Fremont's women's basketball program added prestigious hardware to an already historic season Tuesday night.
The Packers fought off a hard-fought game against Ludington and won 42-38 at home, clinching their first outright conference championship since 1978 in the process. Fremont shared the league championship with Big Rapids in 2020, but this year's team topped the Western Michigan Conference Lakes Division with a 12-0 record and defeated the Orioles, who won five league championships in the regular season. He improved his performance by sweeping.
“I told the girls from day one that the conference championship was going to go through Ludington,” Fremont head coach Pete Zerfas said. “They have won five in a row and I have the utmost respect for Coach (Warren) Stowe and the program he runs.”
Fremont led 17-12 at halftime, but Ludington rallied to take a 27-26 lead entering the fourth quarter. Both teams battled for dominance for most of the final slot, but the Packers took the lead with two minutes left in regulation time and held off the Orioles from there to secure an important league victory.
Riley Chase paced Fremont with 13 points, including 11 in the second half, and Jessica Bennett added 10 points, including seven in the fourth quarter. Taylor DeKuiper had seven points and 10 rebounds, Mia Clemens had five points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Katie Ackerman had five assists.
Fremont (17-4, 12-0 WMC Lakes) will travel to Fruitport (5-16) on Thursday to close out the regular season, while Ludington is 15-7 overall and 10-2 in league play. The regular season ends with a loss.
Below is a look at how all Muskegon Area girls basketball teams fared on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
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Grand Rapids West Catholic 49, Muskegon 35
The Big Reds trailed 22-17 at halftime and tied the score midway through the third quarter, but the Falcons pulled away and defeated Muskegon 25-11 for a hard-fought home victory on Senior Night.
Elisha Dykstra led West Catholic with 15 points, Reese Polega had 11 points and nine rebounds, Becca Tuttle had eight points and five assists, Emma Tuttle had six points and 10 rebounds and Alexis Akemoh added six points. did.
Mariah Sain paced Muskegon with a game-high 26 points, four rebounds and two steals, while Kamryn Ward had a team-high six rebounds and Kennedy Loudermill added three points.
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Kent City 46, Grant 35
The Eagles led 28-24 at halftime and pulled away from the Tigers in the second half to qualify for Thursday's CSAA Conference Tournament championship game.
Maddie Geers led the Eagles with 28 points, Lainey Hoffman added eight points, Kentz Freeland six points and Mila Morien four points.
Julie Ashbaugh led Grant with 15 points and Natalia Rodriguez added 10 points.
“The flu hit us hard this week, and we knew it was going to affect the game,” Grant head coach Josh Delamater said. “We had a tough practice on Monday, so we were hoping the girls would feel better today, but we knew our energy level wasn't where it needed to be heading into the game. Ta.
“Overall, we played a great defensive game. We held Kent City to 11 total baskets, only six of which were by players other than Gears. On our side. had a total of 12 baskets. Unfortunately, you can't win a game when you're 12-for-28 in free throw shooting. After all, as we've seen in three of the past four games, we'll see tonight as well. Foul trouble bothered us and we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter.”
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Holton 57, Ravenna 46
Ryan Robbins led Holton with 25 points, Abby Fowler added 14 points and Eva Crowell added seven points.
Tegan Sturken led Ravenna with 16 points, while Matthijsen Crowley added 11 points and Natalie Rosell added 10 points.
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Montague 51, Orchard View 23
Adilynn Peterson led Montague with 19 points and two steals, Braylin Bultema had 11 points and seven rebounds, Addison Plunger had nine points and six rebounds and Amanda Cederquist had seven points and five rebounds.
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Mason County Central 49, North Muskegon 25
Mallory Miller paced Mason County Central with 17 points, and Len Nelson added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Marilyn Gaston paced North Muskegon with eight points, while Delaney Young, Grace Philpott and Allie Jensen each added four points.
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Manistee 51, Oakridge 42
Jayna Edmonson led Manistee with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Libby McCarthy added 13 points.
Destiny Bowen led Oak Ridge with 10 points and four steals, Anna Lundquist had nine points, 14 rebounds and four blocks and Kaylin Joza had eight points.
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Saugatuck 60, West Michigan Christian 40
Ashley Volkema led the Warriors with 13 points and four rebounds, while Emersyn Paling had nine points, Kirsten VanOrmnan eight points and Maria Eenigenberg had a team-high nine rebounds.
“We had a great, competitive game tonight,” Western Michigan Christian head coach Sara Koetsier said. “The final score doesn't reflect how close this game was. We were within five or six points of Saugatuck until the fourth quarter. I'm proud of how hard we played tonight.”
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Central Montcalm 40, Newaygo 37
The Lions led 16-8 at halftime, but were unable to fend off a second-half rally from Central Montcalm and closed the game on a 25-11 run to secure the come-from-behind victory.
Naomi Silman led Newaygo with 11 points, and Ruby Hughes added seven points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a tough loss tonight,” Newaygo head coach Nathan Toasma said. “I felt like we played really well in the first half and we should have put them up a lot more, but we let them hang around. Give credit to Central Montcalm – they shot the ball really well in the third quarter. The free-throw stripe came back to haunt us as well. We shot 8-of-27 from the line, but like Central Montcalm, It's hard to win against a high-quality team with shots like that.”
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Hart 42, Shelby 35
Addie Hovey paced the Pirates with 11 points, and Maury Schultz led Shelby with a game-high 14 points.
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Hudsonville 57, Reese Puffer 39
Brooklyn Tones led the Rockets with 18 points.
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final score
Comstock Park 48, Fruitport 40
White Cloud 32, Remus Chippewa Hills 22
Muskegon Catholic Central 41, Hesperia 24
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