Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 57 Holton 45 The Tigers came into tonight’s contest with a few things in mind. First, to continue their current three game win streak. Since their frustrating loss to Central Montcalm and their predictable loss to conference leaders Big Rapids, the Tigers have been on a tear. While tonight’s game was a non-conference matchup, the Holton Red Devils have a decent MPR rating. A win tonight coupled with an upset win over Kent City would be a big shot to this Tiger team’s MPR rating going into their conference tournament and District play. But to get that, they would need to defeat Holton, and Holton would not be easy prey. The Red Devils would like nothing more than to come into Tiger territory and continue their four game win streak. Right now they are locked up in third place in the West Michigan Conference – Rivers division with Shelby. In order to remain in third place, they must defeat Grant as their remaining schedule involves some tough teams including their dominant conference leaders Hart. Any loss could easily see them slip behind Shelby into fourth place. The first quarter started out slow as both teams began to feel each other out. It would be Holton that would take the early lead behind six points from junior Ryann Robins. Jayci Hance kept the Tigers within striking distance with four before Julie Ashbaugh found her groove and elevated the Tigers with seven of her own. Reese Gragg closed the quarter with two to give Grant a six point margin over the Red Devils. The second quarter would see these two teams go literally toe-to-toe. The Tigers figured out a way to keep Robins from scoring down low, but that opened the door for senior Courtney Boes and junior Abby Fowler. By half, the Red Devils put up seventeen. Not to be out done, Jayci Hance and Makayla Zerlaut along with a last second three from Jocee Pleune gave the Tigers a one point second quarter advantage and a seven point lead heading into the locker room. While this wasn’t the prettiest half that the Tigers have played all season, and often Grant looked a little lethargic and off a beat, the game seemed to be well within the Tiger’s grasp. However, Grant must have had greasy paws because the Red Devils came out for the second half on fire and nearly slipped away from the Tiger hold. “That is a much-improved Holton team,” stated Coach Delamater. “I think that their coach is doing a fantastic job of getting them to play hard. Getting them to play physical. They move well, We saw a lot of that stuff in film. It's kind of like us where you haven’t played a game against us that can be a shock, and I think the girls were shocked at what they found on the floor tonight.” Shocked may be an understatement. It wouldn’t take two and a half minutes before Ashbaugh found herself in foul trouble forcing Delamater to bench her in case he needed her down the stretch. A move that would prove to be fruitful in the fourth. Holton sensing weakness amped up the pressure. The Tigers looked totally bewildered and abandoned. Holton’s pressure forced Grant to make poor passing decisions creating ample turnovers for the Red Devils to exploit. The Tigers were only able to put up six while the Red Devils' heat allowed them to come flaming back with eleven to bring the game within two. Holton began the fourth by tying up the game, yet with Ashbaugh back in, their focus became on stopping her and not the four other Tigers on the court. Hance, Pleune, Obenauf, and Madison Thompson countered as they led the Tigers on a nine point run. Yet, like a mini repeat of the game thus far, Holton turned up the heat once more as Fowler, Kate Conzemius, and Ava Crowell combined for eight to bring the Red Devils back within two. The Tigers called a time out and that would be the ice to cool the Red Devils. Ashbaugh came out of that time out with a ten point run of her own as the Tigers earned a hard fought victory at home. “It was one of those games where it was a pretty cool game to see because we’d make a run, they would make a run back. Turnovers by them then some turnovers by us. Let some layups by both teams. And that’s really what one of the big aspects of the game was; who was going to make that run, who was going to get the turnovers,” shared Delamater. “In the second half, they really came out and played well. Julie getting into foul trouble in the third quarter definitely hurt us because we were on the verge of making a run and then she went out and we really struggled to bring the ball up against their pressure. That’s a battle that we have to look at and fight through in the future. Kent City on Friday, and then next week the conference tournament, and Districts, like if she gets into foul trouble again, what does that look like for us. I’m glad to get out of this with a win. You know at this time of the year everybody’s talking about MPR and where that is for Districts. They had a good MPR for their record and that’s going to help us immensely in terms of getting that first or second seed.” Two Tigers were in double digits this evening. Julie Ashbaugh led with twenty and Jayci Hance followed closely with sixteen. Jocee Pleune put up six, Makayla Zerlaut shot five, and Alexa Obenauf had four. Emma Thompson, Reese Gragg, and Madison Thompson each helped with two. Coach Jordan: “We turned the ball over way too many times to win the game to be honest I think we were just under 30 so the fact that we were still in the game is a testament in itself. We played hard and did some good things but As we have all season we always have 2 to 3 minutes where we just are completely careless with the ball and it ended up hurting us tonight. Abbie Fowler had another great night tonight with 15 points 11 steals 4 assists.”
