Lions Start Season with Win Photos and story by Alexis Mercer The first points of the girls basketball season for 2023 for the Newaygo Lions were scored by Naomi Schillman: a smooth 3 point from the corner. And off they went. Amaya Lathrop got fouled on a 3 point of her own and made one to go to 4 points to Montague’s 6 with 4:45 left in the first quarter. Maria Riddering started her scoring for her senior year with a nice move for 2 points. Kija Westbrook earned her first 2 before the end of the first and the Lions were up 8-7 at the end of the quarter. It was a long stretch in the beginning of the 2nd quarter before either team found the bottom of the net. But finally with 2:32 left in the half, Lily Holmes earned her first Varsity points of her career to make the score 10-12. Westbrook capitalized on the solid Lions defense, grabbing a steal and making a layup to end the quarter. The Lions were down 12-15 at the buzzer. Both teams came out aggressively in the second half.
Amaya Lathrop first scored from either team 2:30 into the 3rd quarter to go to 14-15. And then the turning point of the entire game was when Gracie Bazzett came in and dropped a stone cold 3 with a defender in her face. The bench went wild and the Lions were a changed team. Westbrook hit a 3 out of a timeout and to end the 3rd, the Lions were up 20-19. They didn’t look back after this. The 4th quarter started with a Westbrook steal and a layup. Then it was Maria Riddering’s turn to light the court on fire. She dropped a 2 off Lathrop’s dish, followed by a 3 and another 2 a few seconds later. To end the game the Lions had 34 and the Wildcats 23. From Coach Thomasma: Kija Westbrook led the Lions with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Maria Riddering had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Naomi Schillman chipped in 6 points! Newaygo plays on Friday night at home next.
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Photos by Missy Gomez, Gomez Photography
The high school girls basketball season got underway Monday as White Cloud and Grant opened their seasons with convincing wins White Cloud 50 Mason County Eastern 9 The visiting Cardinals never got off the ground as the Cloud took control of this one early on and never let go. Coach Wilk: “Going into this matchup, we made it our mission to hustle hard, create turnovers, and protect the ball. Mission accomplished! We rocked it for all four quarters, bagging a whopping 31 steals and keeping our turnovers under 10. Our seasoned vets, all six seniors, set the pace tonight. Shoutout to senior point guard Jaden Gomez for leading the charge with 14 points and a mind-blowing 12 steals! Senior forward Kadence Nickoloff wasn't far behind, dropping 13 points, and senior guard Brooke Ringler dropped in 12 points as well. It was a true team effort, and everyone pitched in.” White Cloud (1-0) will open conference play Friday with a visit to Tri County. Game time 6pm. Grant 56 Ravenna 13 The Tigers ran away from the Bulldogs and opened their season with a solid road victory. Coach Delamater: “It was a nice way to start the season. We were rusty for the first four minutes and then we got going. With six girls returning that had significant playing time last year, there was no panic. They stayed true to what we've been working on, and once we got used to real "game speed," things started to click. Bella Welch played a great first game for us last night. Even though Bella didn't play in a game last year, she practiced everyday and knows the system in and out. Together with Jocee Pleune, they will be able to guard anyone the length of the floor and both of them had several steals last night. Julie Ashbaugh and Bella led us on the offensive side of the floor. Julie ended the night with 20 and Bella chipped in 12.” Grant (1-0) will hit the road again Friday traveling to Lakeview for the conference opener against the Wildcats. Gane time 5:30pm. Photos by Bobbie Cruzan Quite an opening week for boys basketball Newaygo apparently didn’t want to ease into the season playing 3 games in 4 days with road trips to Oakridge and Chip Hills. The Lions went 2-1 Grant stayed with WMC likely contender Ludington for a while before the O’s took control late then absolutely took apart Morley in their conference opener. White Cloud opened with a win over Baldwin then fell to Shelby on the Tiger home court. Fremont also played in Shelby with a different result as they ran away from their hosts in the opener. Then came the conference opener at home where a rugged Mariner team from Manistee came into town and left with the win. Friday Games Grant 76 Morley Stanwood 26 After taking an 18-5 lead in the first the host Tigers hit their