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
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Story by Ken DeLaat Photos by Alexis Mercer Packer D Stifles Lions Fremont heading for Regional matchup with Spring Lake Fremont 50 Newaygo 45 It was most definitely a packed house at the Fremont gym. Not just the two overflowing student sections jammed into their areas, but a crowd that filled the seats as well as the balcony area and anywhere else they could find a spot to watch this one. District Finals, Fremont and Newaygo. It was on. The Lions drew first blood when Hunter Yearsovich stuck one from distance but Ben Mellema responded with a triple for the Packers. Yearsovich would can 2 more 3’s and along with a Blake Kerr free throw it was a 10-3 lead for the Lions. Then came the first of a pair of runs that would spell trouble for Newaygo. 10 straight points for the Packers highlighted by a pair of triples from Wil DeBlake and Gavin Richards took the game to quarter one’s end and the hosts in front 13-10. In the second Richards and Kyler DeKuiper each dropped a pair of buckets for the Pack while Logan Klomp scored 7 of his team’s 9 points in a low scoring run-up to intermission that ended with Fremont in front 24-19. After a Dekuiper bucket to open the second half, Kerr scored twice making in a 3 point game. Then the Packer defense shut down the Lions and another run ensued, this time a 14 point sweep that put the Lions in a 17 point hole. Kerr rang one home from beyond the arc just before the quarter ended and the teams went to the 4th with Fremont holding a 14 point lead. Once again as they had been in both previous District contests the Lions were staring at a double digit deficit with 8 minutes to play. The Packers took the air out of the ball forcing Newaygo to foul and Fremont’s foul shooters were able to keep the Lions at bay despite a trio of late 3 pointers by Josiah Long that allowed the Lions to pull within 3. With seconds left Chaz Miller was sent to the line and his 2-2 iced it for Fremont and delivered the Packers their second straight District title. Coach Bowen: “ Our defense was excellent for the second game in a row and that was the difference in the game. We are working so hard and communicating well on that end of the floor right now. I am so proud of these boys for how they have come together as a team this week. We've worked through a lot as a team this year, and to have it all finally come together at the right time is great to see. Richards notched 11 points and took down 10 rebounds, Miller finished with a dozen points and 4 steals and DeBlake also scored 12 points and added 6 boards. Mellema hit for 8 points and DeKuiper tallied 6. Klomp led the Lions with 13 points, Yearsovich scored 11, Long finished with 9 and Kerr added 8. Fremont will move on to the Allendale Regional where they will face Spring Lake Tuesday at 7pm. Undefeated Norse moving on
Photos by Cassie Rickert North Muskegon 54 White Cloud 39 In a District Final that closely resembled the first time these teams met a couple of weeks ago, the Norse were able to shake off a determined White Cloud squad to secure the win and move on to the Regionals. Coach Jones: ““We played them tough again going into the 4th but they are a damn good basketball team. We were tied at 33 but couldn’t hit down the stretch to keep pace with them.” NM outscored the Cloud 21-9 in the final frame. The loss ends a strong season for White Cloud that saw the team compete for a conference title right up until the end of the regular season. “It was a great run this year,” added Coach Jones. “So very proud of this group of young men. 17-7 and 11 wins in a row? I’d take that every year.” Noah Robinson led the Cloud with 12 points while KJ Strait hit for 11 and Jayden Robinson added 9. North Muskegon, still undefeated, will head to Pewamo Westphalia to take on the P-W Pirates Tuesday. Can WC pull off the upset?
