Mpa sports game story hesperia vs walkerville gbb ar

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Sports December 31, 2015

Oceana's Herald-­Journal

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball

Hart 53, Holton 48 Hesperia 71, Walkerville 47

Hart 50, Holton 39 Walkerville 43, Hesperia 24

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Panthers dominate second half, beat Walkerville at holiday tournament Jake Palmer triples spark Hesperia after slow start By  Andy  Roberts HERALD-JOURNAL WRITER

WALKERVILLE — Jake Palmer isn’t usually the person whose long-distance shooting sparks Hesperia boys basketball. Tuesday afternoon, however, Palmer’s triples woke the

Panthers up. The senior broke open a close game with three-pointers on consecutive possessions, and the Panthers turned on the jets and rolled to a 71-47 win RYHU :DONHUYLOOH RQ WKH ÀUVW day of the Wildcats’ holiday tournament.

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Above, Hesperia’s Jake Palmer (left) lofts a shot over Walkerville’s Trent Speer during a holiday tournament game Tuesday. Above right, Palmer loses the ball out of bounds as Speer defends. Each player starred for his team in Hesperia’s 71-47 win.

´+LV RIIHQVH LQ WKH Ă€UVW KDOI was pretty big for keeping us in the game, really,â€? Hesperia coach Randy Gordon said. “Those threes were nice to see.â€? Palmer would go on to hit four three-pointers and co-lead his team in scoring with 14 SRLQWV 7UD[WRQ *RUGRQ DOVR had 14 points. 7KH Ă€UVW KDOI ZDVQ¡W SUHWW\ for the Panthers, who led by a small margin most of the way before going into the locker room with a 32-21 lead. “We talked about playing with a little more intensity,â€? Gordon said. “It being break and all that, not a lot of crowd KHUH ZH ZHUH D OLWWOH Ă DW 7R me, it looked like they were into it, and the intensity was what we talked about in the locker room.â€? Hesperia turned up the pressure in the second half, and it paid off with several turnovers, which the Panthers turned into easy baskets at the other end. 7KH :LOGFDWV ZHUH Ă XVWHUHG E\ the pressure and couldn’t do a lot to break it. Even when they did get shots, the ‘Cats struggled, shooting just 20 percent IURP WKH Ă RRU ´7KH\ H[WHQGHG WKHLU KDOI court defense, and that really killed us at the beginning of the third quarter,â€? Walkerville

HESPERIA TOPS ‘CATS continued on 2b

Pirates shake off slow start to defeat Holton By  Andy  Roberts

´, WKLQN ZH Ă€QDOO\ ZRNH XS Âľ Hart coach Adam Jerry said of the spurt. “For some reason, we just came out dead. I thought we did a good job closing the second quarter to keep RXUVHOYHV LQ WKH JDPH WKHQ Ă€nally made that run in the third quarter.â€? Austin VanderLaan had +DUW¡V Ă€UVW Ă€YH SRLQWV DQG WKH 3LUDWHV WUDLOHG LQ WKH Ă€UVW quarter. The Red Devils then VFRUHG RI WKH QH[W SRLQWV of the game, with only a technical free throw by Garrett Eisen-

HERALD-JOURNAL WRITER

WALKERVILLE — Despite Hart coach Adam Jerry scheduling winter break practices at noon in preparation for Tuesday’s Walkerville holiday tournament 1 p.m. tip-off, the 3LUDWHV FDPH RXW à DW DJDLQVW Holton and trailed by as many as 13 points early on. However, the Pirates ripped off a 28-7 outburst from that point and held on to beat the Red Devils 53-48, improving to 3-2 on the season.

lohr (the Red Devils received a procedural technical foul for a mistake in their roster book) breaking up Holton’s run. Garrett Eisenlohr snapped Hart’s long string without a ÀHOG JRDO ZKLFK VWUHWFKHG WR over a quarter, with a threepointer late in the second. That seemed to spark the Pirates, who battled back to within seven at the halftime break. Eisenlohr had seven points in the second and would go

HART BEATS DEVILS continued on 2b

Wildcat girls win, Panthers play best game of year in defeat By  Andy  Roberts HERALD-JOURNAL WRITER

WALKERVILLE — It was a win-win feeling for both Hesperia and Walkerville Tuesday night after the Wildcats beat the Panthers 43-24 to close day one of the Walkerville holiday tournament.

