D3 District Finals in Place as Eagles, ‘Hawks and Warriors Advance

Photos by Sue Harrison

Morley Stanwood 44 White Cloud 38
Kent City 61 Hesperia 26

The Kent City District finals will feature the two top teams from the CSAA Silver.
The Eagles and Mohawks set the stage for their third meeting of the season Wednesday with victories over their conference rivals. 
KC had little trouble getting past Hesperia holding the Panthers to just 2 points in the second quarter as they built a 34-7 lead by the break.
The Mohawks route to the finals wasn’t quite so easy.
The Cloud’s patented in your face defense helped them jump out to a 11-5 lead after one but the shots stopped falling for them in the 2nd as Morley went on a 13-2 run to take charge at the break.
WC fought back to retake the lead 27-26 heading into the final frame but sharpshooter Madison Garbow kept hitting from distance and MS advanced to the Friday final.
WC Coach Kurt Brown: "We took the lead into the 4th, but couldn’t hold on.  The opportunity was there, couple missed assignments and a couple bounces their way proved to be the difference. Super proud of my team and what they accomplished this year."
Now MS is hoping three times might be the charm because a win over the Eagles would give the ‘Hawks a little home cooking for the Regionals scheduled to begin next week on the Morley court.
KC has handled MS in their two conference games, blowing them out with a 75-33 win at home then fighting off a spate of cold shooting and a tough Mohawk defense to take a 42-30 win on the Morley court.
Friday is round 3.
The teams will face off at 7pm and the winner faces the survivor of the  Pewama Westphalia/Calvin Christian final.
The PW Pirates took KC out of the tournament last year with a 2 point win in the Regionals played on the Eagle court.
 In the opening game that night  MS was eliminated by Calvin Christian.
Also by a bucket.  
Garbow finished with 18 points for Morley Stanwood.
Kent City was paced by Lexie Bowers who nailed 19 points while Kenzie Bowers scored 13 and Jenna Harrison hit for 10.
Emily Bayle led the Panthers with 10 points
 

WMC 58 North Muskegon 36
Saugatuck 53 Black River 44 (OT)
Tyler Folkema poured in 23 points and snared 10 steals to help the Warriors move into a District Final matchup with Saugatuck on Friday.
The District hosts jumped off to a 7 point edge after one and kept the Norsemen at bay to enter the locker room with a 25-18 edge.
Then they ran away from NM in the 3rd pushing the lead to 15 as they entered the fourth and kept the momentum going to ice the victory.
Kyla Wiersema racked up 13 points to go with her team high 10 boards and Esther Hartley matched her 6 steals with a half dozen points.
Meanwhile,Saugatuck went into overtime to defeat Black River. It was the 4th win in the last 5 games for WMC’s Friday opponent. 
Their only loss in that span?
To North Muskegon.
By a lot.