Teams head to District play
Hart 69 White Cloud 59 The Cloud wrapped up their regular season with a trip to Hart to take on the Pirates. Coach Jones: “Our offense has been clicking the last two games, just seems like whoever we play has their best shooting night of the year.Proud of how the guys played tonight They showed a lot of "heart" tonight, they really played their guts out. “Taylor Bode led with 20pts, Jared Watson 19 with five other players contributing to the score sheet. Jason Ruether, Vinny Okert, Kevin Strait, Romeo Johnson, Donavan Stevens, Christian Ringler all played well. We play Morley Stanwood on Monday night in our first round District game. Should be a good one.” Shelby 66 Hesperia 20 Coach Worcester: “Our guys played hard tonight. Shelby is well coached and are very disciplined. We expected Shelby to be a tough team. “Our game plan defensively was to deny Joseph Hayes any easy shots. Offensively we wanted to improve our pick and roll fundamentals. I think that went well. Tonight we saw a lot of improvements that do not show on the scoreboard. “Although our record does not imply success, I believe if anyone has watched or paid attention to our games has seen these young kids improve over the regular season. We are looking forward to competing with Hart in the district’s 1st round next week.”
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Newaygo 51 Fremont 17 N3 Sports Team Despite the score this one certainly didn’t come easy for the Lions. The Packers strategy seemed to pay off. They were able to handle the vaunted Lion press by playing long ball. Tossing the bomb down court to open players was generally successful, but finishing with points was a struggle. They also had three players whose sole focus was to stay with Jaxi Long. Mia Clemence, Katie Ackerman, and Julianne Hernandez were run in and out of the game to keep a fresh body to try to match the energy of Long and in doing so held the Lions top scoring threat to 4 free throws. But of course Newaygo has many scoring threats, particularly Emmerson Goodin who proved to be an absolute beast in the paint muscling through the Packer defense to rule the glass and score despite being banged around underneath. The first quarter ended with a 14-6 Newaygo lead and the second saw that advantage double as the teams hit halftime with the Lions up 27-11. Then came the second half and the Lions came out of intermission on a mission scoring 20 unanswered points before Haley Zerlaut split a pair from the line to give the Packers their only 3rd quarter score. Coach Thomasma: “Fremont played hard tonight. We had a little trouble in the first half getting shots to fall. I thought (Grace) Painter did a good job offensively in the third quarter to get the momentum going."
“I was impressed with what I saw of Sparta. We have a tall mountain to climb Friday facing the number one seed so we need to play better. They play tough so we’ll have to match that." Coach Zerlaut: “Hard to see the last game for the seniors, especially when one is your daughter. “Our offense struggled tonight but that’s what Newaygo does to teams. As feisty as they are on defense you don’t get any good looks. When we did get shots they were more like throws. “We seemed to handle the press well like we did with Comstock Monday but that 1-3-1 defense just killed us with turnovers. They’re athletic and they’re long. “I'm really proud of this team for sticking together. And they’ve come a long way. I told them it took us 3 months to get 2 wins then we got 3 in a week. “We’ve got a good team coming back so now they can concentrate on their spring sports and come July we’ll be back in the gym getting ready for next year.” Goodin dropped in 22 points, grabbed a dozen boards and pilfered 5 steals. Painter knocked down a couple of key triples and finished with 10 points. Lily Swineheart hit for 6 and Long and Iris Herrera each notched 4. Haley Zerlaut paced the Packers with 6 points and Mia Witte added 4. Newaygo moves on to face Sparta in Friday’s final. Game time 7pm at Comstock Park. Albright & Newell finish 7th in the state.