By Ken De Laat, N3 Sports White Cloud vs. North Muskegon 7 pm Hesperia High School. Last year the Cloud got to the District Finals and fell short against a tough Shelby team. And now they’re back in the finals and facing another rugged opponent in North Muskegon. As in undefeated, state ranked, WMC Rivers champs who won their last matchup with WC by 19, North Muskegon It’s a steep hill. The Cloud was within 5 at the half in their first meetup but the Norse pulled away late when WC shooters turned cold down the stretch. Only one team has come close to beating the Norse, Montague. In that game the Wildcats held the lead throughout the contest until the final seconds when a steal and a pair of free throws kept NM’s undefeated record intact. The Norsemen game is defense. They have stifled otherwise productive teams with a pressure D that chokes off teams. Nobody has scored more than 54 and only 3 teams have gotten to 50. That spells trouble for WC. They need to score and don’t fare well when they’re held to under 60. When the team is hitting their stride they can pile it on and Strait, the Robinsons, Watson and others can light it up to be sure. But they have to solve the Norsemen D and not allow NM to get out in front early. Like we said, a steep hill, but this WC team has a lot of heart. They have played tough all year and these players know each other well enough to find the hot hand when needed. Whether that can translate into points…a lot of points… will depend on their ability to break through the Norse pressure. Go Cloud! Packers, Lions face off in District final
By Ken De Laat Photos by Alexis Mercer Newaygo vs. Fremont 7 pm, Fremont High School While leaving Wednesday's games I happened to bump into the esteemed Editor Wheater of our local print news source known familiarly as the T-I. We had just covered a pair of basketball stories that proved to be rife with dramatics, both featuring improbable comebacks by teams that seemed destined to be playing their final game of the season. The cat fight between Lions and Tigers had the added attraction of a pair of student sections entertaining the crowd and taunting each other while the tide of the game shifted back and forth and back again. In the battle between the Pack and Spartans there was an intensity on the court and a rising to the occasion by several wearing the Fremont colors to rally back against a strong Sparta squad. Two seriously entertaining games. Thus as we exchanged pleasantries, both wearing our tournament media passes, Editor W. considered our lanyard clipped photos (mine could easily be mistaken for a character from a movie about retired gangsters) and said “After those two games it feels like we should go back to the gate and pay for tickets.” Well said and well put as always RW. Those games were certainly worth the price of admission. Not that I offered to pay, of course, but definitely worth the entry fee. And now they face each other with a shot at a little hardware for the case as well as a bus ride to Allendale to face either the Spring Lake team that knocked previously undefeated Whitehall out Wednesday or the Cinderella team Fruitport who limped into the tourney having lost 14 of their last 15 and then won twice this week to get to Friday. But as for Friday’s final, this is truly anyone’s game. Both squads are loaded with talented players that can make the game seem easy at times. And other times…. Since they play with a bit of reckless abandon, when the Lions are hitting on all cylinders the downcourt passes, the crafty kickouts and opportunistic attacks on the basket work to give them the ability to be explosive. To score in bunches. When the 3 pointers are off target and makeable shots are rolling out they sometimes struggle to break out of their funk. The Pack have had to battle inconsistency, They played both Big Rapids and Ludington tough in early season road losses then fell at home to Fruitport. They also lost to Orchard View when the Cards came into the game having lost 12 of their last 13. The Packers need their outside shooting to come through and to spread the wealth offensively if they’re to keep teams honest. As said, this one is up for grabs big time. And from what has been witnessed this week, you’re not likely to see anyone leaving in the 4th regardless of the score. Both teams have proved that anything can happen when they get hot. See you there. WC to face Norse in title game
White Cloud 53 Ravenna 50 It took awhile for them to get going but White Cloud got back on the winning track, coming back from a double digit deficit to take the game away from the Dogs. The Cloud will advance to Friday’s District final against North Muskegon who easily dispatched Shelby prior to the WC/Ravenna game. Coach Jones: “Down 10 twice in the game we just didn't panic and continued to chip away both times to come away with the victory. We showed a lot of grit tonight and we know we are never out of it. “We will have to play better on Friday night if we want our season to continue.” Noah Robinson had the hot hand for WC knocking down a team high 22 points while KJ Strait and Jared Watsoj each hit for 10. Jason Reuther put on a defensive clinic including taking a charge for a key stop. White Cloud and North Muskegon will play for the District title with the winner advancing to Regional play at Pewamo Westphalia. Fremont to play Newaygo for the District Title Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken De Laat The Packers had already headed for the locker room to get ready for their game