Holton 75 Hesperia 15 This year the two schools began a tradition with a traveling trophy going to the winner of the Battle of M-120. The Red Devils claimed possession after a win on the Panther home court earlier this season and on Thursday they sought to keep the hardware in Holton. Needless to say the trophy isn’t going anywhere as the battle turned into more of a rout. With the score tied at 5 early in the first quarter the Devs exploded for a 30-0 run that extended into the second quarter and by halftime the hosts held a commanding 45-13 lead. Coach Jordan: “We tried a few different presses in the first half and had great success with them, but we haven't played many complete games this year so the message at half time was to maintain the energy and pressure in the half court set as we wouldn't be pressing in the second half. We held them to 2 points in our half court defense, but it was the relentless effort from everyone on the D end that I'm most happy about. Scoring 75 is great and rare for us for sure, but only giving up 2 in the second half that I'm most happy with.. it's easy to coast when you’re up big but we didn't. We maintained the energy for the full 4 quarters. My favorite play might be Aubrey Goyings diving on the floor with 5 seconds left for a loose ball when we were up by 60. That’s the mindset we want. I've been preaching to "do the little things" all week and I felt like tonight we did. Only had 4 turnovers which is a season low for us by far. “A lot seemed to go well for us tonight, we shot the ball well, made 9 3's which is another season high for us. 9 girls got in on the scoring action including Alexis Nichols , which was a great thing for us as that was a goal tonight. Looking to take this momentum into White Cloud on Tuesday which will always be an emotional game for me as I coached every girl on that team in JV just 2 years ago and I know they will bring their best effort for that game so we have to be ready.” Abbie Fowler lit it up dropping 19 points and dishing out 10 dimes while adding 7 rebounds and 5 steals for good measure. Aubrey Goyings was a beast on the boards taking a game high 15 off the glass to go with her 9 points. Courtney Boes collected 5 steals and 10 points, Layla Cannady knocked down a dozen points and Kenzie Greene hit for 8. Holton (4-5, 8-8) will visit White Cloud on Tuesday. Oakridge 40 Fremont 37 A seesaw battle in the Lakes Division went to the Eagles who put on a late run to secure the win. Visiting Oakridge came out strong taking a 16-8 lead after one but the Packers battled back and the teams reached intermission with the Eagles clutching a one point edge 22-21. The hosts came out of the locker room on fire taking the lead and building an 8 point advantage before Oakridge regrouped and the teams entered the final frame with the Pack holding a 32-26 advantage. The Eagles went into their pressure defense and Fremont struggled to score, tallying just a single point in the final 8 minutes while the Eagles scored 8 to pull ahead and stay ahead. Coach Zerlaut: "We competed very well. We played hard. The girls continue to give great effort and energy. They really got after us defensively in the fourth quarter and we struggled to get shots." Jessica Bennett once again paced the Packer scoring with 12 points while Lily VandenBerg hit for 8. Mia Clemence had 5 rebounds to go with her 7 points and Maite Corbal Romera tossed out 6 assists and grabbed 5 boards. Anna Lundquist scored a game high 18 for the Eagles. Fremont (2-6, 5-13) continues conference play on Tuesday when they host the Wildcats of Montague.
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Newaygo 69 Holton 44 The Lions held home court against the Red Devils led by an explosive offensive performance by Bryce Decker. After going up 22-14 after one the hosts extended their lead to 44-23 by intermission and held off Holton for the win. Coach Long: “We got off to a fast start and carried the momentum through halftime. A full team effort and good team defense gave us the lead and eventually the win.” Coach Swanson: “Newaygo has an outstanding team this year. Decker played another great game. 30 pts in three quarters is impressive. We just need to continue to focus on our team defense, as well as our offensive efficiency.” Decker finished with 32 points while taking a team high 11 off the glass. Brodrick Fialek paced the Devil scoring, knocking down 19 points to go with a half dozen boards while Carter Brant dished out 7 assists and hit for 12 points. Keon McMillan finished with 6 points for the visitors and Chase Albright collected 5 boards. Newaygo (5-1, 9-5) will visit White Cloud on Friday while Holton (0-6, 0-13) will head to Ravenna for a date with the Dawgs. Hart 62 White Cloud 45 The Pirates are one of the top teams in the state as evidenced by their undefeated record and an offense averaging over 70 points a game. So going in White Cloud knew they were in for a challenge. The Cloud kept them under 70 but Hart tacked on win #14 on the season and continued their run toward a top seed in their Districts Coach Jones: “Hart is as advertised. They are a really good team. with some pretty special players.” Kevin Strait fired in 12 points, while Mason Ruether hit for 10 and Jared Watson 9. White Cloud (4-3, 7-6) will return to action Friday when they host conference foe Newaygo. Holton 43 Newaygo 29 The Lions held close to the visiting Red Devils for 3 quarters but Holton put on the burners in the 4th and pulled away for the win. Coach Jordan: “Another game we really needed and this was a good team win where several girls all played a big role in the win. Newaygo played us tough and we only had a 2 point lead at half and up 4 after 3 quarters. We were able to hit some shots and go on a run in the 4th that busted it open, Layla Cannady hit 2 big 4th quarter 3's to really extend the lead. Very happy with the way we closed out the game with a 14-5 4th. We had really good scoring balance tonight and that isn't always the case. “The bench also played a nice role in tonight's win when we got into a little bit of foul trouble, so it was a win that