Holton Bowling- Feb 25-26, 2022 Regional Recap Division 4- Region 20 Park City Lanes Boys Team- 5th place out of 14 teams Individual- Chase Albright- State Qualifier finishing 7th place out of 82 bowlers High scores for Holton Tuff Scott- 217 Chase Albright- 197 Eli Crosby- 190 Girls Team- 4th Place out of 11 teams. 5 pins short of qualifying for the state tournament Individual- May Newell- State Qualifier finishing 7th place out of 68 bowlers. High scores for Holton May Newell- 159 Kenidie Shank- 146 EmmaLee Fox- 141. Loss to state ranked Pirates ends successful RD season
Hart 58 Holton 22 A huge turnaround season for a youthful Red Devil team came to an end Wednesday as they faced one of the region's top teams in the Hart Pirates. Coach Jordan: “They are a very good team. I thought we really battled hard in the first half and was very happy with the way we were fighting. They jumped out on us to a quick 6-0 lead in the first 1 minute or so. They play at a pace and speed on both ends of the floor that my team has not really seen much of, if any, this year so we were a little tight especially early on. We battled to a 10-15 game, and with about 5 seconds left in the first half it was 15-25 and they hit just under a half-court shot at the buzzer and we went into half down 15-28, and after that it was all them in the second half." “Their pace wore us out, and they have a deep bench so they just keep coming at you in waves with a ton of energy. We earned every point we scored tonight, nothing came easy. my girls competed and that's all you can ask for, we just couldn't keep up with them. " “But as a coach I am super proud of this group and the work and progress we were able to make this year. As a first year Varsity coach at a completely new program for me, you're not really sure what to expect. I met a few of my players this year on day 1 of practice so there was no foundation, carry over or any sort of relationship with any of my players. To me, relationships with your players is the most important factor in coaching, so this year was huge for us to have the success we did, build the relationships , get the experience, build some confidence and belief. To go from 6 wins to 14 in one year is a huge jump, and as a program 14 is more than the previous 3 years combined, so we have gotten on the right path.. all credit to the girls." “And we are still so very very young. 4 of my top 5 leading scores are in 10th grade and the other is a junior so I'll get all that back next year. I will have to replace 3 seniors (Gianna Reed, Leah Fox, Alanna Cregg) all who played significant roles and made a bunch of plays for us this year. But as a team we grew so much this year and again very proud of this team, I really enjoyed this great great group of girls." “But for the first time in many years we should come into the next season with some real expectations and lofty goals. We just need to make the most of the off season in order to do that.” Story and photos by Mike Gesler Sparta 67 Grant 30 Sparta obviously came into tonight’s game with one goal; to make a statement. That statement was that this year the District championship runs through them, and not Newaygo. So while the Newaygo girls watched from the bleachers, Sparta put on a high tempo, extreme pressure clinic using Grant as their victim. Both Grant and Sparta played a similar game, however Sparta played the game that much better than Grant, and there wasn’t much the Tigers could do to stop the Spartans. “I am beyond impressed with Sparta,” stated Josh Delamater, Grant’s Coach. “They were by far the most physical, and by far the most tempo setting team that we’ve seen all season. They bring it. And if they bring it like that on Friday night, whoever wins here [Newaygo or Fremont] is going to struggle. I mean it will be a game.” The Tigers were only six behind the Spartans at the end of the first quarter, but during the second quarter, Chloee Chase went down with an apparent ankle injury that would sideline her for the rest of the game. Without Chase, the Tigers were forced to adjust in ways they simply were not prepared to do, at least not in a District game against a very formidable opponent. Couple that with the Spartans holding the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter while adding an additional sixteen to their total, and Grant’s statement season came to a painful end. “We were battling, and when Chloee went down that really, really hurt us,” shared Delamater. “One of our best scoring options. One of our best ball handlers. We got into a situation where we had to put girls into positions they weren’t used to being in, and handle the ball when they’re not used to handling the ball, and that was part of the letdown. You could see the wind come out of their sails after that knowing that inevitably they’re going to keep pushing the tempo, and we’re not going to be able to get the stuff going that we want to get going.” But seasons come to an end. It’s an inevitable part of playing any sport. And while this may not have been the storybook ending the Tiger faithful would have desired, there is much that Tiger fans can celebrate and look forward to next year. “Looking back at the beginning of the season, one of the things we talked about was being above .500, and we’re a game above, extolled Delamater. “We said we wanted to make some noise in the conference, and I think getting third in the conference is making some noise. And I thought that being the third seed in the District, and I know they’re not seeded, but we would have been the third seeded team in the Districts. So we met every goal we had for ourselves, and I think that’s pretty fantastic.” Yes ladies, that is fantastic, and you should be super proud of your accomplishments. While Grant will say goodbye to three very good players in Arends, Ryder, and Kruithoff, the fans got a chance tonight to see the future in the “Twin Towers” of Alexa Obenauf and Reese Gragg. Both Obenauf and Gragg will be sophomores next season, and bring some much needed physical size to Grant’s team.
