By Ken De Laat While the Boys begin the one and done season the Girls half of the CSAA tournament gets going this week. In the top tier Grant will take on Kent City on Tuesday while conference champ Morley Stanwood hosts Reed City. This is a tough group who have spent the regular season knocking off each other. Reed City was sitting at 5-7 after getting crushed by Mason County Central then turned it around going 7-1 down the stretch.The Coyotes are all about defense and can put a stranglehold on teams who struggle on offense. Morley Stanwood doesn’t. They have a bevy of shooters led by Biller, Martin and Hoisington on a senior laden squad that is hoping to make a deep run in the postseason. The first time the teams met the ‘Hawks beat RC in that vaunted Coyote gym. This time they’re at MS. Grant had a strange season. They ran off 4 straight wins then dropped 2 in a row just before Christmas. It was nearly a month before they took to the court again and it was nearly 2 months between home games. Despite this they mowed through their competition with 8 straight wins, few of them even close. Then they played Kent City who kept them from clinching a share of the title when Geers rattled home 46 points in an overtime win on the Tiger home floor, 12 of those points in the OT. The Eagles have won 11 in a row and would love a rematch with Morley who they took to 3 OT’s before falling just short. The Tigers have scoring threats in Ashbaugh, Rodriguez, Welch and Gragg and Pleune is a consummate defender. The Eagles have a youthful team. And Geers. A scoring machine and while she isn’t likely to be stopped, the Tigers can only hope to minimize the damage. Big Rapids coasted past Lakeview in their first meeting. The Wildcats have only beaten one team with a winning record, Newaygo. They are young and struggle staying with teams that score early and often, but keep it close and Wildcat sniper Baylor Syrjala will hurt you. The Cards started slow but picked up steam before back to back 6 point losses to Grant and Kent City took them out of the title race. The next game they delivered Morley’s first conference loss. They are likely the team to beat in this tier. Early in the season Newaygo mounted an impressive comeback in a win over the Hornets. Central Montcalm comes into the tourney having lost their last 5 but it was a brutal stretch of schedule and they were in most of those games including a 2 point loss to Reed City in their last game. The Lions fortunes depend on their ability to put the ball in the basket on any given night. When they score 40+ points they are 7-1. Schillman can heat it up, Lathrup and Riddering are unafraid of going inside with the ball, Schultz is a gritty presence on the court and we have only begun to see with recent promotion Ruby Hughes can do. A win gives them a rematch with the Cardinals and another tuneup before hosting Districts next week. White Cloud has won 2 games in conference. Chip Hills in a walk and Tri County in a tight matchup early in the season. Holmes, Ringler, Feldpausch, Gomez, Foondle, etc. Every game it seems one of Coach Wilk’s players steps up to provide some scoring punch, but they need more if they are to sweep these two and make some noise in the Districts where they face a rematch with host Shelby. Monday Round Robin Chippewa Hills at Tri-County Tuesday Tier 1 Reed City at Morley Stanwood Grant at Kent City Tier 2 Lakeview at Big Rapids Central Montcalm at Newaygo RR Chippewa Hills at White Cloud Thursday Winners of Tier 1 and 2 Losers of tier 1 and 2 RR Tri-County at White Cloud
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