 Girls Newaygo 41 Chippewa Hills 37 (OT) The Lions took an 8 point lead at home into the 4th quarter but the Warriors took advantage of a frigid spell of shooting by the hosts to force overtime. Chip Hills took the lead twice in the extra frame but the Lions managed to regain the edge and salvage the win. Coach Thomasma:”Tough shooting night tonight for the Lady Lions. We could not have shot the ball in Lake Michigan or even into the Gulf of America! BUT the girls persevered. We had the game in control and give credit to Chip Hills, they hit some shots late to steal the momentum. BUT I'm proud of how the girls handled it and didn't fold when adversity hit. When the going got bad, we dug in and got the W. A win is a win and we will always celebrate them." Ruby Hughes popped in 14 points and hauled down 11 boards to pace the Lions and Gabby Arney hit for 7 points with 4 steals.Morgan Andres finished with 6 points and 6 steals. Newaygo finishes conference play with an 8-2 mark and is 17-3 overall. They will host Coopersville on Tuesday. Boys Newaygo 52 Chip Hills 40 The Lions celebrated senior night for their four seniors (Hunter Yearsovich, Blake Kerr, Russell Toth, and Ethan Reyburn) with a home conference win over Chip. Hills. The hosts took an early lead and held it for the rest of the game as the teams traded buckets. Yearsovich led the team in scoring with 17 points while Isaiah Miedema hit for 14 and Reyburn finished with 11. Newaygo (5-5, 9-12) completed conference play in 3rd place and will begin District play at home Monday facing Big Rapids. Game time is 7pm.
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  Tigers dig deep to clip Cards in triple overtime Photos by Amanda Louck-Booth Grant 79, Big Rapids 77 - 3OT In a classic regular season finale taking the two frontrunners into 3 overtimes it was the Tigers who emerged victorious and came home with the CSAA Red crown. And what a regular season it was. Grant sandwiched 2 mid season non conference losses with 2 10 game winning streaks, went undefeated in conference play and emerged as a powerhouse behind the tutelage of first year Coach Dan George. George, who returned to the bench after a stellar career that included coaching at Grace Bible College and being inducted into their Hall of Fame, has molded this squad into a formidable force on the court. A team that plays unselfishly, embracing his guidance and taking the court with confidence sans arrogane. Coach George: "I haven't said much on social media about this adventure I've been on since June and a return to coaching basketball, this time at the high school level. I'm so proud of these guys and the way they bought into our philosophy and culture this year. Tonight we played Big Rapids on their floor for the outright conference championship. We came into the game at 9-0 in the conference, 19-2 overall. Big Rapids was 8-1 in the conference. Our guys gutted out a 79-77 victory in triple overtime. My wife is still recovering." Zaiden Phillips had a monster game as he dropped 31 on the Cardinals while Sincere Hatch hit for 22 and Ethan DeLong finished with 14. But this was a team win that featured crucial defensive stops throughout regulation and into 3 extra frames. With a Championship in hand the Tigers now turn to District play being held at Forest Hills Eastern. On Wednesday they will face the winner of Tri County and Comstock Park. Game time 5:30pm.
  Mystery Ref ready for the postseason Girls Chippewa Hills (3-16) at Newaygo (16-3) The Lions lost their season opener. Since then the only team to beat them has been Big Rapids. They have a cadre of strong players, a balanced scoring attack, and the usual swarming defense Coach Thomasma’s teams are noted for. Schultz, Lathrop, Arney, are blue collar workhorses, Schillman and Andres are long distance sharpshooters, Holmes finds a way to score off boards and Hughes has evolved into a huge difference maker on the court.The Lions beat Chip Hills easily in Remus and won’t have too much trouble doing the same at home. This is the first of 3 home games before they begin play in a District that is loaded with talented teams so it’s a good time to fine tune their game. Grant (9-11) at Big Rapids (16-2) The enigmatic Tigers gave the Cards a game when they had them at home last month then won 3 in a row for the first time this season. Since then they have been a puzzling team squeaking past a young White Cloud squad, beating a good Montague team, giving Chip Hills one of their 3 wins on the season, playing Newaygo tough and getting swamped by Reed City, a team they had beaten earlier. If they fall behind early this one could get ugly but if they can hang with BR on the road, it can only help them as they approach what once looked like a pretty winnable District. Central Montcalm (8-10) at White Cloud (5-15) Coach Wilk’s team played one of their best games of the season when they beat the Hornets on the road a month ago. The Cloud hasn’t had a lot of success since, though they have been close against a couple of quality teams. The Hornets however have come alive with a series of tight games including delivering first place Kent City their only division loss and nearly knocking off Newaygo on Wednesday. Vincent has been outstanding and is currently in the running for MLive’s Muskegon area top underclassmen winter athletes. WC is young and will be a force in the coming years but they will have to play their best to take down CM this time around. Manistee (7-9) at Fremont (18-2) The Packers are loaded with Clemence, DeKuiper, Chase, Noordyk, Shriver, Norris, etc. etc. etc. They have wrapped up their second straight title and this one gives them