Newaygo 51 Fremont 17 N3 Sports Team Despite the score this one certainly didn’t come easy for the Lions. The Packers strategy seemed to pay off. They were able to handle the vaunted Lion press by playing long ball. Tossing the bomb down court to open players was generally successful, but finishing with points was a struggle. They also had three players whose sole focus was to stay with Jaxi Long. Mia Clemence, Katie Ackerman, and Julianne Hernandez were run in and out of the game to keep a fresh body to try to match the energy of Long and in doing so held the Lions top scoring threat to 4 free throws. But of course Newaygo has many scoring threats, particularly Emmerson Goodin who proved to be an absolute beast in the paint muscling through the Packer defense to rule the glass and score despite being banged around underneath. The first quarter ended with a 14-6 Newaygo lead and the second saw that advantage double as the teams hit halftime with the Lions up 27-11. Then came the second half and the Lions came out of intermission on a mission scoring 20 unanswered points before Haley Zerlaut split a pair from the line to give the Packers their only 3rd quarter score. Coach Thomasma: “Fremont played hard tonight. We had a little trouble in the first half getting shots to fall. I thought (Grace) Painter did a good job offensively in the third quarter to get the momentum going."
“I was impressed with what I saw of Sparta. We have a tall mountain to climb Friday facing the number one seed so we need to play better. They play tough so we’ll have to match that." Coach Zerlaut: “Hard to see the last game for the seniors, especially when one is your daughter. “Our offense struggled tonight but that’s what Newaygo does to teams. As feisty as they are on defense you don’t get any good looks. When we did get shots they were more like throws. “We seemed to handle the press well like we did with Comstock Monday but that 1-3-1 defense just killed us with turnovers. They’re athletic and they’re long. “I'm really proud of this team for sticking together. And they’ve come a long way. I told them it took us 3 months to get 2 wins then we got 3 in a week. “We’ve got a good team coming back so now they can concentrate on their spring sports and come July we’ll be back in the gym getting ready for next year.” Goodin dropped in 22 points, grabbed a dozen boards and pilfered 5 steals. Painter knocked down a couple of key triples and finished with 10 points. Lily Swineheart hit for 6 and Long and Iris Herrera each notched 4. Haley Zerlaut paced the Packers with 6 points and Mia Witte added 4. Newaygo moves on to face Sparta in Friday’s final. Game time 7pm at Comstock Park.
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