Tuesday Hoop Shots: Packers, Lions, Tigers, Devils

Boys

Big Rapids 54 Fremont 51
When the Packers were in the CSAA their matchups with the Cardinals produced some classic battles and more often than not weighed heavily in the conference title race. Tuesday’s game, while no longer a factor in the league standings, was once again a close hard fought battle with this one going to the Cards.
Coach Bowen: “We played hard, but struggled against their pressure in the second half.  It was the same story Friday against Ludington. Too many turnovers and we missed a lot of easy shots at the basket.  We will continue to work hard to improve.” 
 Chaz Miller paced the Packer scoring with 19 points while  Kyler DeKuiper knocked down 15. Ben Mellema and Gavin Richards finished with 5 each.
Fremont (0-2, 1-3) will host Fruitport (1-2) on Thursday.

Newaygo 67 OV 58
The Lions were able to shrug off a slow start and build a 9 point lead that they carried to the end of the game.  Newaygo was led by Blake Kerr with 18 points, followed by Logan Klomp with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Josiah Long with 14 points, and Caris Nelson with 13 points and 6 assists.
Newaygo (2-0, 4-2) returns to conference play Friday when they visit Kent City (1-0, 1-3) to take on the Eagles.

Grant 79 Shelby 34
In a game that featured a Tiger vs. Tiger matchup the Grant Tigers held home court decisively as they ran away from the visitors from Shelby building a 12 point lead after one and hitting halftime up by 17.It was the  4th straight win for the hosts after a season opening loss to Ludington. 
Nine players scored with three players in double figures led by Oakley Obenauf who knocked down 18 points while Lucas Swanson hit for 17 and Sincere Hatch dropped 11.  Ethan DeLong and Blake Rider each scored 8 in the Tiger vis=ctory.
Grant (2-0, 4-1)  returns to conference play Friday when they welcome in Reed City (2-0, 3-1) 

Girls

Cedar Springs 52 Newaygo 18
The Lions ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday when they took a trip to Cedar Springs to face the Red Hawks. The hosts took control early holding the Lions to just 7 first half points while putting up 27. The second half was more of the same as the visitors continued to struggle getting the ball in the basket.
Coach Thomasma:  "Tonight, Cedar Springs played a very good ball game.  They shot the ball and defended very well.  They also were able to get to  a lot of loose balls.  All the credit to them. On our end, it was definitely a "burn the film" type of game.  We know we didn't play our best but I am confident that this group will put it behind them, regroup and work to improve in areas that were exposed tonight"
Naomi Schillman led the Lions with 12 points and 4 rebounds.  Maria Riddering had 4 points and 5 rebounds.  Addison Goodin and Lily Holmes finished with  6 rebounds apiece.
Newaygo (1-0, 2-1) will hit the road again Friday when they visit Kent City (0-0, 1-1) to face the Eagles..

Fremont 39  Oakridge 18
The Packers slapped one into the win column as they broke out of a first quarter tie to blank the Eagles in the second quarter and take control of the game.
Coach Zerfas: “We survived a cold shooting night with great team defense tonight to earn our first win.  It was the first time we have beaten Oakridge dating back over 20 years.  The first quarter both teams had a hard time scoring and it was 5-5 after one.  We really stepped up the intensity of our defense and outscored Oakridge 10-0 in the second quarter.  The third quarter was again a struggle to find the basket and we led 21-13 heading into the 4th where we outscored Oakridge 18-5 to win the ballgame 39-18.  Overall we only shot 3-21 from 3pt land and 14-51 overall, but we had 9 different girls score.  Early on we turned the ball over and didn't rebound well but in the second quarter we didn't allow a single second chance point off rebounds and were able to extend our lead.”  
Freshman Taylor DeKuiper had a breakout game with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 8 steals while  Mia Clemence collected  9 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.  Also scoring were Eliana VandenBerg with 5, Khaila Noordyk and Riley Chase with 4 apiece, Olivia Hansen with 3, Jessica Bennett with 2 and Hallie Snyder and Katie Ackerman both with 1.
Fremont (1-0, 1-1) will  travel to Montague (1-1, 1-2) on Friday to face the Wildcats.
 
Holton 53 Hesperia 4
The Panthers were clearly overmatched in this rivalry game as the Red Devils held them scoreless in the first quarter and allowed just 4 points on the night.
Coach Jordan: “Our press was able to give them problems in the first  quarter and we got out to a 24-0 lead, and put it away early. The message was that it isn't about how many we score, but how many we give up and whether we play with the same defensive intensity when we're not pressing up big late in the game.   It's easy to coast on D when you’re up big, I thought we did a decent job of keeping our intensity up the entire game. Many girls contributed for us and almost everyone got in the scores book which is always nice.
 “Always good to follow up a loss with a win, against your rival or not. We were also playing for the traveling trophy “Battle of M120”.   We need to build off of this and continue on Friday with Fruitport Calvary.”
 Three RD’s finished in double figures led by Lexi Bart who hit for 13 points. Aubrey Goyings scored 12 points while taking down11 rebounds and added 3 steals while Abbie Fowler also dropped a dozen adding 3 assists and 3 steals. Ryann Robins dished out 6 assists to go with her 11 boards and Alexis Nichols knocked down 5 points.
Holton (1-1, 2-1) will host Fruitport CC (0-3) on Friday.