LocalSportsJournal.com
WHITEHALL – The Newaygo girls basketball team completed a late-game rally in a thrilling 43-40 overtime win over Whitehall on Monday.
“I was really happy for the girls tonight,” said Newaygo coach Nathan Thomasma. “To put it nicely, we had struggled to make shots the last two weeks and that continued for three quarters tonight, but the lid came off in the fourth quarter and shots started to fall.”
The Lions fell behind 30-16 at the half, but were far from out of it. The deficit slowly diminished and the Lions’ Naomi Schillman came alive to knock down 13 fourth-quarter points to put the game within reach.
The Lions were down just three points before Amaya Lathrop made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime.
Schillman closed out the night with 14 points, while Lathrop had 11 points, five steals and three assists.
Newaygo (5-6, 1-4) will be at home against Reed City for CSAA play on Wednesday.
Whitehall (4-9, 2-4) will host Manistee on Thursday for a WMC-Lakes contest.
