The Panther varsity basketball teams started the week in Hartford on Monday, Jan. 23 and left with a pair of big wins.
The boys inexplicably fell out of the D3 rankings after losing a close one to Benton Harbor, who is ranked #4 in D2. Despite the oversight, the Huskies faced a top-level “unranked” D3 Panther team playing at full strength and found themselves on the wrong end of a 57-19 game. The latest rankings have just been released prior to our deadline and the Panthers are back at #6.
Tyson Williams led all scorers with 13 points, 11 of those in the first quarter. Jake Pleyer had 10 points and Kaiden Bierhalter had eight. Jacob Schaefer and Brady Bornas each had six. Tristan Steltner, Alex Hicks, and Royce Daugherty each had four. Wyatt Epple scored two points.
On Wednesday, Jan. 25 the Panthers traveled to Buchanan to take on a pair of tough teams. The boys won a tough one, 46-45 in a back and forth battle where the Panthers played a great inside and short game and the Bucks relied on outside shooting. The Bucks hit nine three point shots in the game while the Panthers had just three.
The Panthers were up 44-40 with about 90 seconds to play when the Bucks hit a long three from the right corner. The Panthers failed to score on their next possession but the Bucks got another score on a drive to the basket to take a 45-44 lead. The Panthers took a time out with 34 seconds to play and then ran the clock down before Wyatt Epple created an opening and drove to the basket, making a layup and drawing a foul with four seconds on the clock, giving the Panthers a 46-45 lead.
The Bucks took a timeout and then got the rebound on a missed free throw but their long jumper at the buzzer was wide right and up the glass for a miss. This is the Panther boys’ third straight win in Buchanan, having beaten both Bridgman and the Bucks there in last year’s district tournament. The game wasn’t all good news as freshman point guard Jake Pleyer went out in the second quarter with an ankle injury that turned out to be a broken bone, ending his fantastic rookie season.
Williams and Bornas led the Panthers with 10 points each. Bierhalter scored seven, Epple and Schaefer each scored six. Pleyer scored four points and Steltner had three.
On Friday night Fennville’s teams came to Watervliet and the boys won a stress-free game 55-31. The Blackhawks brought their pep band and the Panthers had a big, fun, and noisy student section that were headed to the Winterfest dance after the game.
Bornas scored 17 points and Bierhalter scored 11. Wyatt Epple and Steltner each scored eight, Williams had four, and Owen Epple scored three in his varsity debut. Schaefer and Reise Bulat scored two.
The boys are now 10-1 overall and 7-0 in the SAC Lakeshore division. They have a rematch at 9-3 South Haven on Friday, Feb. 3, then play 9-1 Blanchard Montabella at Loy Norrix on Saturday, before hosting 9-5 Schoolcraft on Tuesday, Feb. 7. They lead the playoff points race in their district with a month remaining on the schedule. Brandywine is just a few points behind and they won’t meet before then.
Girls Basketball wins two
The girls varsity basketball team also had a pair of stress-free games in the last week but took their third loss of the season at Buchanan.
