Tigers Overcome Persistent Packers

Story and photos by Mike Gesler

Grant 62   Fremont 52

Grant dropped two last week to Central Montcalm and Big Rapids which pretty much cemented their number five standing in the CSAA. They will still have a chance to do some CSAA damage as they have yet to play powerhouse Kent City but it will take outside intervention to make it into the top four for a possible run in the conference playoff. For tonight though, the Tigers were set on swiping a win and their prey would be the Packers of Fremont.

Fremont was coming into tonight’s match up having defeated Muskegon Catholic Central last Friday to put an end to a four game losing streak. Keeping the win streak going would be a much needed confidence booster for Fremont and bolster their Michigan Power Rating (MPR) as both Grant and Fremont will play in the same District assignment. To do so though would be no easy task as they would need to box up Ashbaugh et al.

If you would have told me that Fremont would be leading by the end of the first half and pretty much controlling the game, I would have said not a chance. But that is precisely what happened. A much better Fremont team than their record lets on came to play.

“I was really pleased with how hard our kids played, and we’ve done a good job with that throughout the year,” stated Packers’ coach, Wes Zerlaut. “What we’ve struggled with is making shots. I think tonight, in the first half, we put some shots in the basket early. You could see the confidence building. Sort of the click that we’ve been waiting for for weeks.” 

Yet, while the Packers started each quarter strong, by the end of the quarter they would struggle. Fremont gave up seven at the end of the first which allowed Grant to tie up the game. They stretched the lead to six in the second only to see Grant bring it to within a one point margin by the half. And after a late nine point run at the end of the third quarter into the fourth, the Tigers finally took control and kept a healthy cushion between them and the persnickety Packers.

“Unfortunately, Grant’s a really good team,” shared Coach Zerlaut. “They went on that run there at the end of the third quarter early fourth where if I remember right, I think it was 39-37 all of a sudden it was 51-39. We just started turning it over too much in the full court against that press. That’s kind of the difference in the game. On the whole I was pleased with how our kids played. Much better in the half-court offense tonight than we’ve been, and like I said, knocking down shots makes everything go a lot easier.”

​Two Packers put up double digits tonight. Jessica Bennett with twenty and Olivia Hansen with fifteen. Mia Clemence and Lily VandenBerg each shot five. Katie Ackerman put down three, Riley Chase shot two, and Taryn Hoppa finished with one. Fremont will be home on Thursday evening facing Muskegon Oakridge. Game time is 7:00 pm.

“Our defensive rotation in the press tonight was not where it needed to be. Kudos to Wes for having a good game plan against that. So we really didn’t get the steals and deflections that we’re used to getting  which meant that our offense had to kind of adjust to that,” stated Grant’s coach, Josh Delamater. “I thought Jocee Pleune tonight really came out willing to shoot the basketball and that was great to see her being that other scoring option for us. In the first half, her points were really a big deal for us keeping us right there with them. I thought there were a few times in the game where we could have went into panic mode, and we had a couple turnovers where the game could of went one way or the other, but then we got our composure back, took care of business whether we got a turnover, whether we got a basket off of it, and got things back to where we needed them to be. I don’t know how Julie had twenty-five tonight. She really had to work because of what they were doing to her. I thought it would be closer to ten. But obviously getting to the free throw line was a big thing. She got to the line well and scored several points that way. So that was good for her. Like I said, Jocee and Jayci, they did a great job getting points for us tonight and playing defense like they do. Madison Thompson had a couple key buckets for us in the second half that were really big. And actually, Jayci Hance got a couple of really big offensive rebounds for us off of missed shots that were either hers or someone else’s and that was huge for us. I wasn’t anticipating, and that’s my fault, like I got to keep reminding the girls and I should have remembered tonight, that when you come in here teams are going to come in and play hard because they know we’re going to play hard. So kudos to Wes for having them ready to go and play. It was a good game.”

The Tigers saw three players in double digits tonight. Julie Ashbaugh who had a quiet twenty-five, and Jocee Pleune and Jayci Hance each with thirteen. Madison Thompson put up four points. Alexa Obenauf shot three, and Emma Thompson and Makayla Zerlaut both finished with two. The Tigers get a week off before facing Tri County again next Tuesday only this time on the Vikings court. Game time is 5:30 pm.