Thornapple Kellogg High School

South Christian junior guard Sophia Prins led the Sailors with a game-high 23 points in the win against Thornapple Kellogg. (WKTV, Greg Chrapek)

By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org

Heading into Tuesday’s OK Gold game against Thornapple Kellogg, South Christian girls basketball Coach Erika Brown was looking for her team to take things up another level on the defensive end. The Sailors ended up doing that and more as South turned in a defensive gem in beating TK 55-25.

“There’s been things that we’ve been specifically working on in practice and we really wanted to put it into the game and see how we could adjust and make those adjustments,” Brown said. “We just need to clean up our defense and slides and positioning and some of our schemes on defense. Just really getting after knowing where we are together as a team in the movement part of it on defense.”

South Christian wasted little time in showing the dividends of the work it put in on defense during recent practices. The Sailor defense was aggressive and on point right from the opening tipoff against the Trojans. With the combination of stingy defense and balance on offense, South Christian took a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Sailor offense was paced in the opening quarter by juniors Lizzie Wolthuis and Sophia Prins who both connected on three-point shots.

South Christian’s Lizzie Wolthuis (3), who totaled 11 points, drives the baseline against Thornapple Kellogg. (WKTV, Greg Chrapek)

“We did get off to a good start,” Brown said. “That’s what we talk a lot about. Our team identifies as defense and transition, so we’ve been really working on those two things.”

South Christian took its defense to another level in the second quarter. Turning up the defensive intensity even more, the Sailors kept TK off the scoreboard for the entire quarter while building a 25-7 halftime lead.

With a double-digit lead heading into the second half, the Sailors maintained their aggressiveness on the defensive end while sharpening their skills on the offensive side of the floor. South Christian outscored TK 17-11 during the third quarter as it built a 42-18 lead.

South Christian closed out the game by outscoring the Trojans 13-7 in the fourth quarter.

Prins led the way for South Christian with 23 points highlighted by 3 three-point baskets.

“Our point guard Sophia (Prins) had an amazing game,” Brown said. “She is our floor general and director. She is doing a lot better in her talking and getting people where they need to be. I was very proud of her tonight.”

Wolthuis also drained a trio of treys finishing with 11 points. Sophomore Meredith Helmus added seven.

Overall, the Sailors were pleased with their offensive production, but like the defense, they see upside for improvement.

“We have some things we have to work on with offense,” Brown said. “We’ve been seeing more zone this year than we have in the past and zone offenses tend to get overlooked a little more than man, the quick-hit plays and all the things you really work on a lot. For what we’ve been working on for zone offense, I was happy and pleased with what we did tonight.”

South Christian senior Kamryn Boonstra (10) looks for an opening against the Trojans defense. (WKTV, Greg Chrapek)

South Christian improved to 14-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference. The win also set the stage for Friday’s OK Gold showdown where the Sailors, ranked 13^th in the state in Division 2, travel to Grand Rapids West Catholic to take on the Falcons, ranked fifth in the state in Division 2 and have a 7-0 record in the conference.

The win was the sixth in a row for the Sailors since they dropped a 62-49 decision to West Catholic in early January. South’s other loss was a 41-39 decision against Hudsonville in December.

With four seniors on the team along with two freshmen, two sophomores and the remaining players from the junior class, the Sailors have a mix of youth and veterans which makes for an enjoyable team to coach.

“We have a group of girls that just love each other,” Brown said. “It’s a little bit more than basketball to us. It’s about life and doing this journey together. Being there through the hard times, the good times, the struggles in school, on and off the court. We have a really, really good squad this year. They’ve really taken this to heart and making this a journey that’s going to be memorable.”

Thornapple Kellogg fell to 2-5 in the league, 6-9 overall. The Trojans were led in scoring by freshman Taylor Lloyd, who drained a pair of treys and finished with 14 points.

