MONTAGUE — Montague entered Friday's district finals game against Spring Lake with a plan; dare the Lakers to beat them from long distance rather than make it easy for them to score in the paint.
Spring Lake happily took the bait, knocking down five three-pointers in the first half - three of them after offensive rebounds - and rolling to a 49-29 victory.
"It was one of those things where we (wanted to) let them live and die by (the three), and they lived by it tonight," DeBruin said of Montague's game plan.
However, the biggest trey the Lakers hit came in the second half, after Montague had clawed its way back within seven points, 30-23, with strong defense and four straight points by Braylyn Bultema, her first four points of the game. Spring Lake's Ellie Wrona got herself open in the corner and drilled a trey a half-second before being fouled. Wrona knocked down the free throw too, and the play sparked a 10-0 Laker run that included a couple of Montague turnovers and sealed the win.
"It was a momentum changer," Montague coach Jess DeBruin said. "Then they went on a
little bit of a run, and we just couldn't come back from it."
Spring Lake wasted little time jumping ahead, hitting three-pointers on consecutive possessions to take an 8-3 lead. The Lakers dominated the offensive glass, not only getting three treys off second chances in the first half, but other buckets besides, including a buzzer-beating layup to end the first quarter ahead 13-7.
Spring Lake went ahead by double digits in the second, but the Wildcats stayed in the hunt with consecutive baskets by Jocelyn Rodriguez-Perez, which made it 21-15. However, another Laker second-chance three was the response.
Montague's Jocelyn Rodriguez-Perez powers past Spring Lake's Tessa Britt for two points during Friday's district finals game at Montague. The Wildcats lost, 49-29.
DeBruin said the offensive boards were in part a result of the type of defense Montague was facing - some of them bounced directly to Laker players - but did add that her team ought to have boxed out better.
"They're definitely a lot quicker than us," DeBruin said. "Sometimes quickness
doesn't mean everything. It's a matter of how much effort and how
much you actually want it in the end."
Still, Montague displayed its toughness by its push back to within seven points early in the third. At that point, the game was being played in a physical, high-paced fashion that DeBruin said suited the Wildcats. After the four-point play, the whistles began coming out more often, and that kept Montague from forcing Spring Lake into the style of play the 'Cats preferred.
Montague's Adilynn Peterson keeps her eye on the basket during Friday's district finals game against Spring Lake. The Lakers won, 49-29.
Montague graduates a slew of high-achieving seniors from this Wildcat team, and in fact every single point the 'Cats scored Friday came from a senior, led by six each from Bultema, Adilynn Peterson and Avah Vandermeulen. Rodriguez-Perez, Addison Pranger and Maizie Collins also got on the board Friday and will be departing the roster next season.
"They all have other sports that they're
going into," DeBruin said. "This was a learning experience for them these last couple
years...Sometimes you have to lose some to win some.
"We're losing a lot. It's going to be a rebuilding year for a couple years. I think the girls know after this season what they need to do to get back to where we were."
"We're losing a lot. It's going to be a rebuilding year for a couple years. I think the girls know after this season what they need to do to get back to where we were."
Friday's game also may end up being the last high school basketball game in the Montague gym; the new performance gym is set to open in the coming weeks and will likely host all high school events going forward.
