Hopkins claimed its first conference basketball championship since 2001 Friday night with a gritty 39-31 victory over Northpointe Christian.
The triumph was marked by solid blue collar defensive effort and leadership and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch by junior point guard Kennedy Helderop, who finished with a game-high 23 points, including eight consecutive free throws in the last quarter.
Coach John Robinson employed a zone defense and had three different players go player-to-player (in bygone days called man-to-man) with the Mustangs’ high scoring junior forward Baylie Van Dyke. The strategy worked on Van Dyke, who was limited just eight points, but turned loose center Kaycee Sluiter, who dominated play under the boards with Lady Viking senior Meghan Schulz plagued by foul trouble.
Schulz, who had scored and rebounded in double figures in the last three games, was held to four points eight rebounds. Sluiter rebounded in double figures and dropped in 12 points, most of those on free throws.
It was Helderop, Keelan Kilbane and freshman Alley Lenard who drew the assignment of guarding Van Dyke at different times.
The Lady Vikings’ defense held Northpointe to just one field goal and four points for the entire second period while taking control of the ballgame, After an 8-8 deadlock in the opening stanza, they shot out to an 18-12 advantage at intermission.
The Mustangs stormed back in the third quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points to go from a 21-14 deficit to a 24-21 lead late in the third period and entered the last eight minutes up by one. Helderop engineered a quick offensive burst early in the fourth quarter to retake the lead, but Mustang Bailey Wynalski nailed a three to tie the ballgame at 27-all with a little more than four minutes left on the clock.
Lenard overcame intense pressure to sink two free throws with three minutes remaining to give Hopkins a three-point lead and it was the Kennedy Helderop Show the rest of the way. Robinson made sure she had the basketball in her hands as the quarterback, so Northpointe had to foul her. She rose to the challenge and swished the charity tosses with regularity to seal the league title victory.
Helderop also had eight steals.
Hopkins finished the regular season with a 14-6 overall record and was 9-1 in the O-K Silver Conference, that only loss a disappointing one-point defeat at the hands of traditional Silver powerhouse Calvin Christian, which finished at 8-2 in league play.
The Lady Vikings will begin Class B district tournament action Wednesday evening at Wayland, playing Allegan at 5:30 p.m.
COVER PHOTO: Kennedy (23) and Brandalyn Helderop (10) marked their first Parents’ Night by playing major roles in the Lady Vikings league crown victory.