Ryann Robins finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds, Courtney Boes collected 5 steals to go with her 7 points and Layla Cannady hit for 8 points. The Tigers travel to Kent City Friday for their final regular season game before the conference tournament next week. Game time is 6:00. The Red Devils visit North Muskegon on Thursday to take on the Norse.
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Photos By Bobbie Cruzan
White Cloud 68 Walkerville 25 It’s been a streaky season for the Cloud. A month ago they dropped their fourth straight in a home contest against conference rival Grant. The three previous losses came against some of the power teams in the region and after a 4-0 start the team found their record even up at 4-4. Coach Jones’ team regrouped and peeled off 3 wins in a row before falling to Kent City on the road and the undefeated state ranked Hart Pirates at home. Since then they pulled off a classic overtime win against the second place Lions of Newaygo, a game Editor Mercer chronicled in her story The Crowd Goes Wild: White Cloud Beats Newaygo In Packed Gym, and added three more wins including tonight’s victory over Walkerville. Each of the 11 members of the Indian team contributed to tonight's win according to Coach Jones. They were led in scoring by Jayden Robinson who dropped 14 on the Wildcats. Kevin Strait and Noah Robinson hit for a dozen points apiece and Jared Watson knocked down 11. This looks to be one of the most successful seasons for the Indians in several years. There are three tough games ahead on the schedule starting with a road game Friday with Reed City and Shelby and North Muskegon at home next week. Then comes the conference tourney which could see them compete as one of the top four teams in the conference. Their record (6-3, 11-6) should give them a strong seeding in Districts with the top seed likely going to host Mason County Central. Whatever happens going forward the team and their coaching staff deserve kudos for giving fans a lot to cheer about. Holton 44 Shelby 37 Coach Jordan: “We came out the gates pretty strong and built a 11-1 lead in the first and took the game to half 23-11. Our defense and press were really moving well and we created turnovers that we were able to capitalize on. Our goal was to limit Molli Shultz offensively because she hurt us in the first game. We held her to zero at half and felt we were doing a really good job on the defensive end. “In the second half things were a little different. The easy shots we got in the first were no longer there and Shultz started to get in on the action accounting for 8 points, all off transition from steals from turnovers. “After 3 it was 32-23. They continued to build momentum and went on a run in the fourth quarter to cut it to four points, Again most of the points seemed to come off transition. We just weren’t getting back like we should. Abbie Fowler hit a 3 and Layla Cannady and Courtney Boes both hit some big free throws to get us back up to 10 with a few minutes left in the game. We were happy to get out of the game with the win, Shelby made it a game. “This is 4 in a row for us and now we have another big test for us with Grant on Tuesday. They have a girl (Julie Ashbaugh) who can take over a game and is a load to deal with so we need to all be dialed in defensively.” Abby Fowler finished with a dozen points 6 boards 5 steals and a pair of assists. Layla Cannady hit for a team high 14 points to go with her 5 rebounds. Ryann Robins had a team high 9 off the glass, adding 7 points and Courtney Boes reached double figue=res with 10 points. Shultz led Shelby with 12 points. Holton (5-5, 10-8) will pay a Valentine’s Day visit to Grant on Tuesday. Fremont 43 Orchard View 15 The Fremont Packers hosted Orchard View for the final home game of the season and came away with a victory. The teams exchanged baskets early on in a very competitive first quarter. Fremont made a couple late free throws in the quarter to lead 12-7 after one. Fremont took control in the second quarter with an 18-3 advantage to lead 30-10 at the half. The scoring in the second half slowed down, with Fremont holding a 4-0 advantage in the third quarter and a 9-5 advantage in the fourth. Coach Zerlaut -- "We talked with the girls about making a memory tonight and they did just that. It was the last home game of the season, the last home game for our Seniors, we had the school Mid-Winter festivities, we recognized our youth programs, and it was our Coaches vs. Cancer event. The girls had special jerseys to wear with the name of a loved one they were playing in honor or in memory of. Thank you to Brooke Tanner and the Tanner Farm Bureau Insurance Agency for sponsoring the event. It was a great night for our basketball program and for our kids.” Fremont had a very balanced scoring attack led by Jessica Bennett with 11 points., Sydney Moon hit for 7, while Katie Ackerman and Lily VandenBerg each finished with 5. Ten different Packer players scored in the game. Fremont (4-6, 7-13) will visit Whitehall on Thursday. Boys notch another heart stopping win
