Friday Night Hoops (Girls)

Lions Sink Vikes, Tigers Wallop Warriors, ‘Hawks Fly Past Cloud, Packers Clip Cards, Devils Tame Tigers

Photos by Bobbie Cruzan

Newaygo 55 Tri County 25
The Lions hit the halfway mark with a 16-9 lead over the host Vikings but TC came roaring out of the locker room with a 10-0 run to jump out in front by 3. Coach Thomasma called a timeout to regroup his players and they responded big time. The visitors choked off the TC offense holding them to just 6 points the rest of the way while pouring in 39 of their own to lock up their 3rd straight win.
Coach T: ”Slow start for the team tonight.  We've been battling some sickness this week with the team and the rust showed early in this game.  We started poorly in the 3rd quarter and called a timeout to regroup.  We all needed to refocus and play with the way we know we can play and coach.    Proud that the group responded in the manner they did.  We played excellent basketball the last 12 minutes of the game.  We as a group need to continue to work on being more consistent for 32 minutes.  This team is a good one to be around.  A lot of good character is in our locker room.  Hopefully this weekend will allow us to get healthy going into next week."
A well balanced scoring attack was led by Lilly Holmes who filled the stat sheet with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.  Amaya Lathrop and Naomi Schillman each dropped a dozen on the Vikings while  Kija Shultz tallied 9 points and 6 steals and  Maria Riddering chipped in 3 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
Newaygo (8-7, 3-5) will travel to Orchard View (4-11, 0-8) on Tuesday to face the Cardinals.

Grant 58 Chippewa Hills 23
The Tigers kept a  grip on their spot atop the CSAA standings with a resounding win over the Warriors.
Coach Delamater: “I thought we played a decent game tonight. We gave up more points than I wanted to, but I thought we were too aggressive at times and got out of position. All 10 of (Keira) White's points came from being out of position where she could get open looks or put backs due to girls scrambling too much. It was also hard to get in a rhythm with all of the whistles. We didn't score a clean transition bucket until the 2nd quarter. 
Julie (Ashbaugh)  obviously had a huge night again (22 points, 16 rebounds, 6 steals) and Alexa Obenauf has really been playing well lately. She gives us another threat from deep and had a great game for us tonight with 11 points. Lily Krepps also deserves a lot of credit. She has embraced the role of coming off the bench for Ashbaugh, Rodriguez, Pleune, or Welch and gives us great minutes game in and game out. Tonight was a spectacular night for her with a season high nine points.”
Grant (10-3, 7-0) will host Holton (12-5, 5-4) on Tuesday

Morley Stanwood 55 White Cloud 15
A close  loss to Big Rapids last week knocked the state ranked Morley team from the top of the conference. On Friday their first game back since that loss they made certain early on that this one wasn’t going to be close. The visitors dominated play, sending the Cloud to its 5th straight loss.
Coach Wilk: “Coming into the game we knew we had a tough task in slowing down Morley's top 3 players. We did not do enough to keep ourselves in the game for very long. “
Kadence Nickoloff led the hosts in scoring with 7 points
White Cloud (2-6, 6-11) will host Montabella (6-9, 6-8) 0n Monday.

Fremont 63 Orchard View 14
The Pack took control early and stayed there. The conference win keeps Frenot atop the WMC-Lakes Division, a game ahead of second place Ludington.
Coach Zerfas:”This game was never really close as we took a 14-2 first quarter lead, and led 34-3 at halftime.  Everyone got to play and contributed in one way or another.  Eliana VandenBerg led us in scoring with 15 points, Olivia Hansen had her best game of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Mia Clemence had 10 points and Jessica Bennett had 9 points and 9 rebounds. Both Katie Ackerman and Taylor DeKuiper had 6 points.  Grace Evans had her best game of the season with 5 points and 6 assists.”
Fremont(13-3, 9-0) will host Shelby (5-10, 3-7) 0n Monday.

Holton 32 Shelby 26
The Tigers kept clawing away at the Red Devil lead but Holton kept their efforts at bay to secure the conference win.
Coach Jordan: “We challenged the girls to respond to a bad loss on Tuesday where we got dominated on the boards, and they responded.  We were already down a starter who averages just under 10 rebounds a game and our center Ryann Robins was in foul trouble all night and eventually fouled out in the 4th.Most of the second half my tallest player on the court was 5’5”, but they all battled. None more than Kenzie Greene who pulled down 10 boards  herself  with a 5’4” frame. Layla Cannady came up huge with 9 points and 7 rebounds. Abbie Fowler had 6 points, 5 assists and 5 steals.
"Only had 7 dressed tonight and Ava Crowell and Alexis Nichols gave us huge minutes  off the bench when we absolutely had to have them. We played a great defensive game and outside of two stretches where Shelby went on a little run we were able to hold them at bay for most of the night but nothing came easy for us either. Tough game but more than happy to get out of there with a win given the circumstances we faced.  Overall this was the best team win on the season, especially after the way we played on Tuesday. Very proud of my team tonight.”
Holton (12-5, 5-4) will play at Grant (10-3, 7-0) 0n Tuesday.