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Board Comments
The Greenville girls basketball team joined with the Grand Rapids Christian girls basketball team at their center court for a photo with all members sporting an #Oxford-
Strong t-shirt prior to Friday’s basketball game. — Submitted photo
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The Greenville varsity dance team sports their #OxfordStrong t-shirts prior to Friday’s
boys basketball home game against Grand Rapids Christian. — Jamie McNinch Photography
The Greenville High School staff and students sported their #OxfordStrong shirts on Friday during the school day and the evening’s athletic events. The movement was organized primarily by the Oakland Activities Association, of which Oxford is a member. All shirts, produced by E.A. Graphics out of Sterling Heights, were sold to schools and the proceeds from the shirts were
donated directly to Oxford High School and its community. — Submitted photos
The Greenville varsity boys team poses for a photo with their #OxfordStrong t-shirts prior to Friday’s home game
Belding girls off to electric 8-0 O-K Silver start
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Knights picked up the win 52-31 but did not have their best showing on the offensive end. So, head coach Shad Breimayer challenged his team to win the game on the defensive end.
“Probably the worst we’ve played this season — slow start, just lethargic all night and struggled shooting but we made up for it on the defensive,” Breimayer said. “We got deflections, we got steals, we got layups. I told the girls we’re going to have games like this where we struggle to score and have to make up for it on defense. They responded well and we got a ton of steals tonight.”
Belding jumped out with an early bucket from sophomore Brook Simpson. The star guard/forward scored four of Belding’s six points in the first quarter, leading 6-3 after the first frame.
Then the Black Knights went on a tear in the second quarter. Led by both the defense and Simpson, who had 14 points in the quarter alone, Belding carried a 24-12 lead into the break and seemed to have some teetering momentum. The Squires (5-9, 4-4 O-K Silver) never seemed to be completely out of it until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Simpson led Belding again in the second half on both ends of the floor, deflecting passes, rebounding the basketball, pickpocketing defenders and she utilized her speed to turn the steals and deflections into easy transition layups or set her teammates up for a shot.
There was even a pass halfway through the fourth quarter. Simpson stole the ball but it was knocked free by a Squire guard. Simpson scooped the ball and fired a behind-theback pass to freshman guard Alison Rockburn, who coasted for an easy layup.
Rockburn had six points and six rebounds on the night. She admittedly struggled on the offensive end, but she said she knew the defensive end was going to win the game.
“I was trying to work a little bit harder on defense, but early in the game, I had some foul trouble,” Rockburn said. “So I made it a little tough. But towards the end of the game, we started working on harder on defense, and it helped us pull away a little more at the end too.”
Simpson nearly notched a triple-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. She tacked on a block and the assist to Rockburn for good measure.
Fellow sophomore Hope Kanouse had 10 rebounds and steal to go along with four points while junior Alayna Sims had six rebounds and two steals. Junior Grace Cooper had three rebounds, three assists and a steal to go along with two points. She missed time and returned to action earlier this week.
“Gracie Cooper has brought our level of play up offensively, she’s just so aggressive,” Breimayer said. “She’s aggressive defensively. She brings us up on both ends of the court. It’s nice having her back finally. … That helps us a lot having her back.”
The Black Knights face a gauntlet playing the conference’s best in the next three games — starting with a showdown against Sparta at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at home. BHS then travels to Comstock Park on Friday before traveling to Sparta on Feb. 14.
Belding is going into the gauntlet of its season with the backing of a strong core of young stars — led by Simpson, Rockburn, Cooper, Kanouse and Sims among others. The team goes into each game breaking the huddle with one of two words: “Team” or “Family.”
The latter word is written across the Black Knights’ warmup shirts. It isn’t just a rallying cry in the moment and adrenaline of the game, it’s what the team lives by and that mentality has translated to wins.
“We preach that a lot,” Breimayer said. “(Play) as a family, back each other up an have each other’s back when you’re out on the floor. We’re starting to get more of that camaraderie amongst the team like they’re starting to gel a little more than we started this year. … We use that to motivate the girls to play as a team and play as one unit.”
Briemayer added there is no drama on the team — everyone seems to get along with one another. Even with a long stretch of playing six games in two weeks, the Black Knights are keeping their attitude high and the energy for one another even higher — even when their legs are tired.
Rockburn said she has enjoyed the season to this point and it is a blast having the chemistry for both knowing where everyone is on the floor and being there for each other when games turn into struggles.
“It’s very important because when we’re all we’re having rough games, and one of us gets down on ourselves, we don’t start yelling at each other all the time on the court,” Rockburn said. “We just try to pick each other up and work together as a team and start talking.”
Following a timeout, the Belding Black Knights break down the huddle against Calvin Christian on Friday at Belding High. The Black Knights always break down the huddle with the words “team” or “family” as a reminder of how they
play for each other. — DN Photo | Austin Chastain
SPORTS ROUNDUP
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Thursday in overtime. Courtney Grant led the Wildcats with 12 points while Baylor Syrjala added 11 points. Madison Hart had nine points and Molly Willison led the defense and finished with eight points. COACH’S QUOTE: “Molly did a tremendous job defensively on Midland’s high scorer until she fouled out.” — Jack Cribb. NEXT: at Vestaburg at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
COLEMAN 47, VESTABURG 30: The Wolverines lost to conference-leading Coleman at home on Thursday. Natalie Skowron finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks to lead the Wolverines. RECORD: 3-9 overall, 3-6 MSAC. NEXT: home against Lakeview at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
BOYS BASKETBALL
CC-C 60, ASHLEY 20: The Eagles dominated Ashley on the road Friday. Mason Smith finished with 12 points while Jacob Stevens had nine. COACH’S QUOTE: “Everybody played well and it was a good team win.” — Cory Schneider. RECORD: 11-1 overall, 9-1 MSAC. NEXT: at Fulton at 5:30 p.m. tonight.
GR CHRISTIAN 91, GREENVILLE
60: The Yellow Jackets fell to Grand Rapids Christian at home on Friday. Trevor Zamarron led the Jackets with 27 points while Jaxon Ingles finished with 10. RECORD: 3-10. NEXT: at Forest Hills Northern at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
WRESTLING
BELDING 1-1 AT COMSTOCK PARK:
The Black Knights went 1-1 at Comstock Park on Thursday for a tri meet, defeating Cedar Springs (43-30) but losing to Comstock Park (39-32). Belding wrestlers finishing the night with a 2-0 record included Blake Peasley (135-pound weight class), Anthony Szubinski (140), Bradley Winsor (145), Gavin Craner (160), Jack Ward (189) and Ethan Schmid (215). NEXT: at Godwin Heights O-K Silver tournament at 9 a.m. today.