The boys bowling team would compete again on Wednesday, Jan. 25 against Gobles. Coloma would come out with a loss in the first baker’s match but would bounce back in the second baker’s match, defeating Gobles by a score of 160-88. Neal Wilson would leadoff in the first regular match and score 162. Garrett Wolfe would bowl a 157 in his first match. Conner Kiser would bowl in the third spot and he would score a 124 in his only appearance. James Anthony in the fourth spot would bowl the second best score of the night in his first appearance with a 225. Brodie McQuillan would continue with another strong performance, scoring a 207 in his first appearance. Coloma would win the first regular series match by a score of 875-672. Wilson would again leadoff and he would score a 178 in his second appearance and would finish with a combined score of 274.Trevor Massey was in the second spot for the Comets and he would bowl a 139 in his only appearance of the night. Wolfe in the third spot would bowl a 117 and finish with a combined total of 274. Anthony would bowl the best score of the night in his second appearance with a score of 247 and would finish with a combined score of 472! McQuillan in the fifth spot again would bowl a 147 and finish with a combined score of 354. The Comets would win the second regular series match by a score of 828-666 and they would outscore Gobles in the regular series matches by a combined overall score of 1,703-1,338. Coloma would win the meet by a final score of 25.5-4.5 The Coloma girls’ bowling team would compete against Saugatuck on Monday, Jan. 23. They would come out strong in the baker’s matches, winning the first by a score of 137-82 and the second by a score of 126-107. Alyse Grenon would leadoff for the girls in the first regular match and would post a score of 114. Amber Cheek was in the second spot and score 55 in her only appearance of the night. Heavyn Swetay was the third bowler for Coloma. She would post the best score of the night in her first appearance with a 175. Mackenzie Hosbein in fourth would score a 144. Savannah Hamilton at anchor would score a 141 to end the first regular series match. Coloma would win the first regular series match by a score of 629-527. Molley Haase was the leadoff bowler for the Comets in the second regular series match and she would score a 91 in her only appearance. Grenon bowled second and would score a 152, finishing with a combined score of 266. Swetay was the third bowler for the Comets and she would score a 129 in her second match and finish with a combined score of 304. Hosbein in the fourth spot would score a 167 and finish with a combined score of 311. Hamilton was again in the anchor spot and she would finish with a 163 in her second match and end the night with a combined score of 304. The Comets would win the second regular series match by a score of 702-663 and they would outscore Saugatuck in the regular series matches by a combined total of 1,331-1,160. Coloma would win the meet by a final score of 28-2. The Lady Comet bowling team would compete again on Wednesday, Jan. 25 against Gobles. They would tie the first baker’s match with a score of 140-140 and go on to win the second baker’s match by a score of 123-117. Savannah Hamilton would lead the Comets off in the first regular series match against Gobles where she would post a score of 124. Amber Cheek would score a 68 in her only appearance of the night. Alyse Grenon in the third spot would score a 129 in her first match. Heavyn Swetay was in the fourth spot for the Comets and would score a 161. Mackenzie Hosbein in the anchor spot would score a 126. The Comets would lose the first regular series match by a score of 608-622. Hamilton would again leadoff for the Comets in the second regular series match and she would score a 161 and would finish with a combined total of 285. Molley Haase would be in the second spot for the Comets and she would score an 89 in her only appearance of the night. Grenon would score a 159 and finish with a combined score of 288. Hosbein bowled a 148 in her second match and finished with a combined score of 274. Swetay at anchor for the second regular series match would score a team-high 165 and finish with a combined score of 326. The Comets would go on to win the second regular series match by a score of 722-654 and they would outscore Gobles in the regular series matches by a combined score of 1,330-1,276. Coloma would win the match by a final score of 20-10. A Look into the Week Coloma Varsity Competitive Cheer will compete on Thursday, Feb. 2 at Gobles with a start time of 6 p.m. Girls Basketball will compete in a varsity level competition on Friday, Feb. 3 against Fennville with a start time of 6 p.m. Boys Basketball will compete on Friday, Feb. 3 against Fennville with a start time of 7:30 p.m. Wrestling will compete on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Lawton with a start time of 10 a.m. Boys Basketball wins three The Panther varsity basketball teams started the week in Hartford on Monday, Jan. 23 and left with a pair of big wins. The boys inexplicably fell out of the D3 rankings after losing a close one to Benton Harbor, who is ranked #4 in D2. Despite the oversight, the Huskies faced a top-level “unranked” D3 Panther team playing at full strength and found themselves on the wrong end of a 57-19 game. The latest rankings have just been released prior to our deadline and the Panthers are back at #6. Tyson Williams led all scorers with 13 points, 11 of