Holton teams take a pair of close ones, Panthers youth starting to rise
Holton 43 Fruitport Calvary 38 The Red Devils were coming off a pair of losses including last Friday when they became the latest team to get steamrolled by the Kent City express. Facing a strong squad from Fruitport Calvary in front of their hometown fans they responded big time coming from behind in the fourth with a vigorous defensive effort to capture the game and provide some momentum as they look to the upcoming Districts. Coach Jordan: “ We really needed this one. It was a back and forth contest most of the game, we knew they had a couple scores on their team and thru 3 quarters (Wilson and Anhalt) really hurt us, They had 31 of the 35 points scored. In the fourth quarter we made a couple adjustments and we were able to take them out of there flow and limit them both to one point combined for the quarter and that was basically the difference in the game.” Courtney Boes drew praise from Coach Jordan who cited her relentless effort and energy on the court that delivered 11 points 6 steals 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Ryann Robins recorded a double double taking 10 off the glass while dropping 18 points on the Eagles while Abby Fowler nabbed 5 steals to go with her 8 points and June Newell matched her half dozen boards with the same in points. After Friday’s visit to Hesperia for the rivalry game the Devs, now 12-7 on the year, return home Monday to face those same Panthers in the first round of District play. Holton 44 WMC 40 The Red Devils outlasted their hosts in a close game that saw the lead go back and forth until the final buzzer. After a tough loss to conference rival Kent City that saw their title hopes dashed, the team responded with a big road win that saw 3 Devils finish with double figure scoring. Coach Swanson: “It seemed like the guys had fun tonight and that really helps. I think the last couple weeks it became so much about meeting expectations that we lost some of that and it was great to have that back again. Hopefully we can keep building on that and really enjoy the rest of our season together.” Wyatt Monette led the charge with 13 points Austin Fowler canned an even dozen and Kenvin Erickson hit for 11. Carter Brant whose 5 assists shared the team lead with Fowler also scored 8 points while Monette finished with a team high 10 boards. Holton (7-2, 12-5) will travel to Hesperia Friday for the rivalry matchup with the Panthers Fruitport Calvary 74 Hesperia 31 There have been some bright spots in what has otherwise been a rugged season for the Panthers. One was a glimpse at their future Tuesday as freshman Ian Fox led his team in scoring hitting for 10 points against a strong FCC team Coach Worcester: ”Tough game tonight. However, I am proud of the improvements we made tonight offensively and defensively. A lot of the effort from the young guys on both ends of the court shows a glimpse of Hesperia’s future.” Hesperia will host Holton Friday.
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The Girls Tournament Pairings were announced this past weekend. Our local Division 2 teams will be competing at Comstock Park while Morley and Holton are hosting the D3 games. And while the teams will wind their regular schedules this week each team will have an eye toward the second season that begins on Monday. N3 will do a preview of the tourneys this weekend and will cover what we hope will be a lengthy journey for area teams. D2 At Comstock Park Monday Feb 28th Comstock Park vs, Fremont 7pm Wednesday March 2nd Sparta vs, Grant 5:30pm Park/Fremont winner vs. Newaygo 7pm Friday March 4th Finals 7pm D3 At Morley Stanwood Monday Feb 28th Montabella vs. Lakeview 5:30pm Ravenna vs White Cloud 7pm Wednesday March 2nd Montabella/Lakeview winner vs. Kent City 5:30pm Ravenna/White Cloud winner vs. Morley Stanwood 7pm Friday March 4th Finals 7pm At Holton Monday Feb 28th Hesperia vs. Holton 5:30pm North Muskegon vs. Shelby 7pm Wednesday March 2nd Hesperia/Holton winner vs. Hart 5:30pm North Muskegon/Shelby winner vs. West Mich Christian 7pm Friday March 4th Finals 7pm. Can Tigers stop Cardinal express and open the door for Packers?