every single girl played a part in , and those are the best type of wins. I also felt our defense was pretty solid overall, gave up a few 3's that we were trying to take away , but only gave up 9 fg's on the night and I'll take that any day of the week. “We are looking to build out this win and get back to 500 on the season this Thursday against Hesperia, where we will be playing for the “Battle of M-120 “ trophy.” Coach Thomasma: "Shot the ball better tonight but just did not rebound the ball well enough and had a bad start to the 4th quarter. Give credit to Holton. They hit a few shots to start the 4th and really made good things happen." Aubrey Goyings paced the Devil scoring with 11 points and Ryann Robins took 11 off the glass to go with her 9 points. Abbie Fowler dished out 5 dimes to go with her 4 steals and 8 points while Cannady finished with 8 and Courtney Boes 6. Naomi Schillman led the Lions with 12 points and 4 rebounds. Grace Painter chipped in 8 points and 6 rebounds. Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 62 Fremont 52 Grant dropped two last week to Central Montcalm and Big Rapids which pretty much cemented their number five standing in the CSAA. They will still have a chance to do some CSAA damage as they have yet to play powerhouse Kent City but it will take outside intervention to make it into the top four for a possible run in the conference playoff. For tonight though, the Tigers were set on swiping a win and their prey would be the Packers of Fremont. Fremont was coming into tonight’s match up having defeated Muskegon Catholic Central last Friday to put an end to a four game losing streak. Keeping the win streak going would be a much needed confidence booster for Fremont and bolster their Michigan Power Rating (MPR) as both Grant and Fremont will play in the same District assignment. To do so though would be no easy task as they would need to box up Ashbaugh et al. If you would have told me that Fremont would be leading by the end of the first half and pretty much controlling the game, I would have said not a chance. But that is precisely what happened. A much better Fremont team than their record lets on came to play. “I was really pleased with how hard our kids played, and we’ve done a good job with that throughout the year,” stated Packers’ coach, Wes Zerlaut. “What we’ve struggled with is making shots. I think tonight, in the first half, we put some shots in the basket early. You could see the confidence building. Sort of the click that we’ve been waiting for for weeks.” Yet, while the Packers started each quarter strong, by the end of the quarter they would struggle. Fremont gave up seven at the end of the first which allowed Grant to tie up the game. They stretched the lead to six in the second only to see Grant bring it to within a one point margin by the half. And after a late nine point run at the end of the third quarter into the fourth, the Tigers finally took control and kept a healthy cushion between them and the persnickety Packers. “Unfortunately, Grant’s a really good team,” shared Coach Zerlaut. “They went on that run there at the end of the third quarter early fourth where if I remember right, I think it was 39-37 all of a sudden it was 51-39. We just started turning it over too much in the full court against that press. That’s kind of the difference in the game. On the whole I was pleased with how our kids played. Much better in the half-court offense tonight than we’ve been, and like I said, knocking down shots makes everything go a lot easier.” Two Packers put up double digits tonight. Jessica Bennett with twenty and Olivia Hansen with fifteen. Mia Clemence and Lily VandenBerg each shot five. Katie Ackerman put down three, Riley Chase shot two, and Taryn Hoppa finished with one. Fremont will be home on Thursday evening facing Muskegon Oakridge. Game time is 7:00 pm. “Our defensive rotation in the press tonight was not where it needed to be. Kudos to Wes for having a good game plan against that. So we really didn’t get the steals and deflections that we’re used to getting which meant that our offense had to kind of adjust to that,” stated Grant’s coach, Josh Delamater. “I thought Jocee Pleune tonight really came out willing to shoot the basketball and that was great to see her being that other scoring option for us. In the first half, her points were really a big deal for us keeping us right there with them. I thought there were a few times in the game where we could have went into panic mode, and we had a couple turnovers where the game could of went one way or the other, but then we got our composure back, took care of business whether we got a turnover, whether we got a basket off of it, and got things back to where we needed them to be. I don’t know how Julie had twenty-five tonight. She really had to work because of what they were doing to her. I thought it would be closer to ten. But obviously getting to the free throw line was a big thing. She got to the line well and scored several points that way. So that was good for her. Like I said, Jocee and Jayci, they did a great job getting points for us tonight and playing defense like they do. Madison Thompson had a couple key buckets for us in the second half that were really big. And actually, Jayci Hance got a couple of really big offensive rebounds for us off of missed shots that were either hers or someone else’s and that was huge for us. I wasn’t anticipating, and that’s my fault, like I got to keep reminding the girls and I should have remembered tonight, that when you come in here teams are going to come in and play hard because they know we’re going to play hard. So kudos to Wes for having them ready to go and play. It was a good game.” The Tigers saw three players in double digits tonight. Julie Ashbaugh who had a quiet twenty-five, and Jocee Pleune and Jayci Hance each with thirteen. Madison Thompson put up four points. Alexa Obenauf shot three, and Emma Thompson and Makayla Zerlaut both finished with two. The Tigers get a week off before facing Tri County again next Tuesday only this time on the Vikings court. Game time is 5:30 pm.