stride in the 2nd quarter scoring 28 points on the way to a CSAA Conference victory over the ‘Hawks The Tigers had four players finishing in double figures led by Ethan DeLong with 16 and Oakley Obenauf with 15. Lucas Swanson and Sincere Hatch added 14 and 11. Grant (1-1, 1-0) will travel to Hart (1-2) for a non conference matchup with the Pirates. Shelby 51 White Cloud 46 Coach Jones: “Tough loss tonight in Shelby. A back and forth game the whole way. We just couldn't hit the shots down the final stretch to win. Proud of the effort, sometimes the outcome doesn't match the effort.” Noah Robinson led the way with 15 points, Kevin Strait hit for 14 and Jayden Robinson dropped 10. Jared Watson added 3 points while Jayson Ruether and Landyn McGowen each added 2. White Cloud will host Mason County Central (1-1) on Tuesday. Manistee 48 Fremont 40 Girls Basketball preview
Now that the boys have gotten a couple of games under their belt it’s time for the Girls teams to tip off their season. On Monday Grant will travel to Ravenna and White Cloud will open against the Cardinals of Mason County Eastern. On Tuesday Fremont hosts former Lakes 8 rival Spring Lake while Newaygo opens at home against the Tigers of Montague and Holton visits Eagle Country at Oakridge Newaygo Lions Last season: 6-16, 3-7 in CSAA Coach: Nate Thomasma Key Returnees Seniors: Addison Goodin and Maria Riddering Juniors: Kija Westbrook, Naomi Schillman Sophomore: Amaya Lathrop Promising Newcomers Senior: Elsha Jibson Juniors: Gracie Bazzett, Karissa Carlson, Thalia Pineda Sophomore: Lillian Holmes Team strengths We have a lot of girls that can play in different positions. Got five girls that are back on the Varsity team this year that played a good amount of minutes last year. Biggest team challenge Taking care of the ball and consistent scoring. Last year we struggled in these areas and we have to get better at them to be more competitive in our league. Probable conference frontrunners Morley Stanwood, Kent City, Grant Coach Thomasma I like the 10 girls we have on the team this year. We're just trying to stack good practices on top of each other so we can compete in a tough CSAA Gold Conference this year. White Cloud Indians Last year: 8-13, 4-8 i CSAA Coach: Caleb Wilk Key Returnees We have six girls returning to the varsity team from last year. Jaden Gomez is a three-year varsity player. She will be setting up our offense, and she will be a terror on defense. We are going to rely on her experience a lot this year. Annie Feldpausch, Kadence Nickoloff, Gracy Holmes, Brooke Ringler, and Tanayah Klammer round out our other five returning players. All five of these young ladies have playing experience from last year, and I am confident in putting any of them into the starting lineup based on what the team needs. Promising newcomers We are adding four new faces to our varsity team this year. The juniors include Keira Baker, Brooklyn Foondle, and Isabella Shockley. These three did very well on JV last year and are quick learners.We are adding sophomore Payten Bird to the roster this year as well. Payton did an excellent job this summer and earned her spot on the varsity team. Team strengths Our team strengths are going to be experience and speed. With limited practice time before our first game, I am excited that we have plenty of experience from last year's team returning. We will also use our speed as an advantage whenever we can. Biggest team challenge We lack height. Rebounding takes work for us, and we must make sure we box out; otherwise, we will be giving up too many second-chance opportunities. Probable conference frontrunners Coach Raven's Morley Stanwood team will be the team to beat this year. Big Rapids is always challenging, and Kent City seems to be reloading. We hope to challenge these teams, but we will need to find some offensive firepower to keep pace with them. Coach Wilk I am very excited to see what this team can accomplish together. What our team lacks in height, they make up for it with heart. This team is a scrappy bunch that loves to play defense. We might surprise a few teams if we hit a few shots in big moments. Fremont Packers Last Year 9-15, 5-7 in WMC Coach Peter Zerfas 1st year Returning Starters From what I saw there were many starters from last year's team. The two listed are girls who started most games. Jessica Bennett Sr. All Conference last season....9 points per game Mia Clemence Jr. Talented guard/forward combo player Returning Letter Winners Katie Ackerman Sr Olivia Hansen Sr Elise Pfeiffer Sr Riley Chase Jr Khaila Noordyk Jr Newcomers to Varsity Hallie Snyder So Grace Evans So Eliana VandenBerg So Taylor DeKuiper Fr We have a nice mix of senior leadership