Photos by Bobbie Cruzan White Cloud 48 Morley Stanwood 46 The Indians have played some interesting games of late and this one was no exception. Trailing by as many as 14 points in the 4th the Cloud slapped on some effective defensive pressure to claw their way back into a tie with a half minute remaining. Then came the heroics. Jared Watson took a charge to give the visitors possession. After a time out Kevin Strait took Watson’s inbound pass and fired a missile to a streaking Noah Robinson who knocked down a floater in the lane to give the Indians their third straight win, keeping them a half game out of second place in the conference race. Coach Jones: “Fun to watch these young men never give up and battle back for victories these last two Friday nights. Stressful but fun. Proud of how they never quit! They are learning to win besides just shooting light out from downtown.” Strait led the offense with 17 points, Jayden Robinson hit for 7 points, Noah Robinson counted 6 and Mason Reuther and Watson each tallied 5. Landyn McGowan and Dominick Burkhart scored 4 apiece. Zade Garrett scored 26 for Morley. White Cloud (6-3, 10-6) will look to make it four in a row when they host Walkerville Monday. Morley Stanwood 50 White Cloud 22 The White Cloud pressure defense kept the Mohawks in check for the first quarter staying within 3 points entering the second. The offense however could not keep pace with the hosts and Morley built a 27-15 lead by halftime. The second half saw the Indian offense go silent scoring just 3 in the third and adding only 4 in the 4th giving MS the conference win and falling below the .500 mark for the first time this season. Coach Wilk: “I thought we played decent defense in the 1st quarter, but after that we didn't put forth the effort needed to beat a good Morley Squad. Credit to Morley for having good ball movement tonight. We were slow with our rotations, and we will be looking to clean that up before our next game. Gaby Reeve led us with 10 points, and Jorja Baker showed great hustle and effort.” White Cloud (4-5, 8-9) heads to Ravenna Wednesday to take on the Bulldogs. Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken DeLaat Newaygo 79 Tri County 56 Going into this game the Vikings were 0-8 against teams with a winning record. Make it 0-9. An entertaining game that saw waves of momentum switch back and forth began with Josiah Long popping in a three pointer then, following a steal, Bryce Decker drained a pair from the line and after another stop Caris Nelson wove into the lane and scored and it was suddenly 7-0 Lions. The Vikes regrouped behind the wizardry of Blake Nelson who was either scoring or finding Ty Merlington who notched a pair from beyond the arc. TC tied it at 9 before Decker ripped one from distance. The teams exchanged free throws then Dyllan Bazzett took in a sweet pass from Logan Klomp for 2. TC’s Nelson came through again with a triple and a wicked pass to Merlington for another three to pull TC to within a point. Klomp scored and the quarter ended with the hosts on top 20-17. The second opened with Long hitting a 2 and converting a free throw to put Newaygo up by 6. Viking baller Nelson banged in 2 quick buckets and after teammate Gavin Rykse tripled the Vikes had their first lead of the game. The Lions once again went up 6 before another Blake Nelson three and after Caris Nelson turned a steal into 2, TC responded with another three and the teams hit the half with Newaygo up 34-32. The second half saw the Lions coming out firing as Long, Nelson, Grant Harkness and Decker (2) all zeroed in from distance and while TC fought hard they could not keep pace and fell behind 62-49 entering the 4th. The final frame saw the Lions pull away and secure the conference win. Caris Nelson led the Lions in scoring as he canned 22 points to go with his 5 assists. Decker had a team high 9 boards while firing in 17 points, Long knocked down 16 and pulled down a half dozen rebounds, and Harkness added 9 points to the cause.