Story and photos by Mike Gesler Fremont 65 Grant 56 Neither Grant nor Fremont have a shot at their respective conference titles. Grant is sitting pretty much center of the Central State Activities Association and will probably stay there. Fremont as well is pretty much locked into the center of the West Michigan Conference – Lakes Division. What is on the line tonight beside the ever-important Newaygo County bragging rights, is that voodoo magic the Michigan High School Athletic Association calls the Michigan Power Rankings (MPR). On paper both Grant and Fremont pretty much match up well. Both teams played and lost to Ludington, Big Rapids, and Whitehall. Both teams played and defeated Shelby, Tri County, and Ravenna. And both teams will also travel to Comstock Park for the same District assignment in which their MPR will determine their bracket match up and quite possibly a shot at the District championship game. To say then that this particular game tonight has little consequence is a gross misunderstanding. While it would be Fremont’s Gavin Richards who would draw first blood, it would be Grant who would put together an almost solid quarter of play. However, the Tigers would let a seven point margin slip at the end of the first giving the Packers a one point deficit to overcome at the start of the second. Fremont turned the tides and mounted an eight point advantage in the first half of the second before Grant called a timeout with 4:30 left on the clock. The timeout worked to cool the surging Packers. Unfortunately, it also cooled the Tigers as neither team could get anything going for the remainder of the half only putting up two apiece. As the teams headed into the locker rooms, that eight point Fremont margin remained. The Packers came out ready for the third and quickly went on a nine point run before calling an odd timeout with 5:04 on the clock. While I questioned the wisdom of calling a timeout when your team is utterly controlling the game, there was obviously some adjustment that Coach Bowen wanted to make. It did slow the Packer dominance as Grant was able to get somewhat on track, however Fremont continued to stretch their lead by seventeen to end the third. The fourth would be an all-out slug fest. Grant began chipping away at the Packers lead, and eventually brought the game within six. However, Fremont was too solid at the line and managed to keep the hosting Tigers at bay. “Well, it was kind of a typical Grant Fremont game except that there were times that I didn’t think it was a very good brand of basketball being played like we would both expect it to be,” stated Grant’s coach, Joe Schuitema. “I am proud of the way our guys battled back with that deep run. Tried to get it inside of ten. They kept competing. But we have got to figure out how to play four good quarters and play hard and play smart for four good quarters against a good team.” Zaiden Phillips and Oakley Obenauf each shot double digits tonight for the Tigers with eleven and ten respectively. Lucas Swanson put up nine while Austin Whitney, Zak Barnhart, and Gage Cronk had six apiece. Chase Geers added four, and Blake Rider and Mason Woodared ended with two. The Tigers will rest for a week before heading to Tri County next Tuesday. Game time is 7:00 pm. “Kind of an odd game,” shared Fremont’s coach, Adam Bowen. “We didn’t get off to a great start. They shot the ball well early. We knew they’re a good shooting team so that didn’t surprise me much. But we showed some fight. We came back. I thought second part of the first quarter all the way through the end of the third quarter, we played some of the best basketball we’ve played all season. Fourth quarter got a little sloppy. Turned the ball over, started fouling when we shouldn't have, but overall, I’m happy. They played hard and it’s a good win. It’s a tough place to win so I’m happy with it.”
The Packers had three in double digits tonight. Jordan McDonald led with sixteen, Gavin Richards shot twelve, and Chaz Miller knocked down ten. William DeBlake added eight while Ben Mellema put up six. Both Owen Snyder and Nate Vincent shot five apiece, and Andrew Steger ended with three. Fremont will be on the road against league leaders Ludington on Friday evening. Game time is 7:00. |
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