Lions Ballers Win Thriller in Double OT Photos and story by Alexis Mercer Newaygo- 45 Lakeview- 44 Final 2OT "The crowd definitely got their money's worth tonight,” said Coach Nate Thomasma. At the start of regulation, the Newaygo Lions and Lakeview Wildcats appeared well-matched. They were back and forth with solid, quick defense; sharp passing; and balanced scoring. This would prove to remain true until the very last few seconds of the second overtime. Lakeview was up 10-8 at the end of the first quarter and then came out strong to start the second quarter. Newaygo got good looks at the hoop, but couldn’t get the ball through the bottom of the net. Fortunately for the Lions, the Wildcats had the same problem. 5 full minutes into the 2nd quarter each team had only scored 2 additional points from the end of the first. Walking into the locker room Lakeview was up by only 1 point at 16-15. After the teams found themselves maintaining that 1 point differential with the Wildcats up 20-19 for a long, long time, Grace Painter finally hit a 3 for the Lions, which sparked a flame in the team. The end of the 3rd quarter, the Lions were on top 26-23. Wildcat Mollie Willison nailed a 3 to go up, but Naomi Schillman returned the favor with her own 3 to pull the Lions back up 29-28. Later in the quarter, Lion Kija Westbrook managed a well-timed offensive rebound and dropped a shot from under the basket to go up by 3. The Lions got the ball up by 2 points with 1:00 left in regulation. But they were unable to maintain possession to close out the game and Lakeview scored with only 2 seconds left on the clock. Into OT they went. Nothing came easy for either team thanks to aggressive play and determination to win the game. Newaygo had two shots at the end of the 1st OT that rattled in and out, which meant a 2nd OT. The crowd was pumped and no one seemed ready to give up on their team. In the 2nd OT, Naomi Schillman hit a 3 pointer with 7 seconds left to put Newaygo up 3. Lakeview made a layup at the buzzer but fell 1 point short.
In the recap of the game, Coach Thomasma said: “I’m really proud and impressed with the Lady Lions tonight. We struggled to put the ball in the hoop and had chances to close the game out a few times and didn't but they never quit. They continued to work hard and kept playing ball. We have a lot of young kids that are learning on the fly and they hung tough in an exciting atmosphere. They executed the last play extremely well and Naomi hit a big time shot. Great win for this group of girls." Newaygo had a balanced scoring effort. Grace Painter and Kija Westbrook had 9 points, Naomi Schillman 8, Maria Riddering and Addison Goodin with 8 and Amaya Lathrop with 5 points. Newaygo improves to (2-4 in conference) and 4-9 overall Lakeview drops to (0-5 in conference) and 1-11 overall.
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