the opportunity to make it 24 conference wins in a row and, oh yeah, they get to host Districts with a more than likely #1 seeding as well. Coach Zerfas has kept them loose and gets his bench plenty of minutes. The Mariners are sunk in this one. Boys Grant (19-2) at Big Rapids (15-5) Coach George has done a masterful job guiding the Tigers to the brink of a conference crown. Now they can ice it with a win on the road over the Cardinal team that would like nothing better than to forge a shared title. DeLong, Hatch, Phillips, Rider are among the Tigers who can fill it up but it’s Grant’s defense that has humbled opponents all season long.. This is a tough place to play but this is a tough Tiger team. It’s likely to be a close one but Grant has their eye on the prize and they aren’t prone to making a lot of mistakes. Interesting side note. Grant is 5-0 when facing teams with a winning record. BR is 1-2. Chippewa Hills (6-15) at Newaygo (8-13) The Lions beat Chip Hills on the road last month and while their defense has struggled most of the season the Warriors don’t score a lot. Yearsovich, Kerr, Reyburn, Miedema et.al. should be able to put enough points on the board to give them a boost heading into next week’s Districts being played in their home gym. They’ll need it with Big Rapids as their opening opponent. Central Montcalm (9-12) at White Cloud (10-11) Maybe a little magic from the celebration honoring White Cloud’s prolific scoring ‘75 team will rub off on Coach Jones’ players who have been inconsistent on the offensive end this season. Robinson, Canning, Cruzan, Strait, Higgs may not be the all-staters the ‘75 team had but they are solid players who would like to put an exclamation point on Friday’s celebration by notching a win heading into District play. Manistee (11-10) at Fremont (6-15) It hasn’t been a great year for the Packers but there has been improvement for Coach Powell’s team. They beat a good Mason County Central team on the road and won an overtime battle with West Mich Christian. Powell and Green can score and McLain is tough in the paint. Whether it’s enough to overcome a team that beat them by 20 last time is another matter.  Photos by Amanda Louck-Booth Grant 91, Morley Stanwood 50 The Tigers tuned up for their conference showdown with Big Rapids Friday by pouring in over 90 points for the second time this season in a decisive win over Morley. Coach George: “"It took a few minutes for us to get going tonight. We still have some things to iron out, but overall I was happy with the win. We were able to play all thirteen guys on the roster, but Morley Stanwood is much improved over the team I saw last year as a spectator. I think Coach Cumings deserves a lot of credit for that." Ethan DeLong led the Tiger scoring parade dropping 25 points on the hosts while Zaiden Phillips racked up 21, Sincere Hatch hit for a dozen and Aiden Booth finished with 9. The Tigers already have claimed a share of the title and Friday’s matchup in Cardinal Country features a rematch of the mid January game in Grant that saw the Tigers post a 14 point win over the Cards. It was the only Division loss for BR. Next week Coach George’s team heads south to begin District play at Forest Hills Eastern. Their opponent is yet to be determined.      Photos by Matthew Zerfas Fremont 70 Oakridge 33 While the Packers matched their offensive output from the last time they played the Eagles and Oakridge nearly doubled their scoring, the result was the same as the visitors racked up their 10th win in a row and clinched their second straight WMC-Lakes title. Coach Zerfas: “It is the first time our girls basketball program has won back to back conference championships in 48 years. We have a chance to go undefeated in league play again this year after going 12-0 last season.” That chance comes Friday when the Pack return home to take on the Mariners of Manistee. A 24-4 second quarter run sealed the deal for Fremont who was led in scoring by Taylor DeKuiper who dropped 14 while snaring 9 rebounds and 7 steals. Mia Clemence took charge on the glass notching a dozen boards to go with her 10 points and Riley Chase knocked down 11 points and pulled 6 rebounds. Ariana Tanner finished with a career high 10 points and added 8 boards Fremont (11-0, 18-2) and Manistee tip off at 5:30pm Friday     Photos by Brent Foondle Girls Newaygo 50 White Cloud 30 The Lions shook off the loss last Friday that ended an 8 game winning streak with a win over the youthful WC squad. The visitors from the Cloud were down just a deuce after one but their hosts extended the lead to 9 by the break and pulled away after intermission to seal the deal. Coach Thomasma: "Good team victory for the ladies tonight. The girls showed good effort. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well but our defense was able to give us a spark and got us going. I thought Kija played a great second and third quarter defensively and made life difficult for the White Cloud guards. We played good team defense behind her and were able to get some easy buckets in transition. White Cloud is a young team with promise and they will be making some noise in the near future." Coach Wilk:” I felt like we did a good job slowing down the game which would be to our advantage. In the second quarter we were able to do the same up until the last two minutes. During the last two minutes they scored six quick points to extend their lead. Isabella Shockley provided a good spark off the bench tonight. She'll get the start on Friday along with fellow senior Brooklyn Foondle to celebrate their senior night.” For the Lions Kija Schultz hit for 11 points, grabbed 7 steals and took down 6 