By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
MARTIN—A back-and-forth, gritty and ugly battle.
That’s the way Allegan girls basketball coach Sharron Thompson described his team’s SAC non-divisional game against host Martin on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
And in the end, it was the Tigers who picked up the victory by a score of 22-19.
“Martin put up a fight, but we were able to come out on top,” Thompson said.
Defense was full display from the start, as Allegan led 4-0 after one quarter on baskets from Ellie Bishop and Bailey Meade.
Neither team scored more than five points in any of first three stanzas, with the Tigers taking leads of 8-4 at halftime and 12-9 after three quarters.
“Tonight was another major offensive struggle for us,” Martin coach Ben Schipper said. “Allegan really packed their zone in tonight and swarmed the ball anytime we had high post touches. We struggled to even get shots off and just weren’t making good basketball decisions.”
Turnovers also plagued the Clippers.
“We lost way too many possessions to turnovers,” Schipper said.
The offensive flow was better in the fourth quarter, with each team scoring 10 points. Maddie Antkoviak had four of Allegan’s points during the frame, with Maggie Jager and Alley Bacon each scoring three points for the Clippers.
Antkoviak finished with six points to lead the Tigers, followed by five points from Bishop. Jayden VandenAkker and Meade each had four points and Ellie Ziemelis rounds out Allegan’s scoring with three points.
For Martin, Jager and Bacon each had five points, while Macy Thorne had four. Marybeth Ritchie (two points), Kayden Jager (one point), Avery Jager (one point), and Torryn Harris (one points) also score.
“Maggie Jager and Marybeth Ritchie had some aggressive moments in the post tonight, which I was pleased with,” Schipper said. “We wanted to attack Allegan’s interior defense and we capitalized on it several times, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Allegan continued its winning ways on three days later, picking up a 44-19 road win over Watervliet on Friday, Dec. 13.
Antkoviak nearly matched the offensive production of the entire Watervliet team, finishing with 17 points.
Bishop was next in line for the Tigers with nine points, while VandenAkker had eight points and Ziemelis had six points.
“This was a big road win for us,” Thompson said. “It was another great defensive effort and we’ve now held all three of our opponents under 20 points.”
The Tigers led 9-6 after one quarter before using a 12-4 edge in the second quarter to go up 21-10 at halftime. Antkoviak, Bishop and VandenAkker each had four points for Allegan in the second stanza.
Allegan’s lead stood at 30-17 entering the fourth quarter.
