Holton Teams Play In Holiday Tourney

Photo by David G. Crowell

While a lot of teams were reserving the Christmas/New Year interim for practice the Holton Red Devils schedule had them playing in the Reed City Holiday Invitational.
The Ithaca Yellowjackets ended up taking home the hardware in both the Girls and Boys Divisions.

In the Girls Division first round  the host Coyotes hit their free throws down the stretch to hang on and defeat a tough Midland Baptist team 38-36. Meanwhile the Devs  took it on the chin against eventual champion Ithaca 52-26.
Coach Jordan “Ithaca is a good team with solid defense  and length and didn't give us any easy look. We were competitive for 3 of the 4 quarters but a 21-4 2nd quarter put the game away.   We played flat in the second and we just aren't the kind of team that’s built to come back from double digit  deficits. We gotta grind it out and keep it close every quarter.”
Aubrey Goyings hit for 9 points, took down 8 boards and grabbed 4 steals for the Devs. Abbie Fowler also nailed 9 points and 4 steals while dishing out 3 assists and Ryann Robins led the team on the glass with 9 rebounds to go with her 8 points.
The Red Devils moved into the consolation game against the Kings and after seeing a double digit lead shrink they pulled out the win, 44-40.
Coach Jordan: “This was a game that we had good control of in the second half until  3 of our starters fouled out and a 13 point lead ended up evaporating until we were tied at 40-40, Lexi Bart hit a huge shot to give us the lead with less that a minute left and Layla Cannady hit two huge free throw to ice the game. Aubrey Goyings also had a team season high in rebounds with 16.
“We held them to 0 fG in the second and  2 in the 3rd quarter and only 9 in the entire game ,  but they got 30 (16 in 4th) plus free throw attempts and that kept  them in the game .   Our defense was a lot better from the day before, And that was the point of emphasis. If we don’t play good defense we aren’t gonna win many games.”
Fowler finished with a team high 11 points with Goyings dropping 10. Robins and Cannady hit for 8 apiece.
The RD’s are now 4-4 on the season with a 1-2 conference mark. They return to league play Thursday when they face Shelby on the Tiger home court.

In the Boys Division the Coyotes advanced to the championship round with a 56-23 win over the Devils. Holton fell behind early and hit intermission staring at a 38-16 deficit.
Coach Swanson: “ Reed City did a nice job tonight. Turnovers and poor shooting did us in. Our guys played hard but we need to do a better job taking care of the ball.”
Brodrick Fialek led the Devs with 9 points and 7 boards, Carter Brant hit for 7 points and Gavin Wheeler grabbed a half dozen rebounds.
That put Holton in the consolation game where a hot shooting Buckley squad took a 30 point lead by halftime and cruid=sed to the 77-35 win.
Fialek and Brant each scored 9 for the Red Devils.
Holton is idle until January 10 when they travel to Muskegon Catholic Central.