Oakridge girls end Class B district title drought by beating Spring Lake 47-30

By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

FRUITPORT- Regular season success has been a norm over the past three years for the Oakridge girl’s basketball team.

The Eagles have won five straight West Michigan Conference titles, and have a 50-game league win streak still in progress.

But that good fortune has not extended to the postseason lately – until Friday.

Oakridge ended a two-year tournament title drought with a 47-30 victory over defending champion Spring Lake in the Class B district championship game at Fruitport High School.

Oakridge guard No. 22 Hannah Reinhold goes up for the shot against Spring Lake’s No. 3 Olivia Grimmer. Photo/Carol Cooper

The Eagles only led by four after three quarters, then pulled away down the stretch.

The Eagles, now 19-2 on the season, will meet Hamilton on Tuesday in the first round of regionals at Fremont High School.

“In the past couple years we have gone against some pretty good teams,” said Oakridge Coach Terry DeJonge. “We had nothing to hang our heads about, but winning districts was very important to us.

“Tonight our role players stepped out, which was important, and we followed a rhythm defensively on Reiko Johnson.”

Junior Hannah Reinhold paced the Eagles with a game-high 16 points while senior Brandy Weaver and freshman Sophia Wiard contributed 10 points apiece.

The contest started slow, with Spring Lake taking a 6-5 lead after one quarter.

The Eagles woke up offensively during the second quarter, going on a 13-6 run during the first five minutes to take an 18-12 lead.

Oakridge led 23-18 at halftime.

Weaver led Oakridge with six second quarter points on two 3-point baskets, while Reinhold added five.

The Eagles opened up the second half scoring the first five points to take a 10-poont lead, but Spring Lake responded with an 8-2 run to cut the Oakridge lead to 30-26 at the third buzzer.

Oakridge took control with a 12-2 run during the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter. The Eagles made 9 of 13 free throws to help put the game away.

Reinhold hit five shots from the line when it counted while Weaver added three.

“This is an honor that many people don’t get a chance to do,” said Reinhold about the district title. “I think we can go pretty far and it’s going to be fun.”

The Lakers were led by Johnson with 15 points while Remi French added eight points and 14 rebounds.

Spring Lake was hurt by 22 turnovers.

“I think we played hard and I think they did too,” said Spring Lake Coach Cavin Mohrhardt, whose team finished with a 19-4 record. “Looking at the stats, turnovers killed us and we did not rebound like we normally do.”