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‘Getting it all back together’

Central Montcalm junior Lauren Alexander goes for a layup while facing heavy pressure from the Fremont defense as she draws a foul in the first half of the

Green Hornets’ 69-55 victory on Friday. — DN Photo | Alex Freeman Central Montcalm girls put up season-high 69 points, beat Fremont by 14 for third win of the season

ALEX FREEMAN

afreeman@thedailynews.cc

STANTON — Before the final note of the National Anthem was played over the public address system, Maia Sexton scurried past her teammates and hurried toward the nearby trash can.

It was an unusual amount of pregame jitters that led Sexton to the trash can as she battled some nausea. It wouldn’t hold her out from the game though — the Central Montcalm junior was ready after her visit to the trash can.

“I felt a little nauseous, I’m usually nervous when I walk in but I’ve never been that nervous where it’s like I have to throw up,” Sexton said. “But after a little bit of like puke-rallying, I was good.”

Sexton took the opening tip for the Green Hornets and what ensued was their best offensive game of the season, scoring a season-high in points to hand defeat to conference-foe Fremont, 69-55.

The Hornets started out hot on offense with nine points in the first three minutes, taking an early 9-2 lead. The Packers would call a timeout at the 4:30 mark and proceeded to score nine-straight points of their own, jump-started by a four-point play on the first possession out of the timeout.

The Packers led the Hornets for exactly 23 seconds all game — this was their night. A three-pointer from junior Lauren Alexander put the Hornets ahead for good in the game as they ended the first quarter with a 1714 advantage.

Sophomore Emily Putnam got her shot going in the second quarter to catapult the offense to 30 points at the half, leading 30-27. Putnam had three triples in the first half, leading the team in scoring with 11 points. It was the second game back in the lineup for Putnam after missing a stretch of four games in January and her father and head coach, Rob Putnam, was excited to get his youngest daughter back in the lineup.

“When she’s on the outside hitting shots and (Sexton) is inside scoring shots, we’re tough, I really believe that,” Putnam said. “Consistency from these two, we get it, we’re tough and if other girls fill it, it all works. That’s the game plan we came into the season with — Maia and Emily inside and outside and everybody else, when they’re open, get their shots. I guess I was right in that if we can do that, we’ll be really good and that happened tonight.”

Sexton had seven in the first half while battling her nausea but nothing would stop her in the third quarter. The Hornets pulled away from Fremont with a dominant third quarter, outscoring the Packers 21-4 thanks to 10 points in the quarter from Sexton. She was getting fed constantly in the paint and no one could stop the 6-foot-2 center.

“I just played my game,” Sexton said. “Usually if there’s a big girl, I usually get nervous but I just played basketball tonight.”

After Sexton’s scoring barrage, she was called to the bench and made another trip to the trash can. After getting more out of her system, however, she turned around with a smile, sat on the bench for the rest of the quarter and would play out the fourth, finishing with a team-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. Sexton has been a double-double machine this year and, while she’s always had the size, the third-year varsity player said this summer she feels she leveled up her game.

“I think summer basketball at Northwood (University) and Gaylord kind of helped put it all together,” Sexton said. “There’s bigger girls at Northwood and Gaylord so it gets me prepared for our season. I think all of that and the harder teams get us ready for league games.”

Emily Putnam added 20 points, Alexander had 10 and senior Courtney Guelzo finished with nine points. It’s a standard group of who should be scoring for the Hornets but for it to all come together on Friday was special for Putnam to see.

“Everything worked tonight,” Putnam said. “It’s been frustrating for me and the girls, as well; we shoot really good in practice and it just hasn’t carried over to the games. We’ve had great looks in games and we just struggle to put the ball in the basket. We’ve changed a few things up in the last week-and-a-half in practice and I think it’s starting to click for all of them. It was a complete team effort tonight, Lauren, Emily, Maia, everybody was hitting shots tonight.”

The Hornets have now won three of their last seven games after starting the season 0-7. It was a tough stretch but Putnam is seeing some encouraging signs and he said the team is getting back to what has worked in the past.

