“Resilient With a Ton of Grit”

Spartans overcome season-long string of losses and advance to the District Final

By Ken DeLaat

Sparta 47 Tri County 33
It took 3 months and 23 games but the Spartans collected their first win of the season at the best possible time. After coming within a point of the Vikings just last week the Spartans pulled off the victory  elevating this youthful and spirited Sparta squad into the District final. The win, on the Viking home court nonetheless, means they will face the Tigers of Grant on Friday with a shot at moving on to the Regionals. Just a hunch, but one can surmise that few teams have reached that level after a winless regular season.

We caught up with first year Spartan Coach Beth Hull for a little info on this remarkable group of girls.
“We were a very young team to start the season and I am the third coach in three years at Sparta.  The team has faced a lot of challenges between season ending injuries, multiple week-long injuries, illness, and learning a new system with new teammates in our short, 4 month season.  
“The girls are resilient and have a ton of grit--they came ready to work hard with positive attitudes to practice every day despite what happened the day or days before.  Every single player has grown and improved to help the team get to the first win of the season last night--it's definitely a Cinderella story and we are excited to have the opportunity to compete for a district championship tomorrow!” 

Alexa VanVliet led the Spartans knocking down 15 points while  Jaleah Ross (11) and Grace Schmid (10) also hit for double figures. Jo Jacques scored  4, Elle Fonnesbeck had 3 and Erin Alster and Mia May each finished with 2, 
The  Spartan/Tiger matchup begins at 7pm at Tri County High School. The teams faced each other in January on the Tiger home court. After taking a 9 point lead into halftime, Grant held off the visitors to win by 7.