(Image Courtesy of South Christian)

By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

On a wet, windy and chilly night, the South Christian football team kept its hopes for a conference championship by playing some old-fashioned football. Relying more on the ground game and playing some strong defense late in the game, the Sailors rallied to defeat Middleville Thornapple Kellogg 29-20 in the WKTV Game of the Week.

With the win, the Sailors remained undefeated in conference play and set up a showdown with Grand Rapids Catholic Central next Friday with the OK Gold Conference championship on the line.

Keeping their conference record clean was anything but easy for the Sailors as Middleville came in with a strong game plan and pushed South to the limit. Relying on their strong running game, the Trojans played to their strengths and gave South everything it could handle.

“We talked about it all week that they are better than their record,” said South Christian Coach Danny Brown. “They are a physical team and they run their schemes well. Their fullback (Drake Snyder) is a heck of a player. It probably helped a little bit when he went out of the game, just for us to kind of dictate the line of scrimmage a little more.”

Middleville showed just how strong it is running the football when it mounted an 11-play, 73-yard scoring drive on the first possession of the game. Quarterback Grant Middleton capped the drive when he ran in for a touchdown from two-yards out halfway through the opening quarter.

South Christian tied the game late in the first quarter. With Middleville bottled up deep in its own territory, Jake Vermaas intercepted a Trojan pass giving South good field position inside the Middleville 20-yard line. A few plays later Drew Bruinsma took a pitch from South quarterback Carson Vis and rambled into the end zone from 14-yards out

Trojans up 14-7 at the half

Middleville regained the lead late in the first half. Again, the Trojans mounted a long drive. Covering 73 yards, the Trojans capped the scoring drive by going to the air as Middleton hooked up with Snyder for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Hayden Chatman added the point after giving Middleville a 14-7 halftime lead.

South responded to the score on the opening drive of the second half. Relying on their own ground game, the Sailors drove the ball down to the Middleville 7-yard line where Vis connected with Austin Tiesma for a touchdown pass cutting the margin to 14-13. South, however, missed the point after.

Trojans up 20-13 in the third

Middleville answered the South score with a scoring drive of its own on the next possession. Starting out at its own 45-yard line, the Trojans moved the ball 55 yards on nine plays. Brody Wiersma capped the scoring drive by running in from 24-yards out. Middleville, however, missed the extra point leaving the Trojans with a 20-13 lead.

South Christian goes ahead 21-20 in the fourth

Facing a touchdown deficit late in the third quarter, the South Christian offense again stepped up. Starting out on their own 35-yard line, the Sailors mounted an 11-play scoring drive that went into the fourth quarter. Mixing the pass and run, the Sailors drove down to the Middleville 4-yard line. At third down at the 4, Vis scrambled in the face of a Middleville pass rush and found Vermaas for a touchdown pass. Down by one point, the Sailors elected to go for the two-point conversion. South pulled a trick out of its bag on the play as Vermaas took the ball on a double reverse and completed a pass to Tyler Brinks in the corner of the end zone giving South a 21-20 lead.

With the lead, the Sailors put the game in the hands of its defense. Making adjustments throughout the game, the Sailor defenders slowed down the Middleville ground game. They forced the Trojans into a three-and-out and then turned Middleville over on downs late in the fourth quarter.

Sailors get insurance score late in the game

South added some insurance points late in the game. With 2:14 remaining, Vis ran in for a touchdown from eight-yards out. The Sailors then added another two-point conversion when Vis connected with James VanderArk on a pass play.

“This was a great team win,” Brown said. “I challenged the guys at halftime. I told them we have to make some positive plays. We had to make them (Middleville) doubt themselves and what they had going on. Our kids just stepped up in the second half.

“The kids got the stops we needed and the two-point conversion was a big play.”

With the win against Middleville keeping their record clean, the Sailors face Catholic Central in the showdown for the league title.

“We’re excited about the game,” Brown said. “It will be fun. We are both undefeated and they are obviously a very good program. It is one of those special games that the kids will remember 20 years from now.”

WKTV Game of the Week

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