By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
A balanced scoring attack coupled with a tenacious defensive effort.
That was a winning recipe for the Allegan girls basketball team in its SAC showdown with visiting Watervliet on Friday, Jan. 31.
Six Tigers scored at least five—and not more than 11—points and Allegan didn’t allow more than six points in any quarter in handing Watervliet the 49-17 defeat.
“This was a big home win for us,” said Allegan coach Sharron Thompson, whose team improved to 6-4 with its second straight victory.
Allegan wasted no time in setting the tone for the game on both ends of the floor.
Five different Tigers scored in the stanza as Allegan took a 12-3 lead.
Ellie Bishop and Bailey Meade each hit a 3-pointer to lead the way, while Jayden VandenAkker, Ellie Ziemelis and Maddie Antkoviak each scored two points.
The rest of the game was simply more of the same, with Allegan taking leads of 26-7 at halftime and 37-13 after three quarters.
“We moved the ball well and knocked down shots while playing terrific defense, holding the Panthers to single digit scoring each quarter,” Thompson said. “It was a pretty balanced scoring and overall a great team effort.”
Antkoviak scored a team-high 11 points in the win, followed closely by Ziemelis with 10 and Meade with nine.
Shyonna Thompson added eight points, while VandenAkker and Bishop chipped in with six and five points, respectively.
Hosting Dowagiac in a non-league battle on Tuesday, Jan. 28, Allegan emerged with the 53-42 win.
“It was a back-and-forth battle,” Sharron Thompson said.
That it was.
The Tigers jumped out to a 10-5 lead after one quarter, but trailed 23-20 at the intermission.
Allegan roared back in the third quarter, using a 20-10 scoring advantage to go up 40-33 entering the final frame.
“We had a slow start in the first half before turning up the defense and exploding in the second half with scoring to take the game over and secure the victory,” Sharron Thompson said.
Meade the third-quarter surge, collecting nine of her game-best 16 points in the stanza. Antkoviak added five points on her way to 13 for the game.
Hayden Mokma finished with 12 points to give Allegan a third double-digit scorer. Ziemelis contributed seven points.
