It was the battle for second place in the O-K Gold Conference Friday night, and South Christian emerged the winner in a tight 44-42 showdown with Wayland.
The Sailors and Wildcats both entered the contest with 3-1 records in league play, and both suffered their only Gold defeat at the hands of unbeaten Grand Rapids West Catholic. South Christian now is 4-1 in the league, 11-2 overall. Wayland is 3-2 in the Gold and 9-4 overall.
Harmony Laker netted 18 points for the ‘Cats, including three three-point field goals.Addie Sikorsky chipped in nine points and Laney Wolf swished a three and finished with five points. No other Wildcat had more than four points.
The Martin girls’ varsity basketball team absorbed a nail-biting 43-41 loss Friday night to Southwestern Athletic Conference foe Gobles.
Coach Ben Schipper said, “Last night was another hard fought battle where we came up one possession short. It’s the fourth loss we’ve had this season by one possession.
“The game got away from us a bit in the third quarter with turnovers leading to easy buckets and giving up offensive rebounds. Those were the two main areas of emphasis for us tonight as we feel really good about our half court defense. Unfortunately, we fell short in those two areas and Gobles was able to capitalize.
“We’re very proud of the girls for not giving in when Gobles got up by at least nine. We put on our press at the start of the fourth and quickly got right back in the game. Macy Thorne caught fire in the fourth hitting four of her five three pointers to lead our team with 15 points.”
Marybeth Ritchie hit a short corner jump shot with 26 seconds left to tie the game. Gobles took a timeout with 15 seconds left. but the Tigers made good on a putback.
“We called a timeout with 6.5 seconds left to go the length of the floor,” the coach added. “The last play didn’t go our way and Gobles got us by one possession for the second time this season.”
The Lady Clippers’ season record fell to 4-7. Gobles, now 8-3 overall, edged Martin earlier in the season, 32-29.
Hopkins dropped a 44-24 verdict to O-K Silver Conference leader Grandville Calvin Christian. The Lady Vikings now are 3-7 and Calvin Christian is 8-4.
In area boys’ high school action, South Christian beat Wayland 77-35 to lower the ‘Cats overall record to 6-8; Martin lost 68-35 to Gobles to sink to 3-10 overall and Hopkins was downed 61-48 by Calvin Christian to drop to 2-11.