when Newaygo began their comeback, but not to be outdone on their home court Fremont also gave their fans a dramatic come from behind win to send them into a Friday matchup with the Lions. It was a low scoring contest from the start. Sparta put up a quick 6 points before William DeBlake got the hosts on the board. Gavin Richards and Kyler DeKuiper added to the score while Sparta’s Taeshon Wilson and Jacob Warwick connected for the Spartans. A Ben Mellema triple tied it up and DeBlake added a bucket to take the lead before a three by Jaiden Krynicki ended the first with Sparta up 1. A lot of jostling and physical play kept scoring at a minimum in the second. John Vissia hit a 3 with Mellema, Richards and Chaz Miller adding buckets and when the teams hit intermission, the Pack held a 3 point edge. The teams came out of the break exchanging scores before Spartan Landen Reister got hot and led his team on an 11-0 run. Miller scored at the end of the quarter but the damage was done and Sparta went to the fourth with a 7 point lead. Miller hit a pair from the line to open the 4th and was answered by Wilson. DeBlake countered twice and Miller added a deuce before Grady Busen scored to give Sparta a 3 point lead with 2 ½ minutes left. It proved to be the last Spartan shot to fall through the nets. DeKuiper hit a huge bucket to pull the Pack within one. Then it was Miller time. With less than a minute remaining Miller canned a three to put Fremont on top and a subsequent stop put the game in the hands of the Packer players. With 4 fouls to give the Spartans tried to get Fremont to the line and finally sent Miller to the stripe where he split giving the hosts a 3 point lead. Sparta had one more shot at a triple with 2 seconds remaining but never got the shot off and the Pack prevailed. Coach Bowen: “.Sparta is a very good team and always a class act. We have a lot of respect for them and their coaching staff. I am so proud of how our kids battled and fought. We stuck together as a team and got our biggest win of the season.
“Chaz Miller led the way with 14 points, 8 assists and 3 steals. Kyler DeKuiper played his best game of the season finishing with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 1 steal. Chaz and Kyler both played really well on the defensive end of the floor as well. Will DeBlake finished with 8 points, Ben Mellema finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds and Gavin Richards added 6 points and 6 rebounds.” Fremont will face off with Newaygo Friday at 7pm with the winner heading to Allendale next week for the Regionals. Comeback win over Tigers sends Newaygo to District Finals. Photos by Alexis Mercer Story by Ken De Laat In a classic battle between two forever rivals The Lions pulled off yet another improbable comeback to secure a spot in Friday's District Final. Aiden Booth nailed a three and Blake Rider followed with a bucket to stake the Tigers to a 5-0 lead. Caris Nelson and Hunter Yearsovich popped in a pair from distance answered by Kyle Cook splitting at the line to make it 6 all. Then the lid seemed to go on the basket as the teams battled back and forth with the quarter coming to an end at 12-11 Newaygo. The second saw the Lions jump out to a 5 point lead early but Ethan Delong muscled one in then after a pair of misses from the stripe by the Lions he banged home a 3 to tie it up. The rest of the quarter saw a run and gun game with the teams going at each other as one would expect from these long tim e nemeses. When Oakley Obenauf scored before the buzzer it gave the Tigers a 5 point lead in a game where points were coming as a premium. Coming out of the locker room Cook scored twice and Lucas Swanson scorched a pair of triples. When Logan Klomp scored for Newaygo it stopped a 14-0 run by Grant but Swanson zeroed in again and was fouled in the process for a 4 point play and a 17 point lead for the Tigers.Klomp and Nelson notched points but Swanson seemed unstoppable and when the dust cleared the teams entered the final frame with the Tigers up 51-34. Newaygo had brought a huge crowd to the game and while the prospects for a win looked a bit bleak, you couldn’t tell from the ongoing exhortations from the dressed in black section of Lion supporters. And when the comeback began it became deafening. Klomp and Swanson exchanged 2’s to begin the quarter and then, as it did on Monday, it happened again. The Lions went on a tear chipping away at the Tiger lead. Ethan Reyburn Blake Kerr and Klomp scored before Josiah Long who had been ice cold from distance found his shot, buried a pair and suddenly the Tigers were clinging to a 1 point lead with under 2 minutes to play. Swanson split from the line and Nelson scored a 2 to tie the game. After a stop Long hit a bucket to give the Lions the first lead since early in the 2nd.Nelson and Swanson both split from the line and when Klomp converted twice after being fouled the comeback was complete. For the second time in three days the Lions had pulled off a wild win after being down well over double digits and now they were heading for a Friday Final against another long time in county rival, the Packers. Swanson absolutely lit it up for the Tigers, draining 28 points while Nelson led the Lions with 19. Klomp finished with 13. Long was welcomed back into the scoring book with a dozen and Kerr hit for 9. Rider (7) and Cook (6) added to the Grant scoring and Obenauf was a demon on defense for the Tigers with his one on one matchupn with Lion ballhandler Nelson proving to be a side show in itself.