Lions looking to keep rolling Boys Big Rapids at Grant Deep and fast. The twin threats known as the Dunn brothers can stuff the stat sheet but the Cards go deep into their bench and have been stellar at finding the right combinations to win with. Few teams in the Gold have a good shot at beating the Cards. They’ve only lost one conference game, a 3 point loss to Fremont in the Packer (and packed) gym. Grant is one of those few. When the Tigers are on fire they can light it up like nobody’s business as illustrated in the 92 points they dropped on Newaygo on Friday. Four times they've scored more than 75 in a game and they are 7-0 when topping the 65 point mark. And while not in the race for the title they will have done much to determine the conference champs since they knocked Fremont off the top and can elevate them back into a tie with a win over the Cards and a Packer win in Remus. Schuitema has been pouring them in most of the season but there are a lot of points on the Tiger team as evidenced by the 32 Barnhart tallied in the Newaygo game. Newaygo at Reed City The Coyotes hope for a share of the title are razor thin but they go away with a loss to Newaygo or a Big Rapids win. They’re a good team headed for a brutal district up in Manistee that will involve BR, Cadillac and Ludington. The Lions were playing well of late, mixing in a pair of wins with close matchups against the top two conference teams but at Friday’s debacle they could not stop Grant from scoring at will. Combined with how the Coyotes dropped 80 on them in Newaygo it doesn’t bode well for the Lions And this game will be in Reed City a tough venue on any night (and apparently the scene of a late game melee last week). Still, this is a team that has shown in spurts that they can play with the best the conference has to offer so…. Fremont at Chip Hills The Packers need a win here and a loss by BR to have a shot at sharing the title. They will get the win. Chip Hils doesn’t score and they can’t keep opponents from scoring a lot. McDonald et al should light it up. Holton at West Mich Christian As the Devils wind up the regular season this matchup might likely be repeated in District play. These are 2 good teams that should be pretty evenly matched, but the RD’s have struggled to finish close games all season and need to shake off that 4th quarter meltdown in Friday's loss to Kent City. Fruitport Calvary at Hesperia The Panthers wind down their season facing three pretty good teams beginning with this one. They’re averaging around 36 points a game with a high game of 53 The Eagles average over 60 with a high mark of 81. Girls Reed City at Newaygo The Coyotes fielded a young team last year and that season spent in the cellar has paid off with a big turnaround. Their current 5 game win streak, including a big win over rival Big Rapids, gives them a tie for second in the Gold. Their last loss? To Newaygo in the Reed City gym where they were dismantled by the stifling Lion pressure. The team lost by 20 points to Big Rapids first time around and beat them by 10 last week The Lions won their first matchup with the ‘Yotes by 21. Newaygo had an interesting game with Grant. With a combination of Newaygo players shaking off a flu bug and a relentless Grant squad in high octane mode the Lions hit the half ahead by just a pair. They were able to regroup and stretch the lead in the second half but it didn’t come easy. Reed City did a 30 point turnaround in their games with the Cardinals.They might make a stronger showing against Newaygo this time around, but the Conference champion Lions have their eye on the prize and aren’t about to get distracted as they prime their game for what looks to be tough upcoming Districts and an even tougher Regionals should they advance. Big Rapids at Grant The winner here will stand alone in second place, unless Reed City somehow manages to pull off a huge upset in Newaygo and I’d not wager the homestead on it happening. The Cards loss to RC hurt but in their next game with Chip Hills they shook off a close first quarter and ran away with the win. The Tigers have a fun group to watch. They thrive on speed and thus their success is anchored in getting a few hot hands going early on. These teams will be competing for the title next year. Chip Hills at Fremont CH can score in bunches but go through some painful offensive droughts a condition Coach Zerlaut has been all too familiar with this season Winnable game for the Packers if the offense they’re capable of putting on the court shows up. Senior guard Zerlaut gets some help in this department from time to time particularly from Witte and Bennett and like always she will see a lot of attention so scoring help would be a big plus. Fruitport Calvary at Holton For the second time in a row the Red Devils face a high scoring Eagle team. Only this one isn’t Kent City. FCC has a good team that had a 10 game win streak before dropping 3 of their last 4. The Devs are still a young team prone to offensive slumps. If they play this one as they can it would be a good win against a good team for a team that has faced some awfully good ones this year. They’ll see another in Districts should they be able to complete the trifecta over Hesperia in their next pair of games. Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 42 Newaygo 53 The Newaygo Lions are a good team, a really good team. There is a reason they are seventeen and one on the season. Their only loss coming to Grand Rapids Christian in a pre-Christmas tournament. There is also a reason that teams coming up against Newaygo may feel intimidated or even a little scared. But Grant has raised up a bunch of feisty players this year who like to play a very up tempo, high pressure, and aggressive game. The players have bought into Coach Delamater’s system, and Delamater’s team has proven to be no easy push over. So going into tonight’s game, the Tiger’s mantra was, “don’t play scared,” and they certainly lived up to it. “You know, Grant’s a tough team,” stated Newaygo’s Coach, Nate Thomasma. “Rider and Delamater, they do a good job. Their girls play hard. I mean it was a tough game. We know what we are going to get when we play these guys, and they did some things to hurt us.” The Lions had a difficult time getting more than six to eight points between them and Grant during the first half. The Tigers ran the Lions ragged. Every time Newaygo would get up, the Tigers would answer back and pull the game within a few. By the end of the half, the Lions were noticeably gassed. Part of that may have been due to the fact that the flu ran through the Lions earlier this week, and part of that was that the Tigers simply did not back down. It was the best scenario that Grant could ask for; to go into the half only down two against Newaygo. But Newaygo is a good team, a really good team, and they made adjustments. They needed to slow the game down, shorten the court, and put pressure on Grant. Which they did. They frustrated Grant with a half-court trap. That helped shorten the court. They took advantage on turnovers created by the trap which amped up the pressure. And, while not intended, the fifteen third quarter fouls between the two teams certainly played in Newaygo’s favor as it definitely slowed the game down. The Grant faithful have witnessed in the past what a game killer abundant whistles can be. By the end of the third, Newaygo increased their lead to twelve. The Tigers were not ready to throw in the towel. Not this team. This Tiger team has battled hard for four quarters all season. Grant dug deep, and slowly began to whittle away at Newaygo’s lead bringing it within six with two and half minutes remaining. But, the Lions had two weapons left in their arsenal. One was the ability to burn the clock, and the second was some pretty clutch free-throw shooters in Long and Goodin. Those fouls/free-throws again killed Grant as Newaygo was able to stretch their lead to eleven, and keep their undefeated conference record intact against some mighty gutsy Tigers. “Good win. Proud of the girls. Conference champs now two years in a row. We’re really proud of that,” shared Thosmama. “I thought it was a good game competed between both teams. Coming in here, we’re just happy to win. I don’t care what the score is to be honest. Really proud of them. Really, really proud of the girl's mental toughness tonight. Unbelievable. It’s been an interesting week for us so glad to get through it hopefully.” Leading the Lions tonight was Jaxi Long with twenty-one points followed by Emmerson Goodin with fifteen. Lily Swinehart contributed eight, Grace Painter four, Isabella Welch three, and Kayla Fisk two. The Lions will be at home Tuesday evening to face Reed City.
“I’m really proud of the girls tonight, and how they played. That’s a State ranked team. In the preview the point was made that no one in their last three games has been within twenty points of them. Going into those last couple minutes eight points, they made their free-throws down the stretch like they should, and that was the difference in the game,” stated Delamater. “I’m just really proud of the effort we put in tonight. I don’t know, maybe Big Rapids, I don’t know if anyone else in our conference has been within fifteen points of them other than us and Big Rapids all season.” Chloee Chase had double digits for Grant tonight with fourteen. Julie Ashbaugh shot eight. Sara Arends and Jocee Pleune each had five. Jaycee Rider and Jocelyn Kruithoff each put up four, and Jayci Hance added two. The Tigers stay home Tuesday night to face Big Rapids in what could be the determining game for second place in the CSAA Gold Conference. Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 92 Newaygo 59 It’s a Friday winter night in Newaygo County. The wind is blowing, and it is stinging cold outside. Inside the field house at Grant Middle School things are about to heat up. It doesn’t matter that neither team is playing for first in the conference. Quite honestly it doesn’t matter where either team sits in the conference rankings. Tonight is all about bragging rights between the Muckers and the River Rats, and there could be no better place on earth right now than this rivalry. Grant entered into tonight’s game with a 6-5 conference record, and 8-7 overall. They had just beaten Fremont on Tuesday night, and were aiming to take down Newaygo as well to put the icing on the rivalry cake. Newaygo came into Grant with a 3-8 conference record, and 4-12 overall. While not having the most stellar season, to beat Grant in Grant would be the high water mark they could boast of for years