Girls Districts start Monday
Two of our coverage teams kick off District play Monday with Newaygo taking on Sparta and White Cloud seeing action against Shelby. Sparta is out of the OK Siver, home to a pair of GR area D3 powerhouses in Northpointe and Calvin as well as a pretty good Belding squad. But hey, the CSAA isn’t exactly chopped liver when it comes to tough conferences. Any of the top five finishers would be unsurprising entrants into the Regionals and believe me, there isn’t a team in the state who wants to play Kent City right now. While the Eagles have ridden the scoring talents of Geers it’s been their team defense that has paved their success when they’re not just outshooting teams. Their District includes Northpointe as well as WMC. The Spartans and Lions have both struggled at times on offense during the season although Newaygo’s production has amped up since they breached the 50 mark against Tri County. Was Riddering’s inspirational nothing-but-net missile from out of bounds in that game the catalyst for the increased production? We’ll never know. Seriously though, they have shown more confidence and the timely addition of Hughes seems to have helped. There are several on this team who can score and they are a truly gritty bunch. Sparta played Cedar tougher than the Lions did but it was an early game for Newaygo. The Spartans beat Big Rapids early, the Lions lost to the Cards late. Both were humbled by Kent City but they join a long line of teams in that group . The Lions have home court and if a fraction of the fans who filled Fremont on Friday show up it will be a rocking home crowd. More importantly, if they can avoid the mistakes and cold spells that have put them behind early their chance to advance rises considerably. Speaking of offensive struggles…White Cloud has not found that hot hand to shoot their way out of a scoring funk. They are averaging 21 points a game including a 32 point performance in a win over Chip Hills, the lowest output of any CH opponents all season. 21 doesn't get you many wins. Early in the season the Tigers beat the Cloud in the WC gym. That win gave them a 3-0 mark. From that point on they didn’t beat anyone not named Hesperia until their regular season finale win over Lakes Division cellar dweller Orchard View. But they do score more than the Cloud and they are at home. White Cloud can win this one but not if they don’t score early and often enough to stick around and give themselves a shot at the end. D2 District, Newaygo High School Monday Newaygo vs. Sparta 7pm Wednesday Newaygo/Sparta winner vs. Fremont 5:30 pm Grant vs. Comstock Park 7 pm Friday Survivors 7pm D3 District, Shelby High School Monday Shelby vs. White Cloud 6pm Wednesday S/WC winner vs. North Muskegon 5:30pm Holton vs. Hesperia 7 pm Friday Survivors 7 pm
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories |