defensive end, holding them to 7 points in the first half. I was proud of the kids for how hard they played. I feel like we are still improving and moving in the right direction as a team. Jordon McDonald led us with 15 points and 5 steals. Chaz Miller had a good all around game with 8 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Gavin Richards got us off to a good start and finished with 9 points. And Will DeBlake had his best game of the year with 12 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. The win improves our record to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. Fremont will travel to Whiteall on Tuesday to face the Vikings Shelby 39 Holton 28 After opening the season with 5 straight losses the Tigers were on a 3 game winning streak behind some improved defense when they hosted the Red Devils. And when the buzzer sounded Shelby had made it 4 in a row as they jumped to an early lead and held off the Devs for the win. Coach Swanson: “They really got off to a nice start on us. We managed to hang around, just didn't make quite enough plays. I'm pleased that our guys are continuing to work hard and it continues to show.” Brodrick Fialek and Carter Brant hit for 11 points apiece with Fiallek adding 5 rebounds. Nate Paseka snared a team high 6 boards. Wayne Dickman (9) Bishop Lee (7) and Mason Garcia (7) paced the Shelby scoring. Holton (0-3, 0-9) will bring their quest for win #1 into a couple of tough conference games next week as North Muskegon comes to town Tuesday followed by a visit to conference leading, undefeated and state ranked Hart on Friday. Ravenna 60 Hesperia 38 The Bulldogs took a 19-11 lead after one then stretched the advantage to 30-16 by intermission . The Third quarter saw no let up by the hosts who went on a 19-3 run to secure the conference win. Coach Worcester: “Our guys came out and did a great job competing in the 1st half. We knew we had to limit the opportunities for Schullo and force their second and third scorers to carry the load. We felt like our game plan on attacking their 3-2 zone was solid. I thought we did a great job getting to open spaces and taking high percentage in the 1st quarter. However, we went flat in the 2 and 3rd quarter offensively. We did a poor job on the boards and allowed too many second opportunities. Something we have struggled with all season. We have to improve our rebounding considerably if we want to win more conference games going forward. Maddox Mosley dropped in 11 to lead the Panthers and Matteo Materdomini also reached double figures knocking down 10 points. Carter Schullo finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Dawgs. Hesperia (1-3, 2-7) runs into a buzzsaw of a schedule next week when they are on the road against the 2 top teams in the conference, Hart (Tue) and Mason County Central (Fri). Lions Shut Down By West Michigan Christian Story and photos by Alexis Mercer WMC- 44 Newaygo- 31 With just 6 girls that were designated to play at the varsity level, the team looked sparse warming up for West Michigan Christian. But then the other half of their players joined, who had just played a portion of the JV game, and all of the sudden the visitors looked ready to rumble. It was Newaygo who started out strong with the opening four points. But things slowed to a near halt offensively for both teams when halfway through the first quarter it was still 4-0. WMC scored their first point shortly after that on a free throw. Barbara Toth put a layup in for the last of the Lions’ points in the first quarter, ending 6-5. Grace Painter opened up the 2nd quarter for Newaygo with a sweet 3, but then WMC took over and found their first lead of the night. Newaygo wouldn’t lead again. Instead the Lions struggled with WMC’s well run full court press. They also found themselves racking up the fouls, while WMC was doing a good job making their free throws.
