By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
Huge.
No. Check that. Huge, huge.
That’s how Allegan girls basketball coach Sharron Thompson described his team’s home win over a South Haven team that features one of the area’s top scorers in Ly’Nique Cunningham.
“This was a huge, huge win for us against the division-leading Rams,” Thompson said.
The win, according to Thompson, came down to a strong performance on the defensive end coupled with some timely shots on the offensive end.
“We played really good defense and were able to find a decent shooting groove to claim the victory,” he said.
Allegan (13-6 overall) trailed 21-19 at halftime before using a 14-12 edge in the third quarter to knot the score at 33-33.
The fourth quarter belonged to Allegan junior Jayden VandenAkker, who scored eight of her team-best 16 points in the frame to lead the Tigers to the win.
Maddie Antkoviak added 10 points for the Tigers, while Ellie Ziemelis chipped in with six.
Allegan held Cunningham well below her season average with 20 points.
The victory over South Haven got Allegan back on the winning track following a 26-16 loss to Parchment on Tuesday, Feb. 18, snapping a five-game winning streak.
“We struggled to get anything going offensively, while the Panthers knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half to help them secure the win,” Thompson said.
Allegan held Parchment to single digits in three of the four quarters, including three in the first frame and four in the final frame.
But the Tigers were unable to score more than five points in any quarter in suffering the loss.
Ziemelis and Alyssa Macherzak each scored six points to pace Allegan.
