By Jacob Arvidson
LocalSportsJournal.com

MONTAGUE – The one-two punch of Sophia Wiard and Hannah Reinhold powered the Oakridge girls basketball team throughout the regular season, and the star guards are keeping it going in the postseason.

Wiard, a sophomore, scored 19 points and Reinhold, a senior, added 15 in the Eagles’ 43-29 victory over Fruitport on Monday in the first round of the Class B district basketball tournament at Montague High School.

No. 22 Hannah Reinhold dishes to Aaliyah Cooper in the lane while Fruitport’s No. 21 Katie Veihl and Kailey Carmean try to defend. Photo/Sherry Wahr

Oakridge, the West Michigan Conference champion, improved to 19-2 on the season. The Eagles will face Montague in Wednesday’s semifinals at 7:30 p.m.

“Sophie decided to take over a couple of times and that really opened it up,” said Oakridge head coach Terry DeJonge. “For the most part, I’m very happy with their leadership. Obviously, they want the ball and they want to score.”

Wiard and Reinhold scored eight of their team’s first-quarter points as the Eagles grabbed a 10-4 lead at the first buzzer.

The second quarter was all about Fruitport’s Iyana Brown. The senior standout rattled off seven points and pushed Fruitport in front 13-12.

“Brown is a college basketball player,” DeJonge said. “I wanted to hold her to 10 or less, but we didn’t, and that just shows how good she is.”

Oakridge turned to Reinhold to get the lead back and she responded, scoring eight points in the final minutes of the second quarter to give the Eagles a 22-14 halftime lead.

The Eagles extended their lead to 33-21 after three quarters, then Wiard and Reinhold combined for nine points in the fourth to silence Brown and the Trojans.

While his team was impressive in the victory, DeJonge was already focusing on the next challenge.

“We try to keep the same routine,” the Oakridge coach said. “It’s five girls playing five girls and you have to move your feet and block out. Tomorrow we’ll look at Montague and we’ll go from there. It’s one game at a time and control what we can control.”

Brown wrapped up her varsity career with 18 points and eight rebounds for Fruitport, which finished the season with an 8-13 record.