Lady Wildcats ‘win ugly’ vs. Kelloggsville to go to 7-0

It was a bad night for the Wayland girls’ basketball team. It was a bad night for the referees. It may even have been a bad night for coaches.

The Lady Wildcats, very impressive in their 6-0 start last month, returned to action after the holiday break and struggled mightily to turn back visiting Kelloggsville 46-40. It’s not like the Rockets were successful opponents. They lost last month to West Michigan Aviation Academy.

You might borrow a page from the playbook of the 1983 Chicago White Sox, “Winning Ugly,” or from the book by the same name by tennis maven Brad Gilbert.

The game was as close as its final six-point margin courtesy of refereeing that had trouble picking up instances of traveling and made weird calls, resulting in a flurry for free throws in the last minute after Wayland went up 46-34.

This is not to mention Wildcat 6-2 center Stephanie Ainsworth sitting out much of the game with foul trouble, as well as guard Maddie Terry. Kenzie Wolf was not so fortunate, as she fouled out.

But Wayland has to own the winning ugly tag, especially since coach Wes Hudson’s group won its first six encounters in impressive fashion, making fans wonder if they are for real.

The victory already has eclipsed the number of wins for the Lady Wildcats in each of the last four seasons.

The home crew once again started with sloppy play and fell behind 5-2 because of turnovers, lazy passes and missed layups. It was junior guard Parrish Hudson who brought the ‘Cats out of the doldrums by hitting a couple of three-point field goals to capture a 9-5 lead.

The Rockets were double-teaming Ainsworth, so somebody had to be open and somebody had to do some scoring outside. But after taking a 16-7 lead after one period, Wayland managed only one free throw while Kelloggsville reeled off 15 straight points on the strength of inside scoring by senior captain Trayana Starr Thurman.

So the Rockets grabbed a 22-17 advantage while Ainsworthn was sitting on the bench with two fouls. Coach Hudson was forced to take a chance and bring Ainsworth back midway in the second quarter.

Sophomore guard Emma Ludema broke the field goal drought and Parrish nailed a three to tie it at 22 and Parrish hooked up with Ainsworth for a three-point play on the run to put the home team up 26-24 at the half.

Ainsworth dropped in five points and Haley Dobry two in a 7-0 burst at the beginning of the third period. The Lady Wildcats went up by eight, 39-31, at the end of the third quarter, mostly because Ainsworth was just hitting her stride.

But Ainsworth was whistled for a couple of fouls early in the final period, giving Coach Hudson some nail-biting moments and a deliberate delay offense. The customarily hurry-scurry sloppy Wildcats got a big boost on a three by Kenzie Wolf, but they looked timid and uncertain on the offensive side of the ball for more than five minutes.

They were able to go up by a dozen, 46-34, before Kelloggsville reeled off six unanswered points in the last minute.

Hudson nailed four three-point field goals and tied Ainsworth for individual scoring honors with 15 points.

Thurston took game-high honors with 16 points and Nariah Collier added 10.

Wayland will find out how good it is or isn’t Friday evening at Middleville Thornapple Kellogg in the first O-K Gold Conference contest.