SPRINGPORT -- At times in the second half of Tuesday’s Big 8 game in Springport, the Jonesville girls basketball team saw its lead shrink to as little as four points.
But the Comets were able to pull away down the stretch, getting defensive stops on one end and baskets in transition on the other to come away with the 57-44 win over the Spartans.
“I told my kids to suck it up, whoever was standing at the end was going to win,” Jonesville coach Tom Dunn said. “They made some plays down the stretch. We got a couple fastbreak points and they just gut it out. That’s what we do. That’s what we have to do because we’re not very big. Springport’s got some great players. I thought Maddux Overweg played out of her mind. We had trouble guarding her.”
Overweg in fact led the Spartans with 20 points, mixing in a pair of 3-pointers with several drives to the basket.
“Maddux is the future of this program,” Springport coach Rick Saldana said. “She’s amazing. She plays hard at both end. I told her that sometimes great players have to take over, and I challenged her to take over and that’s what she did.”
But while Overweg had 16 points in the first half, she was limited to four in the second half, driving to the basket once early in the fourth quarter to make it a 39-35 game and scoring on a putback late in the game.
“I think we knew we had to step in a lot faster,” Jonesville guard Mackenzie Baker said. “We had a lot more help-side defense in the middle of the paint, which we really didn’t have in the first half, so that helped a little bit more.”
Ryann Locke had 13 points for the Spartans as well as six steals.
Baker led the Comets with 23 points as well as five rebounds and three steals. Bowman had eight points and four rebounds. Nichols had eight rebounds.
Both teams showed press on defense at times in the game. Jonesville turned the ball over 24 times leading to 12 Springport points off turnovers. Springport turned the ball over 23 times with Jonesville scoring 15 points off turnovers.
When the offenses broke the press, often that resulted in a layup at the other end, leading to a hectic up-tempo pace going both ways.
“We knew we were going to have to run because that’s just what we do to win a lot of our games,” Jonesville forward Lani Bowman said. “We out-run everybody and get them tired, and I think that worked.”
Springport jumped out to the early lead with Overweg finding Abby Heisler in the lane for a basket and Locke adding a three-point play the next trip down the floor.
But Jonesville responded with a 9-0 run. A pair of baskets from Baker, one of them a 3-pointer, as well as a Lyra Nichols layup and a pair of Kierstyn Keller free throws made it 9-5.
After a Locke free throw, the Comets extended the lead to 13-6 as Ward hit a jumper and Baker scored on a putback.
Overweg hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 13-9, but Baker responded with a 3-pointer of her own, then added a layup to put Jonesville up 18-9 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, that lead grew to 11 points before a Spartans run sparked primarily by Overweg. She grabbed a steal and fed Locke for a layup, then scored back-to-back-to-back layups of her own. Jonesville’s Julie Mach hit a 3-pointer during that stretch, but the Spartans were still able to get within six.
A pair of baskets by Baker extended the lead to 30-21 before Overweg responded with a 3-pointer, part of a 13-point second quarter for the sophomore guard.
Jonesville (9-0, 5-0 Big 8) got the lead back up to 11 in the third when Bowman hit the front end of a pair of free throws, missed the second, but the Comets got the offensive rebound and Baker fed Bowman in the lane for a basket.
But Springport (5-3, 2-2 Big 8) got back within four by the end of the quarter as Chloe Neelis fed Locke for a basket, then converted a three-point play off a putback as time expired on the quarter.
“We started playing Springport basketball,” Saldana said. “We started playing our type of basketball. I think Jonesville’s a great team. Early on they dictated what we did and we went away from that. We started playing our type of basketball and got back in it and it gave us a chance.”
Up 41-37 early in the fourth, the Comets got a pair of baskets form Keller before a Bowman layup pushed the lead back to double digits.
Springport rallied to get back within five on a putback by Overweg to make it a 47-42 Jonesville lead, but Kylie Ward answered with a 3-pointer, then fed