The Martin girls’ basketball team may have just gone through an “Out of Their League” experience.
The Clippers lost 49-27 at Watervliet against a team that had beaten Division 2 teams already this season, downing Allegan, Paw Paw and Dowagiac and losing only to Kalamazoo Christian and Stevensville Lakeshore. Tonight it will play Benton Harbor. The Clippers are a Division 4 basketball squad.
Martin, customarily a quality defensive outfit, yielded a season-high 49 points after not giving up as many as 40 for all of its contests in 2022-23.
Unfortunately, the Clippers failed to reach double figures in scoring in all four quarters.
Makala Goddard and Mary Thorne both had seven points and Avery Jager five.
The loss dropped the Clippers’ season record to 8-2 overall.
Actually, I believe “playing out of their league” is the intent of the school district and its athletic department. Every school in the Southwestern Athletic Conference is bigger than Martin – including 1/3 of the teams with enrollments over 400. Even in non-conference play, Martin regularly schedules opponents much bigger than itself. I appreciate that the district leadership understands that the better the competition, the more prepared you become when the state tournament rolls around.