The Wayland junior varsity girls’ basketball team got off to a fast start Tuesday night and then had to hang on to post a 42-35 victory over Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills.
The victory was the Wildcats’ sixth in a row and it lifted their overall season record to 8-2.
Wayland jumped out to a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and was up 26-11 at intermission, but the Bengals were able to creep back back into the fray slowly and pulled to within six, 31-25, after three periods.
Part of the reason for the lull in the third quarter, coach Coralie Miller said, was that Bethany Teunissen injured her knee and her absence in running the offense was felt.
“She is our leading ‘assister’ and we missed her ball handling, passing skills and her defense,” Miller said.
“I felt like we could have played a little bit better tonight. They out rebounded us and we had numerous unforced turnovers.”
Taryn Coughlin led the ‘Cats with 15 points and eight 8 rebounds. Jenae Mutschler nine points and five rebounds, Brinley Nieuwenhuis six points, and Sam Shealy nine rebounds.
“Our free throws kept us in the game,” Miller added.” We were 18 for 23 as a team. That is our best yet. I love it when we step to the line and calmly hit our free throws.
“The good news is we’ve got good kids who work hard and are selfless, and it was a good effort from them tonight.”