By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
VICKSBURG — Dominant first-quarter defense and tenacity down the stretch led to the Three Rivers girls’ basketball team getting their first win of the 2025-26 season against Vicksburg Friday night, defeating the host Bulldogs 43-35.
The Wildcats held Vicksburg to just two points in the first quarter en route to an 11-2 lead after one quarter, and took a 25-14 halftime lead. Despite Vicksburg making things somewhat close in the fourth quarter, Three Rivers kept a relatively young Bulldogs squad at arm’s length the rest of the way, giving first-year head coach Michael Morrison his first win at the varsity level.
“It’s an awesome feeling. The girls played so hard today, and it’s all about them,” Morrison said.
Indeed, it was all Wildcats early in what was a fairly cold-shooting first quarter, as only four field goals were made between both teams. Three of those field goals were scored by Three Rivers as they took an 11-0 lead for the first seven minutes of the contest. Braylee Burg hit three free throws in the first couple minutes to go up 3-0 before Natalie McGahan hit a mid-range shot to make it 5-0 three minutes in. Karsen Keller got a baseline layup later on to make it 7-0 Wildcats, and Dani Glass scored the last four points of the early run with a free throw and a three-pointer.
Vicksburg’s lone field goal of the first quarter was a floating shot from Audri Pyne, one of two sophomores on the Bulldogs’ team, with 43 seconds to go in the quarter to avoid being shut out in the first stanza. Morrison credited his team’s defense for holding Vicksburg to the one field goal in the quarter.
“We’re playing so much better on defense, it’s amazing. This is our third game this week, and all of those games had good defense to start,” Morrison said. “We really scouted this team in the first half to see what their tendencies were, and we attacked those tendencies.”
Both teams would settle in a bit more in the second quarter. A Glass lay-in extended the Wildcats’ lead to 13-2 and a couple of mid-range shots from Neiraja Reyes eventually extended the lead to 17-4 two and a half minutes in. Madison Cooley would get an old-fashioned three with the hoop-and-harm, knocking in the free throw to make it 17-7, and Eleanor Lincoln would add a free throw to make it 17-8 just 20 seconds later.
Back-to-back buckets by McGahan and Reyes would get those points back, making it 21-8 with four minutes to go in the half, before Vicksburg’s Victoria Hillard made two free throws to make it 21-10. Both teams would trade scoring the rest of the half, with Hillard and Renna Caswell hitting free throws for the Bulldogs right before the half to make it a 25-14 lead for Three Rivers heading to the break.
Three Rivers outscored Vicksburg 13-10 in the third quarter. Burg hit a pair of charity shots for the Wildcats before Cooley got a bucket to trade points in the first minute. Glass would get a bucket off a fast break less than a minute later, and would add a free throw a couple minutes after that to make it 30-16. Pyne would stink a shot to, and then later on Hillard would hit a three-pointer to bring Vicksburg back within 10 points, 31-21 with three and a half minutes to go in the third.
The Wildcats would go on a 7-3 run to end the quarter, with a bucket from Keller, two free throws each from Glass and Burg, and a charity shot by Emmersyn Quake. Vicksburg’s three points came on a shot from Pyne and a free throw by Harper Roy to end the third quarter with Three Rivers up 38-24.
Vicksburg would try to make a comeback in the fourth quarter, starting off on a 7-0 run, with two lay-ins by Cooley, a bucket by Caswell and a free throw by Lincoln to make it 38-31 Wildcats. However, Three Rivers would keep them at bay the rest of the way, with Vicksburg’s shooting going cold with just two baskets the rest of the way, and the Wildcats getting a bucket from Burg and going 3-for-8 at the free throw line to end the game with a 43-35 victory.
Glass led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points, followed by Burg with nine points, seven of which came at the charity stripe. Keller and Reyes had six points each, McGahan had five points, and Quake finished with four points.
For Vicksburg, Cooley led all scorers on the evening with 15 points. Pyne and Hillard had six points each, Caswell and Roy added three points each, and Lincoln finished with two points.
In the end, Morrison said it was composure that kept the Wildcats calm late to win the game as Vicksburg was attempting the comeback. He said the win was something to hopefully get momentum going forward before the break.
“We’re going to try to keep building on this,” Morrison said.
With the win, Three Rivers goes to 1-2 to start the season, with games next week against Plainwell on Tuesday, Dec. 16 and Otsego on Thursday, Dec. 18, both at home and at 7 p.m. start times. Vicksburg, with the loss, goes to 0-2 following a 46-37 defeat to Schoolcraft earlier in the week, and will have games against Stevensville Lakeshore at home Monday at 7 p.m., against Niles on the road at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, and against Plainwell at home Friday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. before the holiday break.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
