Local Sports Journal
SPRINGPORT – A great start turned sour Tuesday night as Western Michigan Christian dropped its opening regional game to Delton Kellogg, 47-37, in a Class C regional semifinal game.
The Lady Warriors raced out to a 12-5 first-quarter lead on eight points from senior guard Julie Merz. WMC’s two leading scorers, post players Rachel Bruinsma and Vanessa Eekhoff each picked up their second fouls and sat most of the second quarter and watched the Panthers take an 18-14 lead at intermission.
WMC came out blazing to start the second half and briefly took the lead, but fell back and trailed 28-22 going into the final period.
The Lady Warriors were 0-for-4 from the free throw line while Delton Kellogg connected on 16 out of 30.
Merz led the Warriors with 15 points while Rachel Bruinsma scored 10 points in the final quarter and ended up with 12.
Brooke Martin led the Panthers with 19 points and Mallory Sewell tosssed in 17.
“It just seemed like we couldn’t get our rhythm going,” WMC coach Mike Henry said. “We couldn’t get into the flow and the fouls really hurt. I am very proud of this tremendous group of girls. We struggled to overcome some things at the beginning of the season, but our senior leadership carried us through.”
The Lady Warriors finished the season at 17-7.
