Photos and Story by Mike Gesler Spring Lake 48 Grant 40 I have to admit that I have been a little disappointed that I have not been able to see the Grant ladies play until now. After last year’s season, I have been looking forward to observing the Tigers in battle once more. Even though I haven’t been able to see them physically play, I have been keeping tabs on their action. Needless to say, following the numbers the team, and especially Ashbaugh, have put up, an average of 59 points per game thus far, I was stoked to finally have my opportunity to attend a game. I knew going in that Spring Lake was going to test Grant on every facet of play. Last year the Lakers finished 14-9 and second behind ever dominate West Catholic in the OK – Blue Conference. The Lakers also opened this year’s season against Fremont, handing Fremont a loss and chalking up their first win. Laker’s coach, Rich Hyde, would be certain to have his ladies prepared to shut down Ashbaugh, and test this young Tiger team to its core. “The AD last year asked me about who I’d like to play,” stated Josh Delamater, Grant’s coach. “I said I want to play the best teams; Spring Lake, Ludington, Sparta, they have to be on our schedule because that’s the teams that are going to make us better. Before the game I said to the girls, this is about showing people that you can compete. I mean 3-1 against the teams that we’ve played, okay. But going up against a team that’s perennially good and competing with them is a huge deal for us.” While the outcome may not have put another “W” in the Tigers early season, Coach Delamater and this Tiger’s squad certainly got the competition they were looking for. “I’ve told [the girls] all season it’s going to be a month of games before we’re really running on all cylinders,” stated Delamater. “We’re seeing sparks. You know you see brilliant stretches. Five minutes of good basketball and then we make a couple mistakes.” And that is basically how this game went. Spring Lake was first to get on the board with two before Makayla Zerlaut found herself a good look outside the arc to put the Tigers on with three. The Lakers would then go on a nine point run, and pretty much dominate all aspects of the game. Emma Thompson and Julie Ashbaugh stopped the bleeding just before the quarter’s end to pull the Tigers within five.
The Tigers would dominate the beginning of the second with three from Jocee Pleune and two on the line from Jayci Hance to tie up the game. The two teams would then exchange blows before Spring Lake would once again assert their dominance and go on another run to extend their lead by six at the half. The third quarter was Grant’s best. While Spring Lake started the quarter with a five point run, Grant rallied with a run of their own between Ashbaugh and Hance to bring the Tigers within four. That run extended slightly into the final quarter as Ashbaugh hit another two. In the end though, the Lakers simply found ways to edge out the Tigers and head home with a win. “I thought we competed the entire game,” stated Delamater. “I knew it was going to be a battle. I knew it was going to be physical. We talked about that. We’re still very young. Really Julie, Jayci, and Jocee Pleune are the three coming back with a lot of court experience. Madison and Makayla are coming with experience but not as much on the court, and I thought they did a fantastic job tonight of going out and playing good quality minutes. And then the four girls in the rotation, Alexa, Reese, Emma Thompson, and Danica give us good quality minutes coming off the bench…But youthfulness shows, and inexperience shows. That’s good...I’m super proud of how we played tonight.” Julie Ashbaugh put up eighteen in the Tiger’s efforts tonight with ten points contributed by Jayci Hance. Jocee Pleune and Makayla Zerlaut each had three, and Danica Gee, Emma Thompson, and Madison Thompson provided two each. Grant will travel north for a conference game to face the Coyotes of Reed City in Reed City on Friday evening. That game will be broadcast on the NHFS Network webpage at 6:00 pm.
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