LocalSportsJournal.com
MONTAGUE — Ludington’s hold on first place in the West Michigan Conference Lakes Division girls basketball race became a little more precarious Thursday night with a 28-21 loss at Montague.
It was the second straight loss for the Orioles, and their first in the conference, as their lead over the Wildcats shrank to just a half-game and makes each game in the division going forward even more important.
The Wildcats led, 9-7 at the end of the first quarter and outscored Ludington, 10-9 in the second and found themselves with a 19-16 lead at the half.
Scoring really fell off for both teams in the second half as Montague had 7-2 scoring edge in the third period and the Orioles posted a 3-2 scoring margin in the final eight minutes.
“What a battle between two really good defensive teams,” said Montague coach Nick Thaler. “Ludington is a very well coached, organized and fundamental team and our girls had something to prove after our last outing with them” Thaler said.
“We preached just finding a way to just get the job done. I didn’t care what the score was as long as we competed, I would have been happy.”
Haylee Schwarz led the Montague offense with seven points and 11 rebounds. Emma Peterson tossed in six points while dishing out four assists and grabbing three rebounds. Addison Pranger contributed six points, while handing out three assists and hauling down five rebounds.
Keelyn Laird scored the majority of the Orioles points with 13. Annoe Kline and Elianna McKinley added three apiece and Olivia Lynn two.
Montague (10-6, 7-2) will travel to Fremont on Tuesday.
Ludington (11-5, 8-1) will host Whitehall on Tuesday.