The Lions would trail by 8 or 9 most of the 2nd and third quarters, but did rally at the end of the third with some well placed shots after defensive rebounds to be down only 22-28. But just in case Newaygo was thinking they’d be able to reestablish the lead, West Michigan Christian put a stop to that. Instead the Lions would go down by 10 and end up losing 31-44. Grace Painter led the Lions with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Barbara Toth and Addison Goodin each had 7 points. "It was not our best not of basketball tonight and that starts with me,” said Coach Thomasma. “We made way too many mistakes to be able to win a game against any Varsity competition. We will need to regroup at practice tomorrow and get ready for our next game on Friday." Newaygo falls to 2-7 WMC improves to 4-4. Boys: Cloud falls to Spartans, RD’s still looking for win #1
Girls Fremont 42 Whitehall 40 (OT) In a seesaw battle that saw the teams go into overtime the Packers emerged with the conference win over the visiting Vikings. Then hosts held off Whitehall taking a 7-5 lead after one then keeping a 2 point advantage at the break 15-13. After intermission Onnyka Dempsey led a Viking surge as she scored 8 points and helped Whitehall to a 27-23 lead going into the 4th. Trailing for much of the fourth the Packers fought their way back to even with 16 seconds left on the clock. The Vikes had a look at the buzzer but the three point shot rimmed out and the teams went into OT. Whitehall grabbed an early lead with a pair of buckets but once again the Pack clawed their way back with Jessica Bennett holding the hot hand in the extra frame dropping 6 of the teams 8 points. Coach Zerlaut : "It was an exciting win for our kids tonight. Both teams had opportunities to win. It was a very evenly played game, and we found a way to win in the end. I'm really happy for our kids tonight. They have been working hard, continuing to improve, and got to be part of a really fun victory tonight." Bennett paced the Packer scoring finishing with 16 points and Khalia Noordyk hit for 9. Dempsey (11) and Ashley TenBrink (10) led the Vikes in scoring. Fremont (2-3, 4-7) won for the 3rd time in 4 games and will welcome in Manistee Friday. Holton 50 North Muskegon 33 The Norse took an early lead and maintained a 3 point edge at intermission. But the second half belonged to the Devils. Holton scorched the nets in the third firing in 21 points to take command of the game. Coach Jordan : “North Muskegon came out with good energy and were hitting shots early, and we just weren't clicking on offense or defense. In the first half we couldn't do the little things right like catching the ball, knowing who we were guarding or getting back on defense. They shot the ball well in the first half, some were good shots and some were defensive breakdowns. “We went in down by 3 at half, Just challenged the team to clean up the little things. Very happy with the way we played in the second half. It was a 33--8 second half before I pulled the starters and they hit 5 in the last minute so it was a dominant second half for us. We were able to open Up the 3rd quarter on a 7-0 run and never looked back. We had 8 girls get in on the scoring tonight. Layla Cannady showed off some offensive firepower hitting for a game high 15 while Abby Fowler scored 10, nabbed a half dozen steals and dished out 3 assists. Ryan Robins was strong on the glass taking down 10 boards to go with her 6 points and 5 steals. Holton (2-3, 5-5) will travel to Hart Friday to take on the WMC-Rivers leading Pirates. Boys Mason County Central 66 White Cloud 50 The schedule maker has been rough on the Cloud recently. They ended the year with a loss to state ranked Baldwin, then began the new year facing 5th ranked D2 powerhouse Big Rapids. On Tuesday undefeated and WMC Rivers co-leader Mason County Central was on the docket and while the Spartans could have been looking ahead at Thursdays showdown with the undefeated Pirates of Hart, they took care of business and secured the home win. Coach Jones: “They are a well coached, physical team with a lot of seniors and we just didn't shoot very well tonight. Jared Watson knocked down 14 points for the visitors while Kevin Strait nailed a dozen and Noah Robinson finished with 7 The schedule doesn't get any easier for White Cloud (2-1, 4-3) as Grant comes to town Friday. It will be the first home game for Coach Jones’ team in nearly a month. Muskegon Catholic 52 Holton 39 The Crusaders built a 22 point lead by halftime and sent the Red Devils home with a loss. Coach Swanson: “MCC did a great job tonight. Our guys played tough all the way through. There are always things to clean up, but we have a lot of positives to take away from tonight.” Carter Brant led the Devs in scoring with 15 and Brodrick Fialek was close behind with 14. Chase Albright hit for 8 and Nate Paseka grabbed a team high 7 rebounds. Holton (0-2, 0-8) will travel to Shelby Thursday to take on the Tigers. Streak Ends For Lion Boys