Newaygo and Fremont will battle Friday at 7pm with the winner earning a trip to Allendale for Regional play. By Ken De Laat, N3 Sports Fremont D2 Districts Grant vs, Newaygo 5:30 pm To get here the Lions pulled out a game that seemed all but lost halfway through the fourth quarter.It was an impressive comeback over a game Viking team. If they let the Tigers get that kind of a lead their chances of playing on Friday slim down considerably. Coach Schuitema’s teams tend to know how to finish games. This one should be fun. Two good teams with a forever rivalry tossed in as a side dish. Grant has shooters who will spread the court and launch missiles. They can be counted on to hover around 70 points most nights. The Lions are an enigma. If the team shows up that put together that performance late in the game Monday, they will be tough to beat, but any lengthy offensive ennui on the court is likely to get them in trouble. Both teams can be explosive and we could be in for a track meet if things get heated up. Fremont vs. Sparta 7 pm Ah yes, the teams who have taken turns ending the other’s season the past 2 years in the District Finals. Well this isn’t the finals but should be another tough one in a long postseason history between the schools. The Spartans toil in the rugged OK Silver where they finished second, behind a Godwin team that beat them twice. They both lost to Whitehall, their only common opponent but so did everyone else who played the Vikings so… The Packers looked good against a really young and raw Kent City squad. Sparta is a much much better team. Hesperia D3 District Ravenna vs. White Cloud 7 pm The Cloud has lost 4 of their last 5. After peeling off 10 wins in a row and sitting pretty with a 15-2 mark the boys from White Cloud hit a brutal stretch of schedule that began with undefeated and state ranked North Mo (a loss) and included 2 games against Grant (split) an overtime loss to Big Rapids and a narrow defeat by Reed City. Those teams have a collective record of 70-17. Now they arrive in Shelby to face Ravenna, a team they took by 15 points in the Dogs home gym. Ravenna hasn’t fared well against teams with a winning record except for an early season surprising to us win on the road at Grant. Coach Jones’ team fell short in their title game and were bounced twice in the conference tourney. After the disappointment of the past week they will be ready to get back some of the magic this very successful campaign has brought to the team and their loyal fan base. Seniors Jared Watson,Landyn McGowen, KJ Strait, Noah Robinson, Mason Cruzan and Jayson Ruether and their teammates don’t want this season to end and would love another crack at the Norse. Ravenna has some players who can dia in from distance. If the Cloud avoids any lengthy cold spells they should be able to outscore the Dogs. Shelby vs. North Muskegon 5:30 pm The Tigers are once again facing the Norsemen who have beaten Shelby twice, once earlier this season by 35 points and more recently by 22. The Tiger wins (5) include 3 over Holton (2-22) one against Morley (4-18) and a still hard to explain early season stumble by White Cloud. Fremont 42 Ludington 38 Coach Zerfas: We were able to beat a very good and well coached Ludington team to go 12-0 in the league and win Fremont Girl's first outright conference championship since 1978. Fremont won a conference championship shared with Big Rapids in 2020. I told the girls from day 1 that the conference championship goes through Ludington. They had won 5 in a row and I have the utmost respect for Coach Stowe and the program he runs. “I thought if Ludington was able to keep the score and the pace of the game low, we would have a hard time. We like to speed the game up. Well, the pace was slow because Ludington plays great defense. They are long and athletic and do a great job limiting shots. What kept us in the game and ultimately won the game was our defense. We showed we can win a grind it out style game as well as a fast paced game. We led 8-6 after one quarter and 17-12 at halftime. We scored first in the third quarter but then Ludington made a run and by the end of the third it was Ludington 27 Fremont 26. The fourth quarter was just a battle of two proud teams that work extremely hard. We took the lead late in the 4th, maybe 2 minutes to go, and held on. We had 5 different people score in the 4th. Jessica Bennett came up big late again scoring 7 in the 4th