to come. And from the fans’ perspective, Friday nights were made for this. Newaygo was the first to draw blood, but Grant didn’t waste time before taking back the lead by two. And that is really how the first quarter went. Two teams battling on the boards. Each trying to find that proverbial chink in the other’s armor. It wasn’t great ball, but it was good rivalry ball that kept the fans of both sides engaged and excited. When the first quarter came to its end, Grant managed to stay two points ahead of Newaygo, 15-13. Within the first minute of the second quarter, Newaygo would draw that down to a one point difference. Nonetheless, that’s as close as the Lions would get to making this a game. Enter Zach Barnhart. Barnhart has been a steady, hardworking contributor to Grant’s team all season. He has been fairly solid on the boards, but not one to light it up offensively. If you watched game film, there is nothing to indicate you would need to guard him. He’s not one to post up double digits like Schuitma can do. Tonight, however, Barnhart decided to come out with a big, “welcome to my house.” The Tigers put up a combined thirty-three second quarter points with Barnhart alone owning fifteen of those points. It didn’t matter if he was inside the arc or outside, he was dropping it in the net. Couple that with Lucas Swanson owning the boards on the other side of the court, and the Tigers had the Lions by their mane. They didn’t know which way to go or who to defend. As Newaygo’s Coach, Jason Long, shared, “They shot the lights out. They played really well. The guys that had to hit shots, hit shots. Lots of them.” The second half really didn’t fare much better for Newaygo. While Grant was a little slow to get back into the swing of things, once they kicked it back into gear, it was lights out for the Lions. Barnhart continued his bombardment. Schuitema, as usual, punished his adversaries. In fact the only question left was would Coach Schuitema allow his Tigers to break one hundred, or would he mute the Tiger’s roar? For the better half of the fourth, it looked like Schuitema was going to let them play. The Tigers did slow their pace, but still took every opportunity to put more points on the board. Now with Grant up by over thirty points and Newaygo fans beginning to trek back up north, the starters were finally relieved. Grant had simply outplayed and out manned Newaygo. “I thought our kids played hard in the second half and battled. [Grant] just shot the ball really well tonight,” stated Coach Long. “I love the fact that we had so many shots go in that our players were feeling confident with all of the shots they were taking, and we haven’t seen that this year,” shared Grant’s Coach, Joe Schuitema. “So that was just so rewarding to watch, and especially in a rivalry game. A great atmosphere on a Friday night against Newaygo. Couldn’t ask for a better time for that to happen. Newaygo has good players that can do things inside and out that we, I thought, worked hard on defense to try to prevent that or at least minimize it to the level where we finished with a comfortable win.” Bryce Decker led the Lions with twenty-six followed by Josiah Long with ten. Jaden Osawabine shot for eight, and Dyllan Bazzett added six. Also helping in Newaygo’s effort was Amaree James with four, Remy Wells and Caris Nelson each with two, and Kody Bazzett with one. Newaygo will travel to Reed City on Tuesday.
It should be no surprise that Zach Barnhart led for the Tigers tonight with a game high thirty-two points. Seth Schuitema added twenty-two to his growing thousand point plus career. Lucas Swanson and Sawyer Carr each had nine. Giovanni Fallador shot seven. Gage Cronk hit for six. Chase Geers added five, and Isaac Higgins put up two. The Tigers will stay home to face conference leaders Big Rapids on Tuesday night. Eagles claim a pair of titles
Girls Tri County 48 Fremont 38 It was senior night in Fremont and the Packers got the home crowd going by jumping out to a 9-0 lead before the offense began to struggle. Fremont’s defense stepped up to keep them in front through 3 quarters but the Vikings took control in the 4th outscoring the hosts 20-9 to give them a sweep of the season series. Coach Zerlaut : "Our girls played with great effort tonight, and things looked good early. We jumped out quickly with some made shots and solid defense. Then it seemed there was a lid on the basket. We struggled to make shots and began turning it over too much. The girls continued to play with great effort for 32 minutes, which I am proud of. We just didn't score it enough and once we fell behind TC did a great job of taking control of the tempo, forcing us to foul, and making their free throws.” Mia Witte and Haley Zerlaut shared scoring honors with 10 apiece while Zerlaut also dished out a half dozen dimes and nabbed an equal amount of steals. Kaitlynn Bennett led the Pack on the glass finishing with 10 boards to go with her 6 points Fremont (2-10, 2-16) will host Chippewa Hills on Tuesday. Kent City 59 Holton 24 The Eagles made official what was a foregone conclusion Friday as they wrapped up yet another Silver crown with a win over a game but overmatched Holton squad. Coach Jordan's young team regrouped after a disastrous first quarter but could not overcome the offensive