Story and Photos by Mike Gesler Grant 61 Ravenna 16 The Tigers once again have another three game week, and tonight was game two. Last night the Tigers faced a very good and physical squad in Ludington. Even though Grant did not come home with the victory, Coach Delamater felt his team played better than the score would let on. Tonight’s big question then was with the Ravenna Bulldogs coming on to the Tiger’s court, would Grant have the legs and stamina for back-to-back challenges. “From the very beginning,” shared Coach Delamater, “I’ve said to you it’s probably going to take us until the middle of January to get to a spot where I said this is who we are. We’ve talked about that every pregame. Who are we? That’s a big thing for us. We saw that tonight. That was the first time that we put together a complete game and did exactly the stuff that we are trying to do against another team.” The Bulldogs had the chance to draw first blood on a very early foul that sent Nikki Saxton to the line for two. She missed both and the Tigers totally took over from there in a game that would see twenty-seven combined team fouls plus a coach’s warning to Ravenna in just the first half. The Tigers played both ends of the court in a near complete package. Even though Ravenna had the height advantage over Grant, the Tigers were tenacious on the boards. Defensively the Tigers tore apart the Bulldogs not giving up a single field goal. And offensively, Ashbaugh and company found plenty of open space to drive the lane. When the dust of the Tiger’s first half pouncing settled, the Tigers were in strong control with a 39-3 lead, Ashbaugh accounting for twenty-three of those points. The second half was obviously more of a scrimmage half for the Tigers. While Grant still maintained the control they held in the first half, Coach Delamater used this half to give his players valuable game experience with different personnel packages and looks. Ashbaugh sat out for quite a bit of the second half forcing the Tigers to find ways to manage their game without her. Hance and Zerlaut stepped up to the challenge with a combined ten points of the Tiger’s twenty-two second half points (Ashbaugh accounted for six of those points). In the end, this was just the game Grant needed to boost their confidence going into the second half of the season. The Tigers now know who they are. “Our rotation on defense was absolutely fantastic. Offensively we were still trying to find ourselves some in the half court. When Julie can’t put the ball in the bucket like last night then we got to find who that part of ourselves are. We still have some work to do but big steps forward for us in that’s for sure,” stated Coach Delamater. “Julie is obviously playing extremely well still. Jayci Hance and Jocee [Pleune] just can flat out play defense on anybody. Makayla Zerlaut tonight, she’s had two really good back-to-back games for us last night and tonight. And then other girls just stepping up and doing what they need to do; getting into their roles and filling those really well. It was nice to see.”
Julie Ashbaugh led the Tigers tonight with twenty-nine points. Jayci Hance also had double digits with ten. Makayla Zerlaut added seven to the Tiger total followed by Reese Gragg with six. Jocee Pleune and Madison Thompson each had three. Emma Thompson scored two, and Alexa Obenauf shot for one. The Tigers will get a couple of days to rest before the Vikings of Tri-County come for a visit on Friday evening. Game time is 6:00.
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