Julie Ashbaugh will return as a junior. If you stuck with the Tigers throughout the season, you could not help but notice Ashbaugh’s confidence grow with each game. This will be her team to lead next year, and she will be exciting to watch. Jayci Hance, Morgan Kruithoff, Makayla Zerlaut, and Madison Thompson will be seniors with experience. Hance should easily be a point leader especially if Chloee Chase, who will be a junior, and Jocee Pleune, who will be a sophomore, can help open up the inside with their ability to hit the long range jumpers. If the Tiger’s continue to buy into Delamater’s up tempo, high pressure physical play that “made noise” in the conference this season, and there should be no reason they don’t, the next two years at least will be more than a “noise,” it will be a roar. A Tiger roar that will be difficult to silence. Julie Ashbaugh led the Tiger’s final efforts tonight with eleven points. Jocee Pleune shot for seven. Jocelyn Kruitoff put up five. Chloee Chase, Jaycee Rider, and Makayla Zerlaut each had two. Grant finishes their season third in the CSAA Gold Conference with a 9-5 conference record, and an 11-10 overall record. Morley Stanwood 44 White Cloud 21 The Cloud’s season ended Wednesday as the host ‘Hawks will get the rematch they wanted with Kent City in the finals. But as they have all season Coach Wilk’s team gave it their all and in doing so earned a great deal of his praise. “I'm proud of my girls for coming into this game with the mindset that we could win. Morley had our number both times earlier in the season, and tonight in the first half we made life difficult for them. At halftime we were within ten points, and that was with us leaving a few easy baskets out on the floor! “I was happy we were still in the game, but I was also upset that we weren't winning with how well we were defending them. At the end of the game their two captains only had 10 total points, and we held them to one of their lower scoring totals of the year. Abby Derks was having a marvelous game before she twisted up her ankle midway through the 3rd quarter. She finished with 6 points. Carsyn Scarlavai finished with 5 points, and she held Garbow in check all night. Kyleah Baker got the start tonight, and played great defense. Ceara Bode came off the bench as our sixth man like she had for most of the year, and she had her most aggressive game. “Tonight we lost to Morley, but that is a small loss in comparison to the four players we are losing to graduation. Kyleah Baker might go down as the best teammate I have ever seen. Her positivity and charismatic personality are a welcome sight in the gym. Abby Derks is known for her passion and grit on the court. Ceara Bode continuously outworked most players no matter the height differential. Carsyn Scarlavai will go down as the toughest and most determined player in the area. “As for the entire team I am extremely proud to be their coach. We have improved so much from our first game, and I'm excited to see what next season will bring.” By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports D2 at Comstock Park Grant vs, Sparta 5:30pm Two teams wanting a rematch with the Lions. The Spartans want to avenge two straight dismissals from the postseason courtesy of the Lions and in the forever rivalry between Grant and Newaygo the Tigers would like a third shot at the champs. As we said in the District preview Sparta has put together a really good season, but Grant has had some games when they look like everything is clicking and others when everything seems to go south. One interesting item. When Grant scores 45 or more they are 9-1. So they need to hit their shots early and often. And not get intimidated by Sparta’s physical play. Newaygo vs. Fremont 7pm Give the Pack some credit. That was a tough Park team they took out of the postseason Monday. They showed a lot of grit and got big games from several players as Zerlaut, Witte, Bennett, and Noordyk showed up big time. The Lions aren’t the Panthers. They have smoked through their schedule and while they can start slow at times they finish well. Real well. In the 2 times these teams faced each other the Lions outscored the Packers 130-51. That’s a lot of points. Not saying Fremont doesn’t have a shot but if they win this one Wes Zerlaut gets my vote for Coach of the Century. D3 at Holton Hart vs. Holton 5:30pm The Pirates lost their all state point guard Jayd Hovey to injury in December and haven’t missed a beat since as they went undefeated in conference play and captured the WMC crown. Sharpshooter VanAgtmael, Boutell and freshman Addison Hovey lead the Hart squad but they have a long bench and have given teams fits with their smothering defense that has only given up 40+ points 3 times all season. The Devils are young and can be inconsistent but they have some players on that team and have improved a lot as the season has progressed (ignoring a meltdown loss to Ravenna) A long climb here for Coach Jordan’s team. After beating Hesperia to get here he said of meeting Hart, "We will need our best game of the year, and will have to compete to the best of our abilities.” We concur. North Muskegon at West Michigan Christian 7pm We apologize to the Norse for assuming they would lose to Shelby for the third time this season. We’re picking the Warriors to move on to the finals so should NM pull off another upset we’ll apologize again. But we won’t have to. D3 at Morley White Cloud vs. Morley Stanwood 7pm The MS squad has averaged close to 60 points the last 5 games. The Cloud has averaged 30 in their last 5. Third time they’ve met with Morley winning by 35 and 37 points in the first 2. Coach Wilk has done a nice job with his team this season, but unless Morley is so focused on a rematch with KC that they fall apart in a sea of missed shots and defensive lapses the Cloud’s season ends here. Lakeview vs. Kent City 5:30pm I was surprised the Wildcats won their opener over a decent Montabella team. No surprises here however, The Eagles are in this for the long haul and certainly aren’t stopping here. Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 56 West Catholic 96 The Grand Rapids West Catholic Falcons came into Grant tonight, and showed why they finished number two behind Unity Christian in the OK Blue Conference; a conference that also includes other heavy weights like Holland Christian, Coopersville, Spring Lake, and Fruitport. Both Grant and West Catholic faced Sparta and Oakridge this season. West Catholic beat Sparta by thirty-six and Oakridge by thirty-seven, whereas Grant lost to Sparta by two and Oakridge by twenty-one. So anyone who was expecting tonight’s game to be competitive was either delusional or a true diehard Tiger fan. The Tigers were chasing West Catholic from the opening tipoff. It took Catholic all of about two seconds to start a fourteen point run before Grant finally found two of their own. By the time the first quarter came to an end, Catholic had put up thirty points to Grant’s fifteen. By halftime, Catholic extended their lead by twenty-three. By the end of the third by thirty-six. The Tigers were simply outmanned and outplayed by this dynamic Falcon team. The Tiger’s, for their part, didn’t back down the entire game. Each quarter saw the score grow a little more askew, but Grant’s confidence was never shaken. Even when Schuitema ran into foul trouble with a little more than a minute remaining in the third, the Tigers continued to fight valiantly without him. Honestly, this was probably the best time for the Tigers to play a team of this caliber. The seating for Districts has already been assigned so it has absolutely no effect on the playoff picture. It gave Grant a chance to see how they may compete if they win their District and move on to Regional play. Last, it gives the Tigers something to build on and areas to improve that will only serve them in their remaining games and next year. “West Catholic is a really good team,” Joe Schuitema, Grant’s Coach, shared. “They play in a good conference. They finished second in that conference. Their coach does a real nice job of teaching a good brand of basketball. Obviously the score is way lopsided. But what we talked about at halftime is let’s compete better, let’s just not kind of cower away, and I thought our guys did that. All ten guys that got a chance to play tonight I thought did that. It didn’t necessarily improve the overall score. But we’re just building on this game, and kind of not worry about it as much because we have a rival game with Holton, an old NCAA opponent, and then we're getting ready for Districts which I think is kind of what we’re shooting for right now.” Both Seth Schuitema and Zach Barnhart put up double digits tonight with seventeen and fourteen respectively. Austin Whitney and Chase Geers each shot for six. Gage Cronk and Sawyer Carr each added four. Giovanni Fallador had three, and Jaxon Gragg put in two. The Tigers will finish their season at home on Thursday evening against Holton who finished second behind Kent City in the CSAA Silver Conference with a 14-5 overall record.