firepower and stifling defense of KC. Coach Jordan: “Even though we got beat by 30 we had a much better outing against them this time around, and that’s all I was looking for as a coach. They’re a great team and make it tough on both sides of the ball “We actually played pretty close with them in the second and third quarters. We just had another terrible first quarter of 16-0, and we missed a ton of shots, had several shots that just went in and out and we shot horrible from the free throw line. “I thought our offense was decent tonight as far as execution and that is a step in the right direction, as last time we played we had zero offense flow. “ “I started 4 10th graders and my only junior last night so it was good to see that group out there playing the way they did.” Ryan Robins paced the Devs in scoring with 10 while pulling down a team high 6 boards Holton (5-4, 11-7) will host Fruitport Calvary Tuesday in their last regular season home game. Districts will be hosted by Holton beginning Monday February 28th. Lakeview 39 White Cloud 36 The Cloud handled the Wildcats first time around when they played at home but Lakeview evened the series as they held off a late charge by the visitors to secure the win in the conference contest. Coach Wilk: “Tonight the credit goes to Lakeview. They came out full of energy, and they took an 11 point halftime lead. After halftime we were able to cut that lead down to 1, but we made too many mistakes to win this one. Gaby Reeve led us with 14 points. Kiara Edwards and Abby Derks both added 7. “Next Friday we play our last regular season game against Kent City, and we will need to put together four perfect quarters to beat them at their place.“ White Cloud (3-6, 8-11) travels for the matchup with the Eagles Morley Stanwood 48 Hesperia 22 It wasn’t enough that the Panthers had to play one of the state’s top teams on the road. It had to come on the heels of the ‘Hawks narrow loss to D1 Mt Pleasant earlier this week allowing the Oilers to become the only team without ‘city’ in its name to defeat the talented MS squad. The hosts took the floor and immediately took control behind a 19-3 first quarter. Hesperia saw more offense in the second quarter but still trailed 26-13 at intermission.. After the break MS once again dominated the floor outsourcing their guests 20-2 to cruise to the conference win. Coach Grodus: “We played a better game against a good Morley team this time around. Poor shooting and rebounding continue to plague us.” Emmet Tinkham paced the Panthers in points hitting for 14 to go with her team leading 10 boards while Emma Joppich pulled another 9 off the glass. Hesperia (0-8, 2-12) will travel to Fruitport Thursday before wrapping up the regular season with a rivalry game with Holton on Friday. Boys Fremont 62 Tri County 39 The Packers took care of business to stay within a game of first place Big Rapids as a strong defensive effort helped deliver the home win. I thought we played with great effort. I was proud of how the team responded after a disappointing loss on Tuesday. It was senior night for us and I was really pleased that all six of our seniors were able to score in their last home game. Joey DeLong led the hosts with 19 points while adding 5 steals and 5 rebounds. Logan Nelson knocked down 6 points and dished out 4 assists and Chase Rasmussen hit for 4 points. Fremont (9-2, 11-6) will head to Remus Tuesday to face Chip Hills. Kent City 47 Holton 30 It was a tight contest for 3 quarters as the Red Devils were looking to grab a share of first place. Then came the 4th. Up by a point at home the Eagles went on a 16-0 run in the final frame to claim the outright title. Coach Swanson: “Nothing came easy tonight. We got pretty discouraged from being aggressive early on which turned it into a perimeter game for us. Whenever that happens, if the shots start to dry up so does our offense, and that's what happened late for us. Lots of credit to Kent City for making things difficult.” Austin Fowler paced the Devil scoring as he hit for 11 while Wyatt Monette dropped in 7 to go with a half dozen boards. Holton (7-2, 11-5) will head to Muskegon Tuesday to take on WMC. White Cloud 54 Lakeview 31 Coach Jones: “We knew with it being the snow coming that we would have to come out hot to silence the crowd, and hot we were, outscoring Lakeview 31 to 2 in the first period. “It was pretty much cruise control the rest of the way. Kevin Strait led the way with a team and game high 14points while Taylor Bode and Jared Watson each hit for 11. Donavan Stevens fired in 6 and Romeo Johnson finished with 4. White Cloud (5-5, 8-9) travels to Kent City Friday to face the Silver champs. Morley Stanwood 53 Hesperia 17 Coach Worcester: “Tonight we could not get any offense going. Our defense kept us relevant, however without any offense of production we fell behind early and could not climb out of the hole. We will continue to play hard and develop as a team moving forward. We have a few tough games left and we look to use these games to improve in all areas. We have a young team and I’m excited to see these young men grow into the team I know they can be.” Hesperia will host Fruitport Calvary on Tuesday. By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports Girls Newaygo at Grant The Tigers have put together