Tigers Shake Off Rust, Eagles Shut Down Cloud

Photos by Bobbi Cruzan

Grant 46 Big Rapids 40
The Tigers have shown they can put a good team out on the floor. Their trouble has been getting them on the floor. When the Tigers  headed north to Big Rapids for a Friday matchup with the Cardinals Coach DeLamater’s team had only played twice since before Christmas.
Coach D. “The weather has played havoc on any type of rhythm we can get into. Both teams started the game cold last night. We hadn't scored a bucket at the three minute mark and with just over a minute to go in the first quarter, we had just scored once. Jocee Pleune hit two big 3's to give us some momentum going into the second. We played much better in the second quarter. We turned BR over and shot much better from the floor. 
“The second half was a completely different game. The game got much more physical and BR took advantage, turning us over 8 times. Big buckets from Julie Ashbaugh and Alexa Obenauf helped get us back on track. The fourth was more of the same. We struggled with their physical play and they hit some big shots to get the gap down to 4, 39-43 with a minute to go. Julie Ashbaugh and Bella Welch hit some huge free throws for us down the stretch to put the game away and deal with the BR pressure. 
“Overall Ashbaugh led us with 19 points and 9 rebounds, Bella Welch added 8 points and 4 steals, and Jocee Pleune and Alexa Obenauf added 6 each. We got a lot of solid minutes from different girls tonight. Alexa Obenauf had a solid game off the bench for us, and Lily Krepps had some great minutes while Bella Welch was in foul trouble. This was a great team win for us."
Grant (6-3, 5-0) will visit Coopersville Wednesday.

Kent City 44 White Cloud 11
The Cloud once again struggled with finding the basket Friday and the 11 points marked the 6th time this season they have scored under 20 points.
Coach Wilk: “Unfortunately tonight our scoring woes continued. I liked our defensive intensity, but we were not able to match it on the offensive end. We have a game Monday so we need to regroup quickly.”
Annie Feldpausch scored a team high 5 points. 
White Cloud (6-8, 2-4) welcomes in Ravenna on Monday.