Girls White Cloud 35 North Muskegon 17 White Cloud shook off their 3 game losing streak and captured a road win with a strong performance over the Norse. Coach Wilk:” Our last game seemed very out of character for us, and I was glad to see our girls came out tonight with more aggression and a sense of urgency. We started off the 1st quarter with a 10 to 2 lead, and then we went into halftime up 23-8. “I was very pleased that all of our players stepped up and did their job to help get a team win tonight. Everyone got out onto the floor which is always a good thing. Gaby Reeve led us tonight offensively with 16 points, and Jaden Gomez finished with 10 points. Gaby Reeve and Brooke Ringler led us in rebounds tonight, and Gomez and Kiara Edwards had quite a few steals to lead us defensively. Some of our other players showed a lot of growth tonight, and we need them to continue to improve over the next couple of games. Our record improves to 5-3, and we host Grant on Friday.” Newaygo 47 Big Rapids Crossroads 19 The Lions snapped a 5 game skid with a decisive win over the Cougars. Jumping out to a 17-2 lead after 1 the hosts went to the locker room at halftime holding a 19 point advantage and cruised to the non conference win. Coach Thomasma: “"Great win for the team tonight. I thought we did a good job of applying some pressure on defense and we moved the ball well offensively against their zone defense to get some open shots. The girls came out with some good energy and it showed." Grace Painter led the Lions with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Kija Westbrook had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals. Newaygo (1-3, 2-6) is back in action Tuesday when West Michigan Christian arrives for a 7pm game. Boys Shelby 46 Newaygo 40 The Tigers went up 16-10 after the first quarter and the 6 point advantage proved to be the difference in the game as the Lions saw their 4 game win streak come to an end. In Newaygo’s second lowest offensive output of the season Bryce Decker hit for 11 points and Logan Klomp fired in 10. Grant Harkness led the team off the glass pulling down 7 boards. Newaygo (3-0, 5-4) return to conference play Friday when they host Morley Stanwood (1-3, 3-4). Friday Night Grant Newaygo Basketball, Pure Michigan Story by Mike Gesler Photos by Alexis Mercer Newaygo 87 Grant 67 There is nothing like a great rivalry game especially when both teams playing are coming in with no expectations. For the folks of Newaygo County, is there any better rivalry than a Grant Newaygo basketball game? It seems like a lifetime ago since I last saw Grant. It was their opening game against Ludington, and even though they lost, they put up an impressive seventy-four points. Since then, they have gone 3-3 on the season. This was my first look at Newaygo who was entering Grant’s court with a 4-3 record and were on a three game win streak. The stands were packed. The atmosphere electric. The Grant High School choir sang the National Anthem. The Grant High School pep band kept the music pumping. It was game time, and oh what fun this game was going to be. The Grant faithful didn’t have much to cheer about at the start of the game. In fact it was one of those “oh no, this is going to be a long night” moments. Newaygo opened up fast and aggressive. They kept Grant on Grant’s defensive half of the court. Before Grant would even cross the center line, the Lions put up six points between Decker, Wells, and Long. Zak Barnhart would stop the bleeding for Grant as Lucas Swanson finally found the Tigers' offensive side of the court and Barnhart with an open look for two. From that point on, the two teams would exchange blows like two heavyweight fighters hoping the last blow would do enough damage to open something up. These two teams definitely gave their fans plenty to cheer over, and the final score really doesn’t reflect on the closeness of this game. For three quarters of play, the Tigers managed to keep this game within six points or less. If the Tigers hit a three, the Lions matched with their own three. The Tigers would go on short run pulling the game with one or two, and then the Lions would find a way to just slightly stretch their lead out again. It would be three Newaygo runs that started at the end of the third quarter and continued into the fourth that would ultimately hand the Lions the victory. The first was an eight point run, followed by a six point run, and then the kiss of death nine point run in the last half of the fourth. The Tigers simply could not match it. By then Newaygo’s size and physicality had worn down the Tigers. Watching Grant’s Blake Rider try to take on Newaygo’s Bryce Decker was probably the fourth quarter visual equivalent on a micro scale. Because of the blending of the CSAA Conference, it really is a shame that these two teams will probably not see each other again this year unless the District stars line up. As Newaygo’s Coach Long and I discussed, if Grant had the opportunity to play in Newaygo like previous years, the table could easily turn. In Coach Long’s words, “Really a fun game.” “The score doesn’t really look like what the game I thought was like,” stated Coach Long. “I thought both teams were getting up and down the floor. Both teams shot the ball well. We had some big defensive stops in the fourth quarter that really helped us. We talked about the defensive end is where we were going have to go; we’ll need to get some stops. We have a thing that we talk about is stop-score-stop, and that’s our motto. We want to get a stop, a score, and then get another stop and try to build on it. It sounds real basic but we’re just trying to slowly bucket by bucket try to grow. I thought all twelve guys played well together. It’s a tough place to win. It’s a good Grant team. They’re going to be good this year.”
