The hard-working blue collar Wayland girls’ varsity basketball team continues to improve and even shows occasional flashes of brilliance, but still nothing to show for it in terms of victories.

The Lady Wildcats played an absolutely horrible first quarter, falling behind 20-2 to a Class A opponent Grand Rapids Christian, which entered the contest with a 12-2 overall record. Yet they battled Christian to a draw in the second, third and fourth quarters, finally losing 49-31. And it’s not as though the Eagles emptied their bench to let the Brady Bunch in, until midway in the fourth period.

Wayland, coming off an encouraging performance in a 63-49 loss to South Christian Friday, now is 0-15 for the season overall.

The biggest downfall for the ‘Cats in the first eight minutes was a lack of rebounding. They didn’t even come up with one carom until the 3:39 mark when sophomore guard Abby Omness managed to find one.

Christian, meanwhile, did just about everything right with four three-point goals in the first quarter alone.

But rather than hang their heads and go out with a whimper, coach Wes Hudson and the Lady Wildcats grimly dared to play the Eagles even when combining the scores of the second, third and fourth periods.

Wayland settled into a sometimes astonishingly effective zone defense and was outscored 11-9 in the second stanza. The underdogs also were able to push the ball up the floor against Christian’s full-court pressure. However, the racehorse style meant too many had to come out to meet long passes and by the time they attempted the up-close shots, Christian was able to block them or force them to alter what they were trying to do.

Wayland actually would have outscored the Eagles in the third quarter except that senior point guard Sydney Muller, daughter of coaches Charlette and Tim Muller, drilled a three-pointer at the top of the key just ahead of the buzzer.

The ‘Cats did actually outscore Christian 10-6 in the last frame, but it could be argued that the Brady Bunch was mercifully in the game for nearly four of those minutes.

Muller led all scorers in the game with 16 points, making four three-pointers. Leah Singleton, a 5-11 forward, ate the Lady ‘Cats up inside with rebounds and putbacks and finished with 15. And 6-footer Deesh Beck added 11 points.

Junior pivot Sam Nieuwkoop, making a comeback after being sidelined by a hand injury, led Wayland with 11 points. Senior floor leader Taryn Coughlin had 10 points, including a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line.

PHOTOS: Sam Nieuwkoop, back in action after an injury, led the Lady ‘Cats with 11 points.

Senior guard-forward Taryn Coughlin was 6-for-6 at the free throw line and had 10 points. (Photos courtesy of Kenny Ritz)