by Austin Marsman

Martin took home its first district hardware Friday evening since 2015 with a convincing 57-36  triumph over the Colon Magi at Climax-Scotts.

It didn’t look promising for Martin in the first few minutes of the game as Colon came up 7-1 and continued an offensive scoring run. The Lady Clippers were able to recover and tied up the score at 11 after one quarter. A close game seemed to be not in the Clippers’ interest after that difficult debut and they were able to bring thunder, posting a 32-15 notice at the half.

The Lady Clippers continued their tenacious run in the second half, headlined by a couple deep three-pointers from Jaclyn Hildebrand and an overwhelming defensive effort.

Both Hildebrand and Briana Balder notched 20 points apiece. Kiaya Warner and Faith Guritz both made a substantial contribution dropping in 7 points each.

Senior Keagan Bower led the effort for Colon, grabbing a respectable 14 points.

Veteran coach Doug MacVean, who celebrated his third district title, said, “This is a great group of girls… What a night!”

Martin now 12-10 on the season overall, will advance to regional play and hoop with Potter’s House (12-10), which absorbed a 59-16 shellacking from the Clippers already this season. Michigan Lutheran and Athens are also in the bracket and stand as forces for the Clippers reckon with if they take the regional opener at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Burr Oak High School.

COVER: The Martin girls basketball team with their latest addition to the school trophy collection.

(Photos courtesy of Austin Marsman)