those in the first quarter. Jake Pleyer had 10 points and Kaiden Bierhalter had eight. Jacob Schaefer and Brady Bornas each had six. Tristan Steltner, Alex Hicks, and Royce Daugherty each had four. Wyatt Epple scored two points. On Wednesday, Jan. 25 the Panthers traveled to Buchanan to take on a pair of tough teams. The boys won a tough one, 46-45 in a back and forth battle where the Panthers played a great inside and short game and the Bucks relied on outside shooting. The Bucks hit nine three point shots in the game while the Panthers had just three. The Panthers were up 44-40 with about 90 seconds to play when the Bucks hit a long three from the right corner. The Panthers failed to score on their next possession but the Bucks got another score on a drive to the basket to take a 45-44 lead. The Panthers took a time out with 34 seconds to play and then ran the clock down before Wyatt Epple created an opening and drove to the basket, making a layup and drawing a foul with four seconds on the clock, giving the Panthers a 46-45 lead. The Bucks took a timeout and then got the rebound on a missed free throw but their long jumper at the buzzer was wide right and up the glass for a miss. This is the Panther boys’ third straight win in Buchanan, having beaten both Bridgman and the Bucks there in last year’s district tournament. The game wasn’t all good news as freshman point guard Jake Pleyer went out in the second quarter with an ankle injury that turned out to be a broken bone, ending his fantastic rookie season. Williams and Bornas led the Panthers with 10 points each. Bierhalter scored seven, Epple and Schaefer each scored six. Pleyer scored four points and Steltner had three. On Friday night Fennville’s teams came to Watervliet and the boys won a stress-free game 55-31. The Blackhawks brought their pep band and the Panthers had a big, fun, and noisy student section that were headed to the Winterfest dance after the game. Bornas scored 17 points and Bierhalter scored 11. Wyatt Epple and Steltner each scored eight, Williams had four, and Owen Epple scored three in his varsity debut. Schaefer and Reise Bulat scored two. The boys are now 10-1 overall and 7-0 in the SAC Lakeshore division. They have a rematch at 9-3 South Haven on Friday, Feb. 3, then play 9-1 Blanchard Montabella at Loy Norrix on Saturday, before hosting 9-5 Schoolcraft on Tuesday, Feb. 7. They lead the playoff points race in their district with a month remaining on the schedule. Brandywine is just a few points behind and they won’t meet before then. Girls Basketball wins two The girls varsity basketball team also had a pair of stress-free games in the last week but took their third loss of the season at Buchanan. On Monday at Hartford the Panthers took a 12-6 lead in the first quarter then led 31-11 at halftime, on their way to a 52-29 non-conference win. Grace Chisek led all scorers with 17 points. MJ Flowers scored 12 and Lauren Laws scored 10. Other scorers included Samantha Dietz (8), Lilly Lefor (3), and Morgan Lowell (2). The Buchanan girl’s team moved up to Division 2 this season and the Lady Panthers found themselves overmatched by a pair of six-foot Bucks who controlled the key on both ends of the court. The Panthers were behind 11-7 after one quarter and scored just three points in the second to fall behind 19-10, a margin they were unable to overcome on their way to a 59-31 loss. Flowers led the Panther scoring with 15 points and Dietz scored 13. Lilly Lefor added four points to complete the scoring. Putting that loss behind them, the girls opened the Friday night festivities with a 59-31 win over Fennville. They jumped out to a 12-2 lead and cruised the rest of the way, leading 30-10 at the half and 50-21 after three quarters. Eight Panthers got on the scoreboard, led by Dietz with 14 and Chisek with 12. Flowers scored 10, Laws (8), Ellie Golden (6), Abby Whorton (4), Courtney VanLente (3), and Natalie VanLente (2). The girls are now 10-3 overall and 8-1 in the SAC Lakeshore division. They play at 7-6 Plainwell on Monday, Feb. 6 and then to 7-7 Galesburg-Augusta the next day. The girls got a favorable district this year and lead the playoff point race over Gobles, who they beat by 11 in early-season action. Wrestling action at County meet The young wrestling team had a pair of wrestlers competing at the Greater Berrien County Invitational Results at St. Joseph on Saturday, and also sent wrestlers to the JV and girl’s meet held on Friday, Jan. 27. In the big 21-team, 166-wrestler meet on Saturday Luke Isbrecht (24-14) went 2-2 in the 120-pound bracket. He had a pin at 1:16 in the first round and then a 6-2 win in his third match. Kameron Smith (25-14) got a pin at 2:28 in the first round, then another at 5:19 in the second round. He took a loss in the third match and took fourth place in the 126-pound bracket. In the Friday meet featuring another 170 wrestlers from 24 teams, Wyatt Macmillen took fourth place and Julian Velez took sixth place. Taylor Woollett took first place in her bracket after getting pins at 1:06 and 4:20 plus an 11-7 decision. Sophie Wigent took second place with a 9-5 win and a 4:20 pin. Ayana Marshall also took second place with pins at 5:29 and 2:23. The team has the SAC finals on Saturday, Feb. 4 and then hosts the team district event on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The Panthers will defend their two consecutive district titles against Coloma and Hartford. Individual districts begin at Constantine on Saturday, Feb. 11.
