Packers Split With ‘Yotes

Boys: ½ way through schedule. ½ game out of first
Girls: Coyotes ride triple trips to the foul line for the win

Photos by Renee Hanshue
Fremont 66 Reed City 51
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Contender!
Reed City came into Fremont’s gym sporting a 6-1 overall record and sitting undefeated in the Gold while having thumped their last 3 conference opponents.
The Pack were on a roll. They began the new year getting bounced badly by a strong Ludington team and the loss left them with a 2-4 record.
And they haven’t lost since.
Including a convincing win over the Coyotes Friday that muscled them into second place in the Gold a half game in back of Big Rapids. The Cardinal team they lost to early in the season in an emotionally draining overtime game on the Packer home court. The team they would be facing next Friday with title hopes on the line thanks to the inspired victory over the Coyotes.
Coach Bowen: “This was a very good win for us.  Reed City is an excellent team and we knew we would have to play very well to win.  Our effort and energy on the defensive end carried us all night.  Everyone contributed and played hard for us.” 
 Jordon McDonald had another big game as he dropped  26 points to go with 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.  Joey DeLong hit for 15 points, and grabbed  6 rebounds while going 7 for 8 from the charity stripe.  Logan Nelson had a great all around game with 7 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists and Elijah Shears came up big off the bench connecting for 10 points and nabbing a pair of steals. 
Fremont (6-1, 7-4) hits the road next week starting with a trip to Montague on Monday followed by Friday’s showdown with the Cards in Big Rapids. 


Reed City 50 Fremont 45
Fremont hosted Reed City on Friday night and suffered a 50-45 defeat. The Coyotes led 12-7 after the first quarter. The Packers fell behind by as much as 12 points in the second quarter at 22-10, but went on a run to end the half and ended up with an 11-10 advantage in the second. That made for a 22-18 lead for Reed City at halftime. Fremont fell behind 32-24 in the third before another run made the score 34-32 after three quarters. Reed City outscored the hosts 16-13 in the final quarter to set the final score. The Packers actually held an advantage of made field goals 19-14. However, the difference in the game came at the free throw line. Reed City went 20-39 at the stripe, compared with 6-12 for Fremont. 
Coach Zerlaut: "The difference was the fouls. I thought our girls played very hard at times, especially in the fourth quarter. We also had times that we let up, got out of position on defense, and then committed fouls trying to make up for it. It was often our help defenders that got called for fouls, which led to us having two post players on the bench fouled out mid-way through the 4th quarter. Noordyk and Kaitlynn Bennett combined for 10 points in limited minutes in the second half and were really having an impact on the game, but foul trouble and fouling out kept them from being able to contribute even more." 
Fremont was led in scoring by Haley Zerlaut's 17 points and Lily VandenBerg's 10. Mia Witte had 8 rebounds and Khaila Noordyk had 7.
​Kyleigh Weck had 18 points for the Coyotes, and Christina Malackanich added 11.
The Packers fall to 2-10 overall, 2-5 in the league. And will return to the court Friday in Big Rapids.

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