Devils notch 14th win, Lions fall in final minute, Cloud & Hespo come up short
Morley Stanwood 51 Newaygo 48 Morley Stanwood was able to pull out the tight victory over visiting Newaygo. The score went back and forth with Morley pulling ahead in the 3rd quarter before Bryce Grugett was able to knock down two big threes to close the gap. The Lions finally took the lead with under one minute to play but the hosts moved back in front and held on. Josiah Long and Bryce Decker hit for 11 points apiece while Remy Wells and Grant Harkness each posted 8. The Lions are off until next week Wednesday when they travel to Sparta to open District play against Fremont. Holton 43 MCC 22 The Red Devils look to be gearing up for Districts as they collected their third win in a row by nearly doubling up their Crusader visitors. Hilton took a 5 point lead after one and hit the lockers for a 10 point advantage at the break. The second half belonged to the Devs as they went on a 13-3 run in the third and coasted to the win. Coach Swanson: “The guys came out and played a good game tonight. It was the last home game for our seniors and I'm glad they could go out with a performance they can be proud of.” Wyatt Monette fired in 21 points and grabbed a half dozen boards, Kevin Ericson knocked down 10 points and Brett Hosmer hit for 7. Austin Fowler set the table with 5 assists. The RD’s wind up their regular season with a road game in Grant Thursday. Tri County 73 White Cloud 56 The host Vikings matched their second highest offensive output of the season as they finished off their regular season schedule with a win over the Cloud Coach Jones: “Offensively we are playing pretty well, it's our defense that has been letting us down lately. We will need to shore that up if we want to make any noise in the postseason.” Taylor Bode finished with a game high 21 points, while Jared Watson hit for 14 and Kevin Strait knocked down 13. WC finishes their regular season schedule Thursday when they visit Hart. Baldwin 62 Hesperia 28 Cat fight! It was Panthers vs. Panthers in this one and the Baldwin version who came in having won 10 of their last 11 had their streak continue with a win over the Hesperia version. Coach Worcester: “Tonight’s game was overall ugly on all ends of the court. Shot opportunities were there but we could not capitalize on our opportunities. We did not do a great job of slowing Baldwin’s transition offense down. A lot can be said about tonight’s game, however our goal is to make adjustments and plan for Shelby on Thursday.” Maddox Mosley led Hesperia with 11 points. Fremont advances in District play, will face Newaygo Wednesday
Comstock Park 51 Fremont 45 Fremont traveled to Comstock Park for the first round of District play on Monday night and defeated the host Panthers 51-45. It was a tight game throughout, with Fremont holding a 9-6 advantage in the first quarter and a 17-16 lead at the half. Both teams struggled to find the basket in the first half, but played solid defense and rebounded well. The second half saw the Packers come out with an early burst and opened up a quick 7 point lead. They ended up with a 17-11 advantage in the quarter and a 34-27 lead at the end of three. Comstock Park held a slight advantage in the fourth at 18-17, but the Packers controlled the tempo in the last few minutes and made enough free throws to seal the win. Coach Zerlaut: "I'm really proud of our kids tonight. We have struggled to win games much of the season, but they have stuck together, continued to get better, and have now won 3 games in a row. We got good contributions from a lot of girls, including some girls that joined us at the end of the JV season and provided good minutes off the bench. I told them after the game I'm not sure which of my feelings is stronger, being proud of them, or being happy for them. Either way, it was a good win. They worked hard, executed the game plan, and deserved it." Fremont was led by Haley Zerlaut's 22 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Mia Witte added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jessica Bennett had 9 points and 6 rebounds, while Khaila Noordyk tallied 9 rebounds. Fremont improves to 5-16 on the season, while Comstock Park finishes the season at 9-12. The Packers move on to play Newaygo in the next round of the tournament on Wednesday at Comstock Park. |
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