On Monday at Hartford the Panthers took a 12-6 lead in the first quarter then led 31-11 at halftime, on their way to a 52-29 non-conference win.
Grace Chisek led all scorers with 17 points. MJ Flowers scored 12 and Lauren Laws scored 10. Other scorers included Samantha Dietz (8), Lilly Lefor (3), and Morgan Lowell (2).
The Buchanan girl’s team moved up to Division 2 this season and the Lady Panthers found themselves overmatched by a pair of six-foot Bucks who controlled the key on both ends of the court. The Panthers were behind 11-7 after one quarter and scored just three points in the second to fall behind 19-10, a margin they were unable to overcome on their way to a 59-31 loss.
Flowers led the Panther scoring with 15 points and Dietz scored 13. Lilly Lefor added four points to complete the scoring.
Putting that loss behind them, the girls opened the Friday night festivities with a 59-31 win over Fennville. They jumped out to a 12-2 lead and cruised the rest of the way, leading 30-10 at the half and 50-21 after three quarters.
Eight Panthers got on the scoreboard, led by Dietz with 14 and Chisek with 12. Flowers scored 10, Laws (8), Ellie Golden (6), Abby Whorton (4), Courtney VanLente (3), and Natalie VanLente (2).
The girls are now 10-3 overall and 8-1 in the SAC Lakeshore division. They play at 7-6 Plainwell on Monday, Feb. 6 and then to 7-7 Galesburg-Augusta the next day. The girls got a favorable district this year and lead the playoff point race over Gobles, who they beat by 11 in early-season action.
Wrestling action at County meet
The young wrestling team had a pair of wrestlers competing at the Greater Berrien County Invitational Results at St. Joseph on Saturday, and also sent wrestlers to the JV and girl’s meet held on Friday, Jan. 27.
In the big 21-team, 166-wrestler meet on Saturday Luke Isbrecht (24-14) went 2-2 in the 120-pound bracket. He had a pin at 1:16 in the first round and then a 6-2 win in his third match. Kameron Smith (25-14) got a pin at 2:28 in the first round, then another at 5:19 in the second round. He took a loss in the third match and took fourth place in the 126-pound bracket.
In the Friday meet featuring another 170 wrestlers from 24 teams, Wyatt Macmillen took fourth place and Julian Velez took sixth place. Taylor Woollett took first place in her bracket after getting pins at 1:06 and 4:20 plus an 11-7 decision.
Sophie Wigent took second place with a 9-5 win and a 4:20 pin. Ayana Marshall also took second place with pins at 5:29 and 2:23.
The team has the SAC finals on Saturday, Feb. 4 and then hosts the team district event on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The Panthers will defend their two consecutive district titles against Coloma and Hartford. Individual districts begin at Constantine on Saturday, Feb. 11.
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