The Wildcats picked up a needed win, racing out to a 17-3 lead after a quarter and cruising from there. And the Panthers played easily their best game of the season, doubling their previous season high in scoring and giving up fewer points than they had in a game. “Before the game, we said,

let’s get a good game here over the break and get us on a good note,� Hesperia coach Scott Force said. “Hopefully, it’s a positive and we’ll see we’re going in the right direction. It felt good to get on the scoreboard a little bit.� Early in the game, the Wildcats’ three-quarter court pres-

VXUH à XPPR[HG +HVSHULD which has gone against both full-court and half-court presses but hadn’t seen this wrinkle. The Wildcats forced turnover after turnover early on and VFRUHG WKH ÀUVW SRLQWV RI WKH game. It didn’t help that Hesperia was missing Cheyenne Witte, its best ballhandler, out with an injury. $IWHU WKH ÀUVW TXDUWHU VHHLQJ the Panthers’ youth, Walkerville coach Marc Pascavis made lineup tweaks, moving

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Hesperia’s Mandy Purdy (center) shoots the ball over Walkerville’s Madison Simpson (3) and Kendre Speer Tuesday night.

WILDCATS WIN

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Draper dominates as Hart pulls away, beats Holton By  Andy  Roberts HERALD-JOURNAL WRITER

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Walkerville’s Kylie Masta (right) knocks the ball away from Hesperia’s Olivia Wilbur during Tuesday night’s holiday tournament game at Walkerville. Masta had 16 points, and the Wildcats won 43-24.

WALKERVILLE — Hart and Holton played a physical, back-and-forth battle much of the way Tuesday night to open up the Walkerville holiday girls tournament, but as Hart often does, it relied on Baylee Draper to carry things home. Draper posted 14 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter and piled up 20 rebounds, continuing her dominating season, as Hart pulled away late to defeat Holton 50-39. “Her rebounding picked up

a little bit today,â€? Hart coach Staci Hovey said. “She’s back on track with those. (Another NH\ KDV EHHQ MXVW Ă€QGLQJ KHU touch down low and being able to back in.â€? The Pirates fed Draper repeatedly down the stretch, especially on the fast breaks caused by their relentless defensive pressure, to keep Holton at bay. Holton actually led early in the third quarter after coming out of the locker room with consecutive and-one baskets, and maintained the edge much of the frame. However, the Pi-

rates banked in a three-pointer late in the quarter to take the lead and never gave it up. Hart started slowly offensively but was able to counteract it with its always-strong defense. “We tend to struggle in the Ă€UVW FRXSOH RI TXDUWHUV WR JHW things moving,â€? Hovey said. The Pirates’ Faith Ramirez is the emotional leader of that defense, and even after she took a stray elbow to the head and had to leave the game for a time,

PIRATE GIRLS WIN continued on 2b

SATURDAY, JAN. 2

MONDAY, JAN. 4

White Cloud @ Hart, 7:30 p.m.

Hesperia @ Home Tri, 5:30 p.m.

Shelby @ Manistee, 5 p.m. Hart @ Calvary Christian, 7:30 p.m.

Algoma Christian @ Pentwater, 7:30 p.m. Orchard View @ Shelby, 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6

THURSDAY, JAN. 7

Shelby @ Manistee, 2:30 p.m. Hart @ Calvary Christian, 6 p.m.

TUESDAY, JAN. 5

Mason Co. Eastern @ Walkerville, 6 p.m. Onekama @ Pentwater, 7:30 p.m.

Mason Co. Eastern @ Walkerville, 7:30 p.m. Onekama @ Pentwater, 7:30 p.m.

Hart, Shelby @ Montague Jamboree, 6 p.m.

Ravenna @ Hart, 7:30 p.m. Shelby @ Oakridge, 7:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball Hockey

Manistee @ Rockford, 5 p.m.

Wrestling

Hesperia @ Lawton Invitational, 9 a.m. Hart @ Allendale Invitational, 9:30 a.m.

Girls Basketball

Boys Basketball

Hesperia @ Newaygo, 7 p.m. Hart @ Oakridge, 7:30 p.m. Pentwater @ Mason Co. Eastern, 7:30 p.m. Walkerville @ Manistee Catholic, 7:30 p.m. Whitehall @ Shelby, 7:30 p.m.

Girls Basketball

Newaygo @ Hesperia, 7 p.m.

Girls Basketball Cheer

Hockey

Gladwin @ Manistee, 7 p.m.

Wrestling

Hart @ Ravenna Double Dual, 5 p.m. Shelby @ Mason Co. Central Double Dual, 5 p.m.

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball


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