“We talked all game. We thought we were giving good effort. We thought we were working hard and competing,” shared Grant’s coach, Joe Schuitema. “It felt like we were battling from behind the whole game. We caught up like multiple times throughout the game, and then we clearly didn’t have anything for the fourth quarter to match what they did which I felt like they played phenomenal in the fourth quarter in particular. Moved the ball well, took great shots, and made a bunch of them. I give them credit for that part, and wish that we would have been able to make a few more at that critical time and kept the game going. Unfortunately, we didn’t.” Oakley Obenauf had the hot hand for the Tigers tonight with twenty-two. Lucas Swanson and Gage Cronk also had double digits with twelve and ten respectively. Zak Barnhart and Chase Geers had five apiece. Zaiden Phillips put up four. Austin Whitney and Drew Crater each added three. And Mason Woodard contributed two. The Tigers will next welcome Whitehall onto their court on Tuesday evening. Game time is 7:00. For Newaygo, Josiah Long lead with twenty-seven. Three other Lions saw double digits. Bryce Decker with twenty-one, Caris Nelson with seventeen, and Dyllan Bazzett with ten. Grant Harkness put in five. Logan Klomp added three. Remy Wells and Blake Kerr each shot two. The Lions will hope to continue their win streak as they travel to Shelby on Monday night to take on the Pirates. Game time is 7:00. Tigers Survive Lion Scare Story by Mike Gesler Photos by Alexis Mercer Grant 52 Newaygo 42 For Newaygo, this was their first game back out of the break. While they would be coming into tonight’s game with rested and fresh legs, something Grant did not have, not having played since they faced Zeeland East on December twenty-first would mean they would also come in with some rust. For Grant, this would be their third game in four days, and, on paper at least, the easier of their three game run. Besides the possibility of being worn down both physically and mentally, the Tigers also had to enter tonight’s game without their head coach Josh Delamater. Delamater was ejected at the end of Wednesday’s game against Montague which left the Tiger coaching duties to assistant coach Kirk Rider. Right from the start you could see that the toll of this three game week was indeed going to affect the Tiger’s play. On the flip side, so was the rust Newaygo was trying to loosen up from going to affect their play. For the first three minutes neither team could find the net. Both teams had equally good looks, but neither could zero in on the basket. In fact the only thing these two teams managed to run up in three minutes was a combined five fouls. I was starting to have flash backs to almost exactly one year ago when Grant played Tri-County in the great Foul-A-Thon of 2022. Jayci Hance eventually did get the Tigers on the board and Addison Goodin the Lions, but as the quarter ended, the foul count was almost equal to the score. The second quarter wasn’t anymore impressive. Grant was not themselves. Having not seen Newaygo play this year, my only thought was if they could actually make a shot, they would be a dangerous team. They certainly frustrated Grant inside and out rebounded the Tigers on the boards, but as I wrote in my game notes, the Lions “can’t buy a shot” which was probably Grant’s saving grace in this game. So as the half ended, it was the Tigers who headed into the locker room with an eleven point lead over the Lions. Coach Thomasma must have broken out the oil cans during the half because the Lions came out a completely different team. They slowed their pace and moved the ball well around the parameter trying to draw Grant’s inside defender out. As soon as that defender stepped out of the lane, there was a Lion moving in giving Newaygo an easy two points. It was an impressive eight minutes for the Lions while the Tigers continued to look disjointed. Newaygo opened up with an exciting eight point run to start the third, and then put together a couple of nice scoring drives to overcome their eleven point deficit and take the lead. However, foul trouble continued to haunt Newaygo. So while they enjoyed a three point margin over Grant to end the third, they also racked up nine fouls in those eight minutes. Grant was now faced for the third time this week with having to play from behind, and this definitely was not where they expected or wanted to find themselves. But something happened in that short span of time between quarters. Like a light being switched on, the Tigers woke up…or should I say Julie Ashbaugh decided she was taking charge. Over the next four and a half minutes Grant would hold the Newaygo scoreless while going on a thirteen point run, the first eight of those points from Ashbaugh. The Lions would see three of their starters foul out. It was too much for Newaygo as Grant came back for a tough win at home. “Good game,” shared Newaygo’s Coach, Nate Thomasma. “I thought it was kind of a game of runs. Grant had a good run in the second quarter. I thought we had a good run in the third quarter. Grant had a good run in the fourth quarter. It’s kind of like they had the last one, right. They had two good runs. We had one good run. Credit to them. They made some shots and I thought that was the difference in the game.” I would say that we came out a little bit tired with Sparta and Montague. We really didn’t get things clicking until the second half,” stated the Tiger’s Assistant Coach, Kirk Rider. “We did have nine points, I think, going into halftime, maybe eleven. Newaygo is ready for us all the time, and I know Nate wants to beat us. They gave us a good run for our money tonight. I know Jayce Hance stepped up huge tonight. I think she had sixteen or seventeen points. Hit a clutch three for us in the third quarter when they were making the run. Julie Ashbaugh, I looked at her numbers, and she had a quite eighteen. I really don’t think she got rolling until the fourth quarter. It was a tough game.”