and youth on our varsity team. The program has only won 19 games in the last 3 years combined, but there are a lot of returning players who are hungry to turn that around. They made a nice run towards the end of last season and we hope to build upon that. I think we have a nice mix of size and speed and are athletic in multiple positions. We had a good summer going 9-4 in our scrimmages making it to the Ferris State University Summer Camp finals before losing to a talented team from Indiana. How well we work together and learn a new system will help to determine success. If we can rebound and reduce turnovers we will be in most games. Team Strengths I think we are athletic and though we only have 11 players on varsity, we are deep and can play a lot of players. Team Challenges Scoring. This group only averaged 34 points per game last season. We will need to find a way to generate points. League Favorite Ludington has won the last 5 conference championships and 6 of the last 7. They look strong and until someone beats them they are the favorite. Whitehall returns most of their players off a 15 win team and received a D2 level player as a transfer from Montague.....so they will be very strong. This league on the girls side is very good, every team can win it seems. Manistee, Montague, Oakridge all have strong girls programs and Orchard View always seems to have good athletes. Coach Zerfas I like what I am seeing early on. Our girls are working hard and should steadily improve as the season goes on. We have good athletes and shooters so as we learn a new system it is going to be fun to watch. Grant Tigers Last Year 14-8, 6-4 in CSAA Coach Josh Delamater Key Returnees We return one of the area's best players in senior Julie Ashbaugh. Jocee Pluene is entering her third year as a varsity player and is one of the best full court defenders around. Promising newcomers Bella Welch. She's not new to the area. After two years playing a key role for Newaygo on their long runs in the tournament, Bella sat out a year after transferring to Grant. She is a tenacious player and will be a huge asset on the floor. Team strengths Experience will be a plus for us this year. Coupled with our relentless pressure on both sides of the court, we will be able to compete nightly. Biggest team challenge Size is an issue for us and consistency outside of 15 feet. Probable conference frontrunners Big Rapids should be the top contender. They graduated some great talent, but their JV team was solid last year. Kent City will be right there also, Maddie Geers is one of the best players in this area and will be supported by a solid group of freshmen. Coach Delamater; We were a youthful team last year with 5 sophomores playing varsity for the first time and logging significant minutes. That experience will have a huge impact on our season this year. Holton Red Devils Last season: 12-12 Coach B.J. Jordan Key returnees Abbie Fowler 1st team all conference Ryann Robins 1st team all conference Layla Cannady Aubrey Goyings Newcomers I have zero new girls on team this year, we just lost two seniors from last year Strength Experience, two 4 year starters and one 3 year starter, returning 4 starters from last year. Challenges Size and Depth only 3 on the bench Conference front runner It would have to be Hart, they are returning a bunch of talent coming off a banner year. Coach Jordan Great group of girls, and our goal this year is to compete to the best of our abilities night in and night out, and I feel if we can do that we will be happy where we end up at the end of the year… short handed or not I feel we have a team that can compete with the teams on our schedule this year. Lions split, Pack win opener
Oakridge 75 Newaygo 67 Newaygo got off to a good start and led 24-18 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams battled for the next three quarters with Oakridge pulling out the win 75-67. Logan Klomp led Newaygo with 15 points, Josiah Long with 14 points and 8 rebounds, Caris Nelson with 13 points and 6 assists, and Blake Kerr added 10 points. Newaygo 61 Chip Hills 46 Chip Hills and Newaygo opened the conference season tonight with Newaygo winning 61-46. The game remained tight as the score was tied at halftime 24-24. Newaygo was able to build an 8 point lead after three quarters and extend it to 15 to finish the game. Newaygo was led by Josiah Long with 20 points including 5 three pointers, Logan Klomp scored 17 points, and Caris Nelson added 13 points and dished out 5 assists. The team played solid defense and competed all night. Newaygo (2-1, 1-0) will travel to Montague Tuesday to face the Wildcats. Fremont 65 Shelby 27 |
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