quarter when we needed it most. In the first game at Ludington when we trailed by 8 in the 4th, Jessica hit 3 triples in the span of 2 minutes to put us ahead. Riley Chase also played great in the second half scoring 11 of her 13 in the second half. Scoring for us was Riley Chase with 13, Jessica Bennett with 10, Taylor DeKuiper with 7 points and 10 rebounds, Mia Clemence with 5 points, 4 assists and 8 rebounds, Olivia Hansen with 4 points, Eliana Vandenberg with 2 and Katie Ackerman with 1 point and 5 assists. We are now 17-4, 12-0 and we play at Fruitport to close out the regular season. Holton 57 Ravenna 46 Coach Jordan: “Last game of the season for us as well as Senior night so It was nice to send these girls out with a win, and fitting that we were led by our 2 - 4 year starters in Abby Fowler and Ryann Robins. Abbie had 14 points 8 steals and 4 assists and Ryann had a monster game to close out her career on her home court with 25 points and 13 rebounds (10 offensive). Ava Crowell , another senior, also had a season high of 7 points and 4 rebounds. “This was the first time all month we have been whole as a team and not injured or sick so it was good to get some of the cohesiveness back going into districts. Every girl got on every quarter which was also a goal tonight. “But credit to Ravenna, they were down a few key players but would not go away.. they hit 9 3 balls on the night, and felt like they shot about 50-60% from deep on the night.. which kept them in the game in the second half. “This win gets us to 13-9 on the season and now it's all about districts . We open with Hesperia next Wednesday.” Central Montcalm 40 Newaygo 37 The Lions held a 16-8 lead at the break but the Hornets stormed back in the second half and captured the first round win in the conference tournament.The Lions had a shot at a 3 pointer to tie at the buzzer but couldn’t get the ball to drop. Coach Thomasma:"Tough loss tonight. Felt like we really played well in the first half and should have been up more but we let them hang around. Give CM credit. They shot the ball really well in the third quarter and stole the momentum away from us. The FT stripe came back to haunt us again too. We shot 8-27 and it's difficult to beat a quality team like CM shooting like that." Naomi Schillman finished with a team high 11 points while Ruby Hughes pulled down 10 rebounds to go with her 7 points. Kent City 46 Grant 35 Maddie Geers scored 28 points including 17 from the charity stripe as the Eagles outlasted the Tigers to set up a rematch with Morley Stanwood for the tourney title. Coach Delamater: “The flu bug has hit us hard this week and we knew going in that was going to be a factor in the game. We toughed it out Monday at practice and I hoped girls would feel better today, but I could tell today that our energy level was not where we needed it to be going into the game. Overall, we played a great defensive game. We held KC to 11 total baskets and only 6 of those were from players other than Geers. On our side, we had 12 total baskets. Unfortunately, you can't win games when the free throw shooting is 28 to 12. Geers, herself, went to the line 24 times, doubling up our total. Ultimately, as we have seen in three of our past four games, foul trouble plagued us again tonight and we ran out of gas in the 4th quarter.” Julie Ashbaugh once again added to her alltime Grant scoring record with a team high 15 points. Natalia Rodriguez hit for 10 points and Lily Krepps canned a pair of triples to finish with 6. White Cloud 32 Chippewa Hills 22 Coach Wilk: “With tonight's win we match our win record from last year. Last year we relied heavily on Gaby Reeve (Muskegon Community College Basketball) to do a bulk of our scoring, but this year we are more balanced. Tonight was no different. Brooke Ringler had her best game of the year dropping in 13 points. Annie Feldpausch added 6, and Jaden Gomez had 5. "We had a lot of positives from tonight. We executed plays well, our defense did a pretty good job, and we were aggressive. With being aggressive, we frequently found ourselves at the charity stripe for free throws. Unfortunately, we missed 18 at the line. This is something that can't happen Thursday or next week in districts. We need every point we can get. Over the next couple of days we will prepare for Tri-County and we will look to add to our momentum for next week." |
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