a good season with a combination of experience and youth, posting some big wins along the way. In fact they have only lost to 2 teams in the conference. Their Friday opponents, first place Newaygo…and Tri County, a team that has only won 2 other conference games beyond the sweep of Grant. While the Tigers have been inconsistent the Lions have not. They seem to have gotten stronger as the season has progressed. We knew that Long Goodin and Fisk would provide senior leadership along with a boatload of points and boards but the emergence of Painter, Swineheart and Welch as well as getting some solid minutes from the bench has turned them into a force of late. The Tigers have a lot of players returning and will be competing for the title next year, but second place is the only realistic target this year. And they will need to beat Big Rapids next week to make that happen because the Lions aren’t about to have a let down now. Tri County at Fremont The Vikings are an enigma. As mentioned above they have had Grant’s number beating them twice while losing to conference bottom dweller Chip Hills in between. Always tougher at home. TC hasn’t won a road game in 2 months. The Packers have rarely played with a full squad this year and their record reflects it. They nearly pulled one out against TC in the Viking gym and have begun to see more firepower beyond Haley Zerlaut but if they go into this one shorthanded again they will be hard pressed to get win #3. Holton at Kent City The Red Devils ended their winning streak with a solid thud, managing only 16 points against an aggressive Ravenna squad. Not the performance you want before facing the team that held you to just a dozen last time out. While I like Coach Jordan’s team a lot, led by Robins and Fowler, few teams are in the same league as the Eagles. Only 2 teams have come within 10 points of KC and both are lofty in the state rankings. And the game is in the Aerie. Hesperia at Morley Stanwood The Panthers haven’t got the horses to keep up with the ‘Hawks, a team looking toward a possible third try at Kent City in the District Tourney to be held in the MS house White Cloud at Lakeview The Cloud is 8-10 and won’t finish the regular season at .500 because they finish with Kent City. But they can get close with a win over the Wildcats, a team they handled well at home. Boys Newaygo at Grant The Tigers have only lost once to a team with a losing record, a 2 point squeaker to Sparta just after the calendar turned. The first time these teams met in the Lion's Den the Tigers built a huge lead then watched as Newaygo whittled away at it before running out of gas in the final minutes. It’s a rivalry game. THE rivalry in the region so that tosses everything out the window, The Lions have Decker and Long and have benefitted from the increased role of Osawabin. The Tigers have Schuitema who will get his points and Swanson, Geers and Cronk can score. If the Lions can overcome their slow starts they could make it a game, but falling behind early is trouble here particularly if Scuitema has a hot hand. Tri County at Fremont Oof. That hurt. The loss at home to Grant slimmed down the Packer title hopes considerably. Now beyond needing to win out they need help and those same Grant Tigers are likely the only ones left on the Big Rapids schedule capable of beating them. Fremont handled the Vikings first time around at the TC gym and they should be able to put this one in the W column, but despite the loss to the Lions Tuesday the Vikes have been pouring in the points the past few weeks. When the Packers lose (outside of the OT game against BR) they average 50 points, their total output in each of the last 2 games a win over Newaygo and the loss to the Tigers. They will likely need more to secure this win. Holton at Kent City The Red Devils want this one badly. A win puts them in position to share the title. A loss gets them 2nd place in their last Silver season. They had a shot at moving into the catbird seat KC now holds when the teams met last week but they came up a point short. Coach Swanson praised his team's effort but felt the offense couldn’t find its rhythm that night. The rhythm section of Monette, Brant, Fowler, Ericson, etc. will probably need more than the 35 they put up last time because the Eagles can score bunches. And they’re on their home court this time. Hesperia at Morley Stanwood The Panthers have been playing shorthanded most of the season. We don’t see any winnable games beginning with this trip to Morley and finishing with 3 pretty good teams, but Coach Worcester gets a bow for staying positive during what has been a really tough season. White Cloud at Lakeview The Cloud took control first time around and Taylor Bode dropped 19 on the Wildcats. This one’s on the road but WC is a better team and a win in this one evens their Silver record at 5-5. Newaygo 70 Tri County 30 The Lions crushed the Vikings and clinched a tie for the title with their 12th straight win. But they’re not thinking about a tie. The Lions are on fire and looking to keep their current torrent pace going into the postseason. The title? A given. With 3 games left against teams that failed to come within 20 points of the Lions in their first meetings there would have to be a cosmic shift of epic proportions to deny them the