MUSKEGON — Hart took full advantage of the opportunity to take on a Class A school on the road Tuesday night, taking a sizable early lead and turning back every comeback attempt to defeat Reeths-Puffer 48-39.
"No matter what their record is, I don't know their enrollment, but our enrollment is 400," Hart coach Travis Rosema said. "When their enrollment is three or four times the size of ours, for every one great athlete we have, you would assume they have four. Their record may be bad, or not to their standards, but they're playing bigger teams with a lot of athletes, so we're still going to be in a dogfight and be ready to play."
That being said, the Pirates felt confident in who they had on their side, with experienced players like Addi Hovey, Kelsey Copenhaver and Breslyn Porter, who have played in huge games in their careers. And they played like it, getting out on the break early and often and launching shots with abandon. Hart hit three three-pointers to take an 11-8 lead after a quarter, then scored a pair of buckets early in the second to force a R-P timeout.
The Rockets pushed back and got Hart's lead down to a point, but Porter connected on yet another trey to end a 9-0 scoring run. Hart had a comfortable lead from that time until early in the third, when R-P again pushed back and briefly took the lead, 29-28. Hart immediately responded with a basket, and Hovey drilled a trey on the Pirates' next possession. The visitors never trailed again.
Hart spent most of the game in the 2-3 zone, which isn't its preferred defense, but Rosema didn't like what he saw from the man-to-man when he deployed it.
"We played 2-3 (zone) 90 percent of the game, and I don't know the last time I played 2-3 more than 10 percent of the game," Rosema said. "We've got to finish on more opportunities when they're available, get out and run and just find ways to win."
Hovey and Porter each had 12 points, and five other players got on the board. Rosema credited Addison Schiller and his daughter Natalie Rosema with strong defense off the bench when Hovey was briefly sidelined by foul trouble. No Pirate scored more than five points in the first half, and yet Hart led throughout it.
"We like to say we're a team of 10," Rosema said. "We get a lot of contributions from everyone. With four sophomores, we're young, but in the first half, we moved the ball, we trusted our teammates and made some shots."
The win created confidence that Hart will be able to step up to the challenge when the postseason comes calling and strong athletes are on the other side. Rival Shelby, which Hart beat by three in December, might be first on that list.
"We're confident in what we've done throughout the years to be in a position where we can play a bigger team, or a better team, and compete," Rosema said. "No matter who we're playing, we're going to compete."
