NorthPointe Christian’s zone defense and its 6-foot center, Kaycee Sluiter, Wednesday night dashed any dreams Hopkins had of repeating as O-K Silver Conference basketball champions.
The Mustangs came to town smarting from a 53-47 loss and earned impressive revenge in a convincing 53-32 verdict to virtually lay claim to the league title. The two teams entered the contest with 7-1 Silver record, but there’s just one game left, and NorthPointe is unlikely to give up a share of the crown.
The Mustangs took control of this from the get-go. Only 10 seconds after Sluiter won the opening tip, sophomore guard Delanie Minnema swished a three-point field goal and she and her teammates never trailed, never looked back.
Meanwhile, the Lady Vikings were more than sluggish offensively in trying to cope with the zone. They managed only three field goals in the entire first half, and one of them was a buzzer beater by freshman Lexi Teunissen. They fell behind 18-9 at intermission, and if hadn’t been for a decent defensive performance, they would have been looking at the wrong side of a rout.
Sluiter scored nine of the Mustangs’ first 14 points and she owned the backboards all night long.
Hopkins did show some signs of coming back in the third quarter when senior point guard nailed a three and brought her teammates to within eight, 26-18, but that was as close as it would get. Northpointe gradually pulled away and by the fourth period had the situation well in hand.
Sophomore forward Olivia Sebright and junior guard Evangelina Helderop found themselves in foul trouble and essentially were rendered ineffective. But even worse, Kennedy Helderop, the unquestioned ringleader of the Lady Vikings for the past two season, was limited to just seven points, well below her season average.
The Mustangs’ zone kept the Helderops and Sebrights (Olivia and Sam) away from the hoop and forced them to take ill-advised shots, the vast majority of which missed the mark. And rebounds belonged to Sluiter.
Just about the only bright spot for Hopkins was a dozen points from freshman Teunissen.
Sluiter finished with 18 points, Baylie VanDyke added 11 and Minnema nailed three threes to end up with nine. NorthPointe now is 12-4 overall and 8-1 in the league.
The loss was only the Lady Vikings’ second since the Christmas break, They are now 10-6 overall and 7-2 in the league. They’ll finished up Silver play Friday night at Belding.
COVER PHOTO: Olivia Sebright has a hard time getting around NorthPointe’s Kaycee Sluiter for a shot. (Photos courtesy of Josh Cline)