“We went away from the zone we started with at the beginning of the season and went back to what we’ve always done — play man-to-man,” Putnam said. “It’s been a little bit getting back into the groove … I thought we needed to change some things and we’re back to doing what we like to do. Tuesday against Ionia, we lost by 10 but we missed 16 shots in the paint and missed 10 free throws. We’ve had some close games, we’ve had some bad ones, too, but a lot of our close games we’re like, ‘Man, if we make a couple free throws, we win that game.’”

With a team of mostly juniors who were getting their first quality starter minutes at the start of the year, Sexton noted that the game is starting to slow down as the girls settle into their roles.

“We had a few injuries this season but in the beginning, we all were kind of nervous,” she said. “We have a very young team so we were scatterbrained but we’re finally getting it all back together.”

Putnam couldn’t ask for a game from his girls — it’s always nice to be playing the best basketball of the season in February.

“Tonight, I was really happy with our effort and just the way we played it,” he said. “They had some really nice shots, too, but overall it was a total complete game for us tonight. I’m beyond thrilled for tonight.”

The Hornets will host Reed City for their next game at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

At left, Central Montcalm sophomore Emily Putnam splits the Fremont double team and puts up a layup for two of her 20 points on the night during the Hornets’ 69-55 victory on Friday. Putnam added four rebounds and three steals. At right, Central Montcalm junior Lauren Alexander pulls up from deep to

hit one of her three triples on the night. Alexander finished with 10 points off the bench. — DN Photos | Alex Freeman

At left, Central Montcalm senior Courtney Guelzo dribbles through her defender’s attempt at a steal during the first half of the Green Hornets’ 69-55 victory over Fremont on Friday. Guelzo had nine points, three steals and two rebounds. At right, Central Montcalm junior Maia Sexton gets the ball in the paint and scores an easy layup. Sexton led the Hornets in scoring with 22 points and added 12 rebounds, three

steals and a block. — DN Photos | Alex Freeman

Belding sophomore Hope Kanouse drives the ball against the Calvin Christian defense Friday at Belding High School. Kanouse had 10 rebounds to go with four

points in the win. — DN Photo | Austin Chastain

Belding girls off to electric 8-0 O-K Silver start

AUSTIN CHASTAIN

Achastain@thedailynews.cc

BELDING — Mix a young team unwilling to back down from any challenge with the mentality of a family and add in one of the best players in the state. It’s a recipe for winning basketball.

It’s also a recipe that the Belding girls basketball team has been utilizing well through 13 games this season. All but one of the Black Knights wins (12-1, 8-0 O-K Silver) have been by double digits. The opener against Saranac was a 46-34 win and the lone loss was by two points against Greenville.

Since that loss to the Yellow Jackets on Dec. 10, the Black Knights have not stopped winning and doing so in dominant fashion.

Case and point with Friday’s O-K Silver victory over Calvin Christian. The Black

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The Belding Black Knights went 1-1 at Thursday’s wrestling tri meet at Comstock Park. Pictured is sophomore Jack Ward scoring a takedown on his oppo-

nent in the 189-pound weight class match. — Jamie McNinch Photography

The Greenville boys basketball team fell to Grand Rapids Christian at home on Friday, 91-60. Pictured is junior Asher VanHaren going up for a block attempt on

his opponent. — Jamie McNinch Photography

SPORTS ROUNDUP

BOWLING

IONIA GIRLS WIN, BOYS LOSE TO LANSING EASTERN:

GIRLS: The Bulldogs’ girls team defeated Lansing Eastern on the road Tuesday, 29-1. Zoey Guernsey led the Bulldogs with high scores of 153 and 190. Chloe Witter added high scores of 142 and 165. RECORD: 4-2 overall, 3-2 CAAC-White. BOYS: The Bulldogs’ boys team fell to Lansing Eastern on Tuesday, 20-10. Sam Meyer led the Bulldogs with high scores of 183 and 237. TJ Cox had high games of 157 and 148. RECORD: 2-4 overall, 1-4 CAAC-White, NEXT: at East Lansing at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.