LocalSportsJournal.com

WHITE CLOUD–The Grant Tigers girls basketball team fought off a pesky White Cloud Indians team on Friday, surviving with a 44-32 win.

The game was played in the Central State Activities Association at White Cloud.

Neither team mustered up much offense in the opening eight minutes which saw White Cloud hold a 6-5 edge.

“The story of the game was our inability to put the ball in the bucket,” said Grant coach Josh Delamater.  “Credit to Jayci Hance and Jocee for the awesome defense they played tonight on Jaden Gomez, holding her to four points, all free throws.”

Both offenses continued to sputter in the second stanza, however, the Tigers took the lead by the halftime break, 17-15.

Grant put some distance between themselves and the Indians with a 18-9 scoring advantage in the third period. Both teams scored nine points in the final eight minutes.

“Tonight was a ballgame and that is what I wanted,” said White Cloud coach Caleb Wilk. “Last year, Grant put it to us and our girls didn’t want a repeat of that. We may not have won, but we fought to the end. I was very happy with our effort tonight.”

Turnovers proved costly for White Cloud.

“Our goal was to hold Grant to 40 points or less and we came very close to accomplishing that feat,” said Wilk. “Grant has some very talented players and our defense held them in check.”

Julie Ashbaugh led Grant with 20 points. Jayci Hance and Jocee Pleune each chipped in six points.

Gaby Reeve led White Cloud with 14 points and nine rebounds. Annie Feldpausch tossed in eight points.