SHS girls win comfortably, Centreville and Mendon win again
The Sturgis girl’s hoops team has won three of the last four games.
Friday night, the Lady Trojans took out Dowagiac for the second time this season, winning 57-40 on senior night. Back in December, Sturgis beat Dowagiac 33-28 in overtime.
The 57 points were the most Sturgis has scored in a game so far this season.
“I’ve been preaching all season that we need to be ready to take shots and tonight our girls were ready,” Sturgis coach Jeremy Bucklin said. “We hit five 3’s in the first quarter tonight and that doesn’t always happen for us because we aren’t always ready to take those shots. I thought tonight we were ready for that.”
Sturgis scored 18 points in the opening quarter of the game. Four separate players hit a triple in that first quarter, including Korin Whitcomb knocking down a pair of them. It was the highest-scoring quarter of the night for the Lady Trojans and it helped get them going in the right direction offensively.
Rylee Carver scored five points in the second quarter for Sturgis. Whitcomb added another four to her tally and Sturgis took a lead of 29-20 into the locker room for halftime.
Defensively, Sturgis was playing tough as well. Dowagiac made only seven shots in the first half. It helped that Dowagiac only connected on 2-of-10 free throws.
Sturgis was able to get Dowagiac out of rhythm once they in-bounded the ball as well with the press.
“Our press isn’t necessarily to just get steals every time,” Bucklin said. “We want to speed them up and make them make mistakes. At times we’re still learning that, but I felt like we did a good job of that tonight and we’re getting better every day with it.”
Sturgis posted a dozen points in the third. Madison Ater hit for a pair of triples plus another bucket for eight points in the stanza. Ater finished with 17 points in the game.
“Ater had been struggling a bit, but tonight the bucket looked like the ocean for her,” Bucklin said.
The Lady Trojans led 41-28 entering the final eight minutes. There, Dowagiac’s 12 points were the most of any quarter on the night. Sturgis scored 16 points, including 10 from Whitcomb, to seal the game. Whitcomb connected for 6-of-7 free throws in the final eight minutes.
Whitcomb also had a game-high 22 points. Ater’s 17 finished ahead of nine from Carver, Emily Schuller threw in five points. Yuri Villafuerte scored three points and Riley Eicher connected for a free throw. Whitcomb brought in 13 rebounds as well with six blocks in the game.
Ater totaled four rebounds, Carver grabbed seven. Schuller also had seven rebounds, Villafuerte had three.
Sturgis is now 6-6 on the season. The Lady Trojans feel good about where they are headed, as well.
“We’re coming together at the right time,” Bucklin said. “Our girls feel like they’re playing good basketball right now. We’re starting to get a flow going offensively.”
Sturgis will host Marshall Academy on Monday at 6 p.m. The Griffons are 0-3 on the season and are an independent school.
Centreville 53, White Pigeon 28
Centreville improved to 6-6 on the season with a 53-28 win over White Pigeon on Friday.
“The girls played tough tonight and showed progress in some areas we’ve been focusing on in practice this week. As we continue to build in the coming weeks, I’m excited to see where this team can be when the tournament rolls around,” Centreville coach Jill Peterson said. “I’m proud of them for their effort today and look forward to the growth that is ahead.”
Centreville led 15-0 after one quarter of play and 27-7 at halftime.
A 17-7 edge in the third quarter pushed the Bulldog lead to 44-14 after three.
Faith Edwards led all scorers with 19 points for Centreville, she added four steals and three assists.
Karissa Gest tossed in 12 points with eight rebounds and three steals, Bella Kangas scored six points with three steals. Morgan Swanwick finished with four points. Torie Frederick and Mara Webb both had three points, Hailey Miller, Emmy Pritchard and August Blair all had two points. Miller handed out five assists as well.
White Pigeon was led by Hayley Strawser with 10 points and eight rebounds, Dani Steele totaled eight points with seven rebounds, Rainie Atherton added five points with four rebounds. Jamielynn Delarye scored three points with four rebounds, Alex Hooker had two points and five rebounds.
Mendon 38, Marcellus 28
Mendon beat Marcellus 38-28 in prep girl’s hoops action on Friday night.
The Wildcats were held to single-digit scoring in all four quarters in the game. Mendon posted 10 points in the first, second and fourth quarters while also scoring eight in the third.
Mendon was led by Payton Griffith with 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Ryley Mullin scored 14 points with eight rebounds and three steals. Alivia Stuart scored eight points with four rebounds and four steals. Bailie Lash brought in eight rebounds, Chloe Behrends scored two points with five rebounds, Brianna Heitkamp had two rebounds.
The Wildcats were led by Brooklyn VanTilburg with 16 points. Nicole Hayford and Emma Holmes each scored three points, both Clare Flory and Lily Scoggin scored two points.
VanTilburg hauled in seven rebounds, Jenna Wells recorded eight rebounds while Flory had five.
Mendon improves to 10-2 overall and 8-2 in league play, Marcellus falls to 7-5 overall and 5-5 in league play.
Lawton 39, Constantine 27
The Constantine girls dropped a 39-27 decision to Lawton on Friday night.
The Falcons were led Megan McNamara with nine points. Natalie Whitaker, Madellyn Cullifer, Charlee Balcom and Bella Cullifer each had four points, Jenny Clewell scored two.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: SHS girls win comfortably, Centreville and Mendon win again