Barbara Toth lead in Newaygo’s efforts tonight with eleven points. Three Lions put up seven points, Maria Riddering, Kija Westbrook, and Grace Painter. Addison Goodin hit for five. Amaya Lathrop hit a timely three to end the first half. And Sydnee Kirk added two. The Lions get a three game week and a five game home stretch starting with Crossroads Charter Academy on Monday evening at 7:00. The Lions move to 1-6 for the season. It was Julie Ashbaugh who lead in tonight’s Tiger victory with eighteen. Jayci Hance trailed right behind with seventeen of her own. Jocee Pleune also had double digits with ten. Both Alexa Obenauf and Madison Thompson added three, and Makayla Zerlaut put up one. The Tigers get a much-needed rest next week and will only play one away at White Cloud on January 13 at 6:00. Grant moves to 6-3 for the season. Photos by Bobbie Cruzan
Big Rapids 54 White Cloud 9 Ouch! The Cardinals came into this one undefeated and early on it was apparent why. Behind a smothering pressure defense and some lethal shooting skills the Cardinals held home court blasting their way to a 27-3 halftime lead and coasting to the conference win. Coach Wilk: “Our last game before break was postponed, and I was worried that having three weeks without a game could cause us to come out a little rusty against a talented Big Rapids team. To say we came out a little rusty is an understatement. We struggled to find the basket, and quite frankly we didn’t match the physicality of Big Rapids. I was happy to see that even when we were too far behind to catch back up our players were still cheering each other on. This group of young ladies get along really well, and their personalities/team chemistry makes it very enjoyable to coach them. Luckily, we have a quick turnaround. We play Monday and we have a group of young ladies that want to get this loss behind them.” Jaden Gomez led the Cloud with 5 points. White Cloud (1-2, 4-3) will be on the road again Monday when they visit the Norse of North Muskegon. Montague 37 Fremont 34 Fremont traveled to Montague Friday night and were handed a tough defeat by the Wildcats. The Packers trailed 10-6 after the first quarter, but held the hosts to only 3 points in the second quarter and took a 14-13 lead into the halftime locker room. Montague outscored Fremont 9-8 in the third, as the two teams entered the final quarter knotted at 22. Montague then outscored Fremont 15-12 to secure the win. Mia Clemence led the Packers with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Jessica Bennett added 8 points and Lily VandenBerg had 6. Haylee Schwartz had 13 points for Montague, Addison Pranger had 8, and Ella King added 6. The Packers are now 3-7 overall, 1-3 in the WMC Lakes. Montague improved to 5-3 overall, 3-1 in the division. Coach Zerlaut -- "It was a really competitive game throughout. Both teams played extremely hard. I was proud of our girls and their effort tonight. In the end, they made one more shot from the field than we did and a couple extra free throws." Thursday’s Game: Fremont 29 Orchard View 20 Fremont led 9-4 after one quarter, 18-9 at halftime, and 25-16 after three quarters. The Packers were able to escape with a win despite shooting Just 17% (10-58) from the floor The Packers were led by Jessica Bennett with 10 points and 6 rebounds. Khaila Noordyk added 8 rebounds and 6 points. Coach Zerlaut "Points were obviously hard to come by tonight. I thought we executed very well offensively other than making shots. The girls played hard, moved the ball well, and were solid defensively tonight. I was pleased with the perseverance we showed to find a way to still win the game” |
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