The Martin girls were able to stay unbeaten in the Central Division of the Southwest Athletic Conference Friday night by beating Saugatuck 43-36.

The visiting Lady Clippers won by foiling Saugatuck’s box-in-one strategy to stop top scorer Makala Goddard. Her teammates accepted challenge nicely by scoring between seven and nine points apiece.

Though the contest was reasonably close, Martin managed to stay in the lead in all the period stops, 8-6, 22-16 and 34-25. 

“Our other girls stepped up and made plays to have a very balanced attack,” coach Ben Schipper said. “We had five girls score at least seven points. We got great minutes off the bench with players being very productive. Our defense was very solid all night battling down in the post.” 

Goddard still led the Clippers with 10 points. Marybeth Ritchie and Macy Thorne had nine apiece, Elizabeth Reinke eight and Avery Jager seven.

“I was very concerned with our lack of energy in the first half,” Schipper said. “We weren’t playing with the same desire that has gotten us to this point so far. We finally came alive in the third quarter, getting a few runouts and that really was the turning point for us. We played a good second half and got the W.”

Martin is 8-0 in the SAC and 14-3 overall.

The Martin boys lost 50-37 to Saugatuck, and their overall season record sank to 2-14.