Lions Roar Into District Finals
Sparta win sets up rematch from 2020 Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken DeLaat Newaygo 61 Tri County 48 The Lions will be moving on to Friday’s District Final but despite the final score this one was anything but an easy win. The Vikings took an early 5-2 lead before Jaxi Long began her visits to the charity stripe. Three in a row to start as she converted 6 of 6 then after a TC score found sister Jaylee Long who scored to make it 10-7. The Vikes scored to pull within a point then sent Emmerson Goodin to the line where she sank both. Jaylee Long dropped in her signature reverse layup, Jaxi hit another pair of free throws and Jaylee scored again and the Lions finished the first up 18-12. Defensively Newaygo was on their game and Kayla Fisk twice rejected Viking shots in the paint. The second quarter saw that defense kick into high gear holding the Vikes to 3 points while Jaxi counted 6 (including another 4-4 from the line) Jaylee hit for 4 and Fisk and Grace Painter each added a bucket. The teams hit the break with the Lions firmly in control at 32-15. Well, not quite so firmly in control. As they did against Grant earlier this week the Vikings roared out of the locker room and rained down the triples as Ashley Bialek and Alicia Bowen each fired in three from distance while the Lions were struggling to score. Jaylee ripped a three and converted a pair from the line then hit again for 2. That and a late in the quarter bucket by Anna Brummel was all they could muster and TC crept back into contention narrowing a 17 point gap to just 4 with a quarter to play and Goodin in foul trouble. Two quick buckets pushed the edge to 8 and when Bialek cut it to 6 it was the closest TC would get as Jaxi Long scored and drew another foul. Brummel scored to make it an 11 point Newaygo lead and the Vikings began sending the Lions to the stripe in an effort to make up ground. The threes that had been pouring in became scarce as Fisk began tailing Bialek and keeping her from zeroing in from distance. Fisk also punctuated her defensive gem of a game with a monster block in the final minutes that drew an appreciative “Oooh” from the crowd. The most intriguing item from the final frame was toward the end when Jaxi Long who had drained 15 free throws in a row went to the line and missed both ends. Seconds later she returned to the line and started on another streak by converting both tries. Coach Thomasma “I thought we played a good first half. Actually I thought we played pretty good in the third but they just kept hitting those 3 pointers and what do you do when a team does that? We got a little tight offensively, Emmerson had a couple calls go against her and had to come out and that always hurts us on the boards when she's not in. “Tri County’s a good team, I think they have only 6 losses and 3 were to us. It was a good win and we’re just happy to move on. “Sparta and Comstock Park are also two good teams and now we’ll sit down and watch them and take a look at who we’ll see on Friday.” With Sparta’s win over the Panthers there will be a rematch of last year's District Title game that sent the Lions to the Regionals. Jaxi Long finished with a team high 23 points including that 17-19 from the stripe, Jaylee Long was all over the court and frustrated the Vikings with her ability to penetrate. Jaylee finished with 17 timely points. Brummel and Goodin each notched a half dozen. But as we said earlier it was the stifling in your face defense tossed out on the court by the Lions that made the difference. They ruled the inside game and only a couple of red hot hands from Bialek and Bowen in the third kept the game from being an early rout. Sparta 42 Comstock Park 21
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