trophy. Coach Thomasma: “"Girls played really well. Great team victory." Once again the Lion triumvirate stuffed the stat sheet as Jaxi Long poured in 25 points to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists Emmerson Goodin dropped 15 points, grabbed 6 steals and pulled another 6 off the glass and Kayla Fisk fired in 14 points and added a team high 8 rebounds. The Lions (11-0, 16-1) can sew up their second straight Gold crown with a win over Grant (8-3, 9-7) Friday. White Cloud 34 North Muskegon 21 White Cloud sent the fans home happy at their final home game of the season as they defeated the visiting Norsemen in a non-conference tilt Tuesday night. Coach Wilk: ”Tonight we took care of business. Defensively I could not have asked for a better start. After the 1st quarter we were up 8 to 0. In the second quarter we lost some intensity, and we left them open too often. They knocked down some shots, and we went into half with a 16 to 13 lead. In the 2nd half we got back into playing good defense and held them to only 8 more points the rest of the game. We also added 18 more points to our score before the time ran out. Our seniors were able to win their last home game. Leading the charge tonight was Gaby Reeve with 12 points. Abby Derks chipped in 8, Jaden Gomez added 7, and Carsyn Scarlavai added 5.” White Cloud (3-5, 8-10) will travel to Lakeview Friday to face the Wildcats. Ravenna 30 Holton 16 The Red Devils came into this one riding a 6 game winning streak. That ride came to a screeching halt on Tuesday when the offense that had been averaging nearly 50 points a game during the streak sputtered to finish with less than 20. Coach Jordan: “As you can tell by the score we struggled a ton on offense tonight, credit to Ravenna they came out and clearly wanted it more than us tonight, they out worked us tonight on both sides of the ball. Absolutely killed us on the Offensive glass with 26 O boards and we turned the ball over almost 30 times. This led to them getting 67 shot attempts to our 35 and that really was the game. Neither team shot the ball well to be honest. “Foul trouble hurt as well in the first quarter, having 3 starters with 2 fouls early in the quarter, this led to us having to take off our press and that has been our best tool these last few games. “Nothing went right for us tonight but that has a lot to do with the lack of energy we showed up with. “For the 6th time in 7 games we had a poor first half. This time however we were unable to dig ourselves out of it like we have in the past, I knew this is something we can't continue to do and it came back to bite us tonight. “Can't dwell on it for too long. We have a 17-0 Kent city team on Friday who beat us convincingly the first time we played. I'm hoping my girls respond and we show up to compete and put forth a better showing second time around.” Grant 60 Fremont 50 The Tigers dealt a stinging blow to the Packer title hopes Tuesday taking an early lead and holding off their hosts the rest of the way to secure the conference win. The Fremont loss combined with the Big Rapids win over Reed City puts the Pack in second a game behind the Cardinals. Coach Schuitema: "Getting a win at Fremont is a big deal. The guys played hard and with a purpose. They handled the pressure of the game and responded to Fremont's run to close out the game." Coach Bowen: “We struggled again to make shots and we couldn’t get into any rhythm on offense. We came out flat in the first quarter at both ends and fell behind by ten and it was an uphill battle all the way. Seth Schuitema had another big night for the Tigers firing in a game high 26 points, Lucas Swanson dropped a dozen on the Pack and Gage Cronk hit for 8. Logan Nelson paced the Packers knocking down 20 points to go with his 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Jordon McDonald also reached double figures in scoring finishing with an even dozen. Fremont (9-2, 11-6) host Tri County Friday while Grant (6-5,8-7) will host Newaygo Newaygo 52 Tri County 47 Newaygo earned a tough conference win on Tuesday against the visiting Vikings a team that bested them by 20 earlier this season. The game went back and forth the entire evening with Newaygo eventually edging ahead to capture the win. Coach Long "It was good to see the boys win a tight game. I felt they battled all night and put themselves in a position at the end of the game to win." The Lions had three players finish with double figures in scoring led by Jaden Osawabin who dropped 16 on the hosts. Bryce Decker hit for 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Josiah Long finished with 13 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds. Helping to set up the offense were Caris Nelson who dished out 5 assists and Remy Wells who handed out 4. Newaygo (3-8, 5-11) will be the guests of Grant on Friday. Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 57 Fremont 43 Which team is going to take second in the CSAA Gold conference is coming down to the wire. Grant entered tonight with a 7-3 conference record tied with Big Rapids. But because Big Rapids has the overall win loss record, Grant is currently sitting in third. The Tigers would need a win tonight against Fremont if they have any hope of taking second alone. The last time these two teams met was on Fremont’s court where Grant won easily by nineteen points. However, that was a month ago, and the Grant ladies have had a tough grinding schedule over the last couple weeks. Plus, Fremont is a better team than their record indicates and Haley Zerlaut is a formidable weapon. The Packers for their part were hoping to salvage their season with some high notes, and beating Grant on Grant’s court would certainly go a long way in that quest. Nonetheless, Fremont also needed to bring up three JV players to fill out a slim roster so Mia Clemence, Katie Ackerman, and Olivia Hansen got a shot at the big dance. Fremont was first to draw blood as Grant just could not get things started. It wasn’t like Fremont’s defense was that strong. The Tigers had plenty of opportunities; they just couldn’t cash in. The Packers wasted no time in exploiting the Tigers sluggish performance, and quickly went up six points before the Tiger’s Chloee Chase found the net. Ashbaugh then hit two to bring the Tigers within two. Fremont’s Mia Witte put up a big three to give the Pack a nine-four advantage. Unfortunately for the Pack, that would be the last they saw the net for some time. The Tiger’s would go on a sixteen point run that started in the first quarter and continued into the second. By the time the first half ended, Grant had a ten point lead over Fremont. The third quarter was no better for the Packers. Grant continued their dominance controlling the boards and creating turnovers. The Tiger’s Jaycee Hance had a big game keeping the Packers scoring threat, Haley Zerlaut, from gaining any looks. Zerlaut would only have eleven points through three quarters, and six of those came off of free-throws. Ashbaugh would run into foul trouble during the third, but that didn’t seem to really affect the Tiger’s. Arends, Hance, and Chase would split fourteen of Grant’s sixteen third quarter points to give the Tigers a very comfortable twenty point lead heading into the final quarter. All the Tigers needed to do now was sit back and keep doing what they had done through three quarters. But with Ashbaugh on the bench, the Packers found a way to open up Zerlaut which in turn also created room for Kaitlynn Bennett. The duo would ignite the fourth quarter with nineteen points combined. And given more time, Fremont may have been able to make a game yet of this game. However, in the end, that twenty point deficit was too much to overcome as the Tigers won at home 57-43. “I was pleased with how hard our kids played,” shared Fremont’s Coach, Wes Zerlaut. “Obviously we had several JV kids that we brought up. We were undermanned tonight. We had a couple kids that weren’t dressed. So those JV kids came up, and each of them got in there and played their eight minutes they were allowed as a quarter. I was pleased with their effort and energy. Grant’s a good team. They shot it well tonight again. I was pleased with a lot of things we did, and thought we did some things well. Obviously we didn’t play well enough to win the game, but I was pleased overall with our kid’s effort. We gave up too many offensive rebounds especially in the first half, and they really got us several times on that curl, cut, and drive down the middle in the first half. I thought we did a better job defending that in the second half. There was a point in there, I think it was a 13-0 run maybe, I think we were up 9-4 and all of a sudden were down 17-9, I told the kids after that really turns out to be the difference in the game. Other than that three or four minute stretch, we played them pretty evenly. Credit to them. They got the job done.” Haley Zerlaut led in Fremont’s effort with twenty-one points, followed by Kaitlynn Bennett with eleven. Lily VandenBerg shot four. Mia Witte put up three. And Sydney Moon and Olivia Hansen each had two. Fremont will be back at home against Tri County on Friday night. “It was a grind,” stated Grant’s Coach, Josh Delamater. “This is such a tough stretch mentally. I thought they did well coming into a Tuesday night game. Monday practices are always tough for us. And Fremont, Haley is a good ball player so we kind of focused on what she was trying to do to us, and I think she still had a pretty good game. We have some nagging injuries that are kind of hurting some people right now. Chloee has a leg. Sara has a wrist injury right now. Jaycee Rider has a knee thing so we are kind of battling through several things. I thought we did a nice job. Jayci Hance played a great game defensively with Haley Zerlaut. She did a nice job on her. And then we rotated people in just to try to keep some legs because that’s a tough thing right now. Everybody got some good minutes. Everybody did a nice job out there on the floor. A win’s a win.”
There were four Tiger’s scoring in double digits tonight. Sara Arends and Chloee Chase both had twelve, and Julie Ashbaugh and Jaycee Rider both had ten. Jayci Hance found herself with seven. Jocee Pleune put up three. Morgan Kruithoff shot two, and Jocelyn Kruithoff added one. The Tigers will stay at home this Friday to face their near north rivals Newaygo. With this win tonight, and Big Rapids losing to Reed City, Grant sits in second place alone in the conference. Big Rapids comes to Grant next week Tuesday. |
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