By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
SCOTTVILLE — Ravenna got off to a fast start, but couldn’t sustain it against Mason County Central’s girls basketball team Tuesday night.
The Spartans rolled to a lopsided 50-26 victory at home.
It was a West Michigan Conference Rivers Division game, and the win allowed the Spartans to stay in striking distance of conference leader Hart as the season races to the finish line.
But for a brief moment it looked like the Spartans were in for a real fight with the Bulldogs, who raced out to a 9-1 lead early in the contest.
“A lot of credit to Ravenna … we talk about it a lot, that we get everyone’s best shot in this league,” said Mason County Central coach Brian Beebe. “The kids are aware of it, and they know it … we need to do a better job of closeouts.
“We made five threes in the second quarter by three different kids. When we are good and balanced we are really hard to defend. We held them to single digits all four quarters,” Beebe said. “The kids are veteran enough on defense to understand what we need to do on that end of the floor.”
Central’s outside shooting powered the Spartans to a 19-7 second quarter and gave them a 10-point lead, 26-16, at the half. The Spartans had an 11-5 advantage in the third and extended their lead to 16 points, 37-21, going into the fourth.
Grace Weinert led the Spartans with a game-high 12 points. Hannah Thurow added eight, while Wren Nelson and Jessica Petersen scored seven apiece.
Ravenna’s high scorer was Emily Postema with seven points.
Central improved its record to 12-3 overall, 7-1 in the conference. The Spartans host Hart, which is 7-0 in the league, on Friday night.
The Bulldogs fell to 5-9 overall, 2-6 in the league. Ravenna has another conference game Thursday hosting North Muskegon.