rebounds. Amaya Lathrop also finished in double figures with 10 points to go with her 5 steals and dished out 5 assists as well. Gabby Arney tallied 7 and added 4 steals and 4 boards. White Cloud’s perennial top scorer Andi Vincent knocked down a game high 17 points. Newaygo (7-2, 15-3 Continues their home stand with visits from Central Montcalm on Wednesday and Chip Hills on Friday. White Cloud (1-6, 5-14) hosts Central Montcalm on Friday. Boys Newaygo 69 White Cloud 54 This was a wild one between the two long time rivals with WC jumping out to a 19-16 lead after one before their offense cooled in the second allowing the visitors to take a 34-25 lead into the break. The Lions continued to edge ahead in the second half despite a couple of strong runs by the hosts and took home the cross conference win. Coach Jones: “Newaygo came to town on a special night,not just for basketball but also a night to remember Donavan Stevens, one of our former graduates and Varsity basketball player, who tragically lost his life on January 15th. (Donavan Stevens.) We would like to thank the Newaygo Coaches,players and fans that help make this night even more special.” Hunter Yearsovich led the Lion scoring parade with 24 points followed by Ethan Reyburn with 17 and Russell Toth with 12. Jayden Robinson dropped 23 to lead the Cloud while Coleson Cruzan (13) and Brady Strait (11) also finished in double figures. Newaygo (4-5, 8-13) finishes their regular season Friday at home against Chip Hills while White Cloud (2-5, 10-11) wraps up their regular season hosting Central Montcalm also on Friday.    Becomes 1st Tiger to compete at State in Girls division On Sunday February 16th a 3rd Grant Tiger qualified for the MHSAA individual state championships. Sophomore Markie Davis took 2nd place at 145lbs at the regionals in Cadillac. Markie is Grant's first state qualifier in the girls division since the MHSAA adopted girls wrestling fully at the state level. Davis won by major decision in the first round 13-3 over her Traverse City West opponent, before tech falling 19-4 Mitchell from Lake City. Markie lost in the championship to Pelton from Montague in their 4th match this season. They have split the matches 2-2. The Tigers travel to Ford Field to compete February 28th and March 1st. 
 Girls Big Rapids 42 Newaygo 21 The Cardinals clinched the CSAA Red with a convincing win over the Lions. Newaygo’s offense struggled early and were down 8-0 when Morgan Andres finally got the Lions on the board, nearly 6 minutes into the game. The defense held up well for the most part and a 10-2 run early in the third pulled them within 11 points but BR kept them at bay and secured the win and the title. Coach Thomasma:"Tough loss for the girls tonight. We just didn't make any shots and Big Rapids did and they really hurt us on the offensive glass. Not the outcome we wanted at all but we will keep our chins up and get ready for next week." Ruby Hughes took down 11 boards and added a team high 8 points. Gabby Arney finished with 6 points and Lillian Holmes scored 4 and collected 4 rebounds. Newaygo (7-2, 14-3) will host White Cloud on Tuesday, Central Montcalm on Wednesday and Chip Hills on Friday. Boys Big Rapids 75 Newaygo 51 The Cardinals bested the Lions to set up BR's showdown with Grant for the CSAA Red title on Friday. Isaiah Miedema paced the Lion scoring with 13 while Ethan Reyburn and Blake Kerr finished with 11 apiece. Newaygo (4-5, 7-12) will head to Central Montcalm for a makeup game Monday then make a run up M-37 to take on White Cloud on Tuesday.  
Photos by Brent Foondle Kent City 45 White Cloud 27 White Cloud managed to stay with Kent City in the first half but the Eagles shook them loose after the break and the win, combined with Morley’s OT loss to Lakeview, clinched the CSAA White title. Coach Wilk: “Tonight our offense couldn't match our defense. Even with having a large number of turnovers we were able to keep Kent City from hitting fifty points tonight. Unfortunately we couldn't gain much traction against them Offensively, and we missed some easy buckets.” Andi Vincent and Payten Bird paced the scoring for the visitors with 10 apiece. White Cloud (1-6, 5-12) visits Newaygo on Tuesday. Reed City 57 Grant 27 The Coyotes came into this one after falling short in 3 close contests.. They made sure this one wasn’t close. Reed City took charge of the game and never let the visiting Tigers make a run, and Grant dropped their 3rd straight Red Devision game. Coach Delamater:”We struggled to find any consistency.” Alexa Obenauf was top scorer for the Tigers with 11 points to go with her team high 8 rebounds. Grant (4-5, 9-10) will host Morley Stanwood on Tuesday.  
Photos by Amanda Louck-Booth Grant 68 Reed City 51 The Tigers keep on rolling under the tutelage of Coach Dan George and on Friday they locked up a share of the Red Division title with a convincing win on the road in Coyote Country. Coach George: “This was a physical game and I'm just happy to go home with a win and no one on either team was seriously hurt." Grant went deep into their bench in the first half and after building a 20 point lead late in the fourth the reserves finished out the contest Four Tigers broke into double figures in scoring led by Ethan DeLong (16) with Blake Rider (15), Sincere Hatch (13) and Zaiden Phillips (11) adding to the balanced offensive attack. Grant (9-0, 18-2) will finish out the regular season with a visit to Morley on Tuesday and a trip to Big Rapids Friday. The Cardinals trail Grant by a game in the battle for the top spot and a win would give the Tigers the outright championship   |
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