Newaugo (6-2, 11-6) holds onto second place in the CSAA and will face off against first place Big Rapids in the Lion's Den. Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken DeLaat Newaygo 46 Tri-County 32 The first half it was Grace Painter who provided the fireworks, firing in 4 triples including a half ending missile that staked the Lion to a 26-11 lead at intermission. After the second half opened with a Viking bucket, the Lions ran off 6 points as Painter and Naomi Schillman notched field goals with Toth sinking a pair from the line stretching the lead to 19. The teams played evenly through the final quarter and a half and for the first time this season the Lion win streak extended to 2. The Vikings have struggled on offense for much of the season and the Newaygo defense proved to continue that trend shutting down the passing lanes effectively and controlling the defensive rebounding. Coach Thomasma: “Good win for the girls tonight. We battled foul trouble the whole game but were able to hang in and get the win. The girls jumped out to a great start behind some good shooting and execution by our offense. Our two seniors Painter and Toth stepped up with some great shooting and our younger girls continue to gain experience.” Painter finished a stellar night with 19 points 6 boards and 5 steals. Toth tossed in a dozen points while snaring 3 rebounds and Schillman popped in 5 points. Leah Ruehmeier, Addison Goodin, Kija Westbrook, Olivia Robeck and Maria Riddering each notched 2 points.
Newaygo (3-6, 6-13) will host conference leader Big Rapids on Friday. Photos By Bobbie Cruzan
White Cloud 54 Holton 43 Up by 10 points at halftime the Indians stormed out of the locker room after halftime with a 20-9 run to put the game out of reach and secure the win. Coach Swanson: “We competed hard tonight. It got away from us a bit in the third quarter, but I was proud of how our guys continued to fight and make things interesting.” Mason Reuther led the Cloud with 15 points while Kevin Strait canned a dozen. Jared Watson and Noah Robinson hit for 9 each with Jayden Robinson and Dominick Burkhart each contributing 4 to the cause. Carter Brant paced the Red Devil scoring with 26 points to go with his 9 boards and 3 assists. Chase Albright and Brodrick Fialek each grabbed 6 rebounds and Fialek also tallied 13 points. White Cloud (5-3, 9-6) travels to Morley Stanwood Friday while Holton will head for Scottville for a rematch with the Spartans. Grant 68 Tri County 66. The visiting Tigers needed a big 4th quarter to catch Tri-County and seal the conference victory, Lucas Swanson led the Tigers with 13 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter. Oakley Obenauf added 17, followed by Gage Cronk with 9. Grant (4-3, 8-7) will host Chip Hills on Friday. Holton 38 White Cloud 30 The Red Devils picked up their third win in a row during their visit to White Cloud but it wasn’t pretty and it didn’t come easy. The hosts have struggled with scoring all season and Tuesday was no exception. The Indians have not reached 40 points since early December and in 7 of their 8 wins this season the opposing team was held to under 30 points. Their defense came through in this one but once again the scoring fell short. When halftime hit the Cloud had held their visitors to just 15 points, but the number on the Indian side of the scoreboard read just 8. “We shot the ball terribly and didn't rebound at all, so we are lucky to get out of there with a win,” said Holton Coach BJ Jordan.”This was an ugly one for us, and we really couldn't get anything going on offense outside of Ryann Robins’ 18 points. Credit to White Cloud, I dont have the stats back but I bet they came close to doubling our rebounding tonight. It kept them in the game for sure. They just wouldn't go away and made it a game in the 4th. We hit a couple big 3's and knocked down some free throws to get out of there with a win. Layla Cannady saved all her scoring for the 4th quarter and scored all 7 of her points in that period.” Coach Wilk: “Tonight we didn't execute well enough to win this ball game. We started off very slow by only scoring 8 points in the first half, and they scored 15. In the 2nd half we made a nice little run to cut the lead down to 1. Holton hit a couple of big shots in the 4th to stretch their lead, and we couldn't hit our shots when we needed to.” Kiara Edwards led the Indians with 8 points, while Jaden Gomez hit for 6. Abbie Fowler dished out 7 assists for the Devs adding 5 steals and helping her team handle the WC press. It was the final regular season home game for White Cloud (4-4, 8-8) who will go on the road Friday to face longtime rival Morley Stanwood. Holton (4-5, 9-8) will host Shelby in a MWC-Rivers matchup also on Friday. Fremont 31 Montague 22 In a defensive battle at Fremont on Tuesday night, the Packers came out