The Martin girls’ varsity basketball team suffered a rare second consecutive loss Monday night, 59-51, to Muskegon West Michigan Christian in a non-league makeup contest.
Though West Michigan led pretty much throughout the ballgame, the score was close at the end of all four quarters. In fact the Clippers trailed by a single point, 41-40, at the end of three quarters.
Coach Ben Schipper said, “Tonight we had a good battle against a great Muskegon Western Michigan Christian team. Hats off to them as they played really well together and were very well coached. They switched defenses and presses between possessions, constantly keeping us on heels trying to adjust how we attack.
“I felt like we could never consistently get into attack mode. We had some really good stretches where we would get within a basket or within one point in the fourth, but then we’d make a couple really poor passes in a row that would lead to points the other way. We have to eliminate these turnovers against pressure.”
West Michigan senior point guard Ashley Folkema scored a whopping 30 points against Martin.
“We couldn’t slow her down tonight,” Schipper lamented. “She was their engine and responded each time we made a run… We tried to make some adjustments on her and didn’t execute them well, but she was incredible tonight.” Top three scorers for the Lady Clippers were Macy Thorne with 14, Liz Reinke with 12, and Avery Jager with 11.
“Avery got in foul trouble tonight and that really hurt us as she was playing aggressive and shooting well again,” the coach said. “Liz showed how tough she is after a gruesome finger injury sent her to the trainer’s room only to return to the game minutes later and immediately contribute to our fourth quarter run bringing us within one.
“Although it was a tough loss, this was a good experience for us to see some different looks tonight and evaluate what we could do differently in case we see something similar in the postseason.”
The Lady Clippers now are 10-3 overall. West Michigan Christian is 8-4.
The Martin boys’ varsity hoops squad Monday night lost 81-52 to Wellspring Prep Academy and saw its overall season record slip to 0-15.