Hornets' Sting Too Much For Lions, Packers On A Roll, Cloud and Grant With Big Wins

Newaygo's Kendall Mathis takes it to the hoop under swarming defense

Girls Roundup
Stories by Ken DeLaat, photos by Alexis Mercer

Fremont 42 Big Rapids 32
The Packers peeled off their 5th win in a row to solidify their hold on second place in the Gold. With area schools shut down for the week and practices weathered out by the closings a bit of rust was evident early on.
“Both teams struggled in the 1st half to score as the effect of the long layoff was very evident,” said Packer Coach John Krim. “Big Rapids held a 4 point lead until 2:00 to go in the first quarter before we finally scored.”
Calla Miller and Haley Zerlaut each canned a triple to help spark the offense
And the teams limped to halftime with a total of 26 points between them and the hosts holding down a 15-11 edge with Zerlaut accounting for 5 of those points.
Fremont pushed the lead to 5 going into the final frame then Natalie Jamieson caught fire.
Entering the fourth Jamieson had put  2 points in the scorebook before pouring in an even dozen to help distance her team from the Cards and secure the win. She also took down 5 boards and nabbed 5 steals to go with her team high 14 points. Zerlaut also reached double figures for the Pack hitting for 10 points
Fremont is 7-1 in conference play and 9-3 overall. Big Rapids now stands at 2-7, 4-8



White Cloud 61 Hesperia 45
The Indians  were looking to start another winning streak after their 5 game run was snapped last Friday, but the Panthers were at home and looking to make it three in a row with a win over the Cloud.
The visitors inched to a 13-11 lead after one and pushed it to 8 by the half.
Once the teams came out of the locker room following intermission the Cloud took charge outshooting their hosts by a 26-12 margin to take control of the game.
Hesperia’s Emily Bayle and White Cloud scoring machine Hannah Brown put on a shooting show finishing with 25  points apiece. To add to their stats Brown dished 4 assists and grabbed 6 steals and Bayle pulled down 10 rebounds.
Olivia Bowman fired in 15 while picking up a pair of steals and handing out 3 assists, Jemi Perrin netted 9 points and Cassie Watson battled on the glass collecting 10 boards for the Cloud.
Alyssa Miller knocked down 13 for Hesperia who are now 7-6 overall and 2-5 in the Silver.
White Cloud is now 9-3 on the season with a 5-2 conference mark putting them in second place a half game ahead of Morley Stanwood and 2 games behind league leading Kent City



Central Montcalm 54 Newaygo 33
“They showed tonight why they are undefeated.”
Those are the words Coach Nate Thomasma used to describe the well oiled victory machine that is the Central Montcalm Hornets.
"I thought we competed well and played hard against Central Montcalm.   They play well in all aspects of the game and were able to use their pressure on defense to gradually pull away."
The Lions held tough but the Hornets built an 11 point lead at the break and kept up the pressure pushing the lead to 15 entering the fourth and never allowing the Lions to get close.
Jaylee Long hit for 10 points Jaxi Long nailed 8 and Emmerson Goodin led her team in rebounding with 6.
Hannah Putnam fired in a game high 19 for the Bees.
Newaygo is now 6-5 on the season and 4-4 in the Gold while CM sits atop the conference with a 9-0 record and stands 12-0 overall



Grant 47 Reed City 28