Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 57 Holton 45 The Tigers came into tonight’s contest with a few things in mind. First, to continue their current three game win streak. Since their frustrating loss to Central Montcalm and their predictable loss to conference leaders Big Rapids, the Tigers have been on a tear. While tonight’s game was a non-conference matchup, the Holton Red Devils have a decent MPR rating. A win tonight coupled with an upset win over Kent City would be a big shot to this Tiger team’s MPR rating going into their conference tournament and District play. But to get that, they would need to defeat Holton, and Holton would not be easy prey. The Red Devils would like nothing more than to come into Tiger territory and continue their four game win streak. Right now they are locked up in third place in the West Michigan Conference – Rivers division with Shelby. In order to remain in third place, they must defeat Grant as their remaining schedule involves some tough teams including their dominant conference leaders Hart. Any loss could easily see them slip behind Shelby into fourth place. The first quarter started out slow as both teams began to feel each other out. It would be Holton that would take the early lead behind six points from junior Ryann Robins. Jayci Hance kept the Tigers within striking distance with four before Julie Ashbaugh found her groove and elevated the Tigers with seven of her own. Reese Gragg closed the quarter with two to give Grant a six point margin over the Red Devils. The second quarter would see these two teams go literally toe-to-toe. The Tigers figured out a way to keep Robins from scoring down low, but that opened the door for senior Courtney Boes and junior Abby Fowler. By half, the Red Devils put up seventeen. Not to be out done, Jayci Hance and Makayla Zerlaut along with a last second three from Jocee Pleune gave the Tigers a one point second quarter advantage and a seven point lead heading into the locker room. While this wasn’t the prettiest half that the Tigers have played all season, and often Grant looked a little lethargic and off a beat, the game seemed to be well within the Tiger’s grasp. However, Grant must have had greasy paws because the Red Devils came out for the second half on fire and nearly slipped away from the Tiger hold. “That is a much-improved Holton team,” stated Coach Delamater. “I think that their coach is doing a fantastic job of getting them to play hard. Getting them to play physical. They move well, We saw a lot of that stuff in film. It's kind of like us where you haven’t played a game against us that can be a shock, and I think the girls were shocked at what they found on the floor tonight.” Shocked may be an understatement. It wouldn’t take two and a half minutes before Ashbaugh found herself in foul trouble forcing Delamater to bench her in case he needed her down the stretch. A move that would prove to be fruitful in the fourth. Holton sensing weakness amped up the pressure. The Tigers looked totally bewildered and abandoned. Holton’s pressure forced Grant to make poor passing decisions creating ample turnovers for the Red Devils to exploit. The Tigers were only able to put up six while the Red Devils' heat allowed them to come flaming back with eleven to bring the game within two. Holton began the fourth by tying up the game, yet with Ashbaugh back in, their focus became on stopping her and not the four other Tigers on the court. Hance, Pleune, Obenauf, and Madison Thompson countered as they led the Tigers on a nine point run. Yet, like a mini repeat of the game thus far, Holton turned up the heat once more as Fowler, Kate Conzemius, and Ava Crowell combined for eight to bring the Red Devils back within two. The Tigers called a time out and that would be the ice to cool the Red Devils. Ashbaugh came out of that time out with a ten point run of her own as the Tigers earned a hard fought victory at home. “It was one of those games where it was a pretty cool game to see because we’d make a run, they would make a run back. Turnovers by them then some turnovers by us. Let some layups by both teams. And that’s really what one of the big aspects of the game was; who was going to make that run, who was going to get the turnovers,” shared Delamater. “In the second half, they really came out and played well. Julie getting into foul trouble in the third quarter definitely hurt us because we were on the verge of making a run and then she went out and we really struggled to bring the ball up against their pressure. That’s a battle that we have to look at and fight through in the future. Kent City on Friday, and then next week the conference tournament, and Districts, like if she gets into foul trouble again, what does that look like for us. I’m glad to get out of this with a win. You know at this time of the year everybody’s talking about MPR and where that is for Districts. They had a good MPR for their record and that’s going to help us immensely in terms of getting that first or second seed.” Two Tigers were in double digits this evening. Julie Ashbaugh led with twenty and Jayci Hance followed closely with sixteen. Jocee Pleune put up six, Makayla Zerlaut shot five, and Alexa Obenauf had four. Emma Thompson, Reese Gragg, and Madison Thompson each helped with two. Coach Jordan: “We turned the ball over way too many times to win the game to be honest I think we were just under 30 so the fact that we were still in the game is a testament in itself. We played hard and did some good things but As we have all season we always have 2 to 3 minutes where we just are completely careless with the ball and it ended up hurting us tonight. Abbie Fowler had another great night tonight with 15 points 11 steals 4 assists.”
Ryann Robins finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds, Courtney Boes collected 5 steals to go with her 7 points and Layla Cannady hit for 8 points. The Tigers travel to Kent City Friday for their final regular season game before the conference tournament next week. Game time is 6:00. The Red Devils visit North Muskegon on Thursday to take on the Norse.
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