on top over the visiting Wildcats. Montague came into the game holding onto second place in the WMC Lakes Division and fresh off a huge win over conference leading Ludington while Fremont owned only 2 wins in their inaugural season in the WMC. Coach Zerlaut -- "Montague obviously struggled shooting the ball tonight, but I'm really happy with how hard our girls continue to play to give us a chance to compete even when we struggle on offense. Riley gave us a great spark off the bench tonight, playing with good energy, solid defense, and scoring 7 of her 9 points in the fourth quarter." Riley Chase tallied 9 points to pace the Pack with Jessica Bennett scoring 6 and Mia Clemence adding 5. Emma Peterson led the visitors with a game high 10 points. Fremont (3-6, 6-13) will continue conference play Friday when they will host Orchard View. Grant 59 Tri County 18 Coach Delamater: “It was a strong defensive performance for us. We've been stressing better defensive rotation and the girls did a nice job with that in the half-court tonight. Julie Ashbaugh had 23, Jayci Hance had 8, Reese Gragg and Madison Thompson had 7.” Monday Newaygo 38 Ravenna 35 The Lions were on the road and played from behind throughout the night. Finally deep into the 4th quarter they battled back to tie the score. Then with less than two ticks remaining on the clock Grace Painter the senior leader of the Lions launched one from beyond the arc and when the ball hit the bottom of the net the Lions had snapped a 4 game skid with a tough, hard-fought road win. Coach Thomasma: "Girls played with great effort tonight. The big difference was that we hit some shots in the second half and we didn't turn over the ball as much and I thought we scrapped a lot better for 50/50 balls too. Proud of the team. They just kept battling and competing and we were able to come out on the good side of one of these games." Painter led the Lions in scoring, dropping a dozen on the Dawgs, adding 5 boards and a pair of steals. Naomi Schillman knocked down 11 points to go with 3 rebounds and Barbara Toth also reached double figures in scoring with 10 while hauling down 6 off the glass. Newaygo (2-6, 5-13) will welcome in Tri County on Friday The Crowd Goes Wild: White Cloud Beats Newaygo In Packed Gym Story and photos by Alexis Mercer OT Newaygo 62 White Cloud 64 The crowd was on fire from the start of the game. And it only got louder and more vibrant as the night went on. By the time overtime hit, younger children in the stands were covering their ears from the roar. This was a conference matchup that became a back and forth battle until the very last second. While the crowd was on fire from the first minute, neither team’s offense was even warm. But Mason Ruether would change that when he dropped his first of many 3s on the night. Josiah Long took from Ruether’s cue and hit his own 3 to end the first quarter tied at 10. Bryce Decker opened up the 2nd quarter with a 2 and then Blake Kerr came off the bench to drop a 3 for the Lions as well. Kevin Strait would get his scoring started with a 2 point shot and then in snuck Mason Ruether for another of his 3s. Not to be outdone, Josiah Long followed it up with his own yet again. Going into the locker rooms for halftime the Lions were down 21-26 to the Indians. The third quarter belonged to the Lions. Caris Nelson got it going with a bucket and one and then Decker got fouled and one as well. Lions were up 34-23 and seemingly pulling ahead without looking back. But Strait wasn’t having it on his Snowcoming night. He attacked the basket for 2 points and Jayden Robinson followed that up with his own bucket. White Cloud was on the hunt. After four offensive rebounds, Noah Robinson finally made good on a shot and White Cloud was down by just 6. But Newaygo ended the 3rd quarter with a basket to go up 41-33. The crowd was starting to play a factor right away at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Every rebound, shot and good defensive play was being rewarded with cheers from the packed stands. The Indians could feel the momentum. Jayden Robinson nailed a 3 point shot to pull back within 6 points. Mason Ruether hit his 2 free throws, then Noah Robinson hit his 2 free throws. After a steal by Noah, he drained a fast break layup and the game was all tied up. Caris Nelson took matters into his own hands for Newaygo and found the bottom of the net for 3 points to go up 51-48. But it wouldn’t last as White Cloud immediately tied it back up again. They were tied at 51 with 33.7 seconds left in regulation. A timeout was called. Newaygo had the ball coming out of the timeout. Nelson buried a 2 and only 17.1 seconds remained on the clock. White Cloud called a time out to get their plan in place. It worked. Tied. Overtime. Overtime was back and forth, with neither team able to pull away and finish it off.
Mason Reuther wasn’t done with his 3 point shots yet, so he lit another one. The crowd went OFF. White Cloud was up by 1 point with 10.2 seconds left in OT and had the ball. Jared Watson stepped up to the free throw line and like he had ice in his veins dropped both his free throw shots to go up by 3 points. Rather than allow Newaygo to get off a 3 point shot, White Cloud fouled Nelson at mid-court. Nelson made both, but the Lions were still down by 1. Strait was the man with the ball when Newaygo fouled him and he made 1 of the 2 shots. This would prove just enough as White Cloud’s defense held strong and stopped the final attempt to tie or win the game by Newaygo at the buzzer. The stands emptied of students who ran out to celebrate the big win: the home team put on a show for their supporters and earned the celebration. Newaygo was led by Bryce Decker with 21 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Caris Nelson with 16 points and 5 assists, and Josiah Long with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. White Cloud Coach Bob Jones said of his team: "So very proud of them. They deserve a big win like this. Hopefully this will give us the confidence we need down the stretch run of the season.” “Kevin Strait had 19, Mason Ruether had a perfect shooting night going 4/4 deep and a layup and 2/2 from the free throw line for 16 pts, Noah Robinson had 14, Jayden Robinson 9 and Jared Watson added 6 pt with two big free throws late in the overtime. He also played outstanding defense on Newaygo's very talented big man.” 4th Quarter Offensive Surge Leads to Indian Win Over Lions Photos and story by Alexis Mercer White Cloud- 33 Newaygo- 27 The ladies of White Cloud came ready to play on their senior night against the Newaygo Lions. In the first quarter both teams were playing scrappy defense and protecting their hoop with vigor. The Indians found themselves up 10-5, though, when the first quarter buzzer went off. In the 2nd quarter it was a different story and Newaygo came storming back with some well timed layups and a 3 point shot by Naomi Schillman after a timeout to bring the Lions to a 13-12 lead at half. At halftime the giant crowd had the pleasure of watching the women of the 1982 State Runners-Up team join together and reveal the banner that was hung in the gymnasium to honor them. After the chat with coaches in the locker room, White Cloud had found a different level of intensity. They came out with a purpose and confidence they could win this game. Gabriella Reeve found the bottom of the net for a 3 point bucket and a tie midway through the 3rd. And then White Cloud turned on their layups and ended up with a 4 point lead at the end of the quarter. In the 4th it was nearly entirely White Cloud on offense as they had clawed their way to an 11 point lead late. Newaygo managed to close the gap by the final buzzer, but not enough to pull out the win.
White Cloud enjoyed the win for their seniors on their special night. Coach Wilk for the Indians said “We settled down a bit and made less mental mistakes in the 2nd half, and that is ultimately what won us the game.” Gaby Reeve led the Indians with 15 points. Jaden Gomez added 8 points. Jolena Deaton had 4 points and put up an impressive 8 boards. Newaygo was led by Naomi Schillman with 14 points. Addison Goodin chipped in 6 points and 7 rebounds. Newaygo falls to 4-13 (2-6 in conference) White Cloud improves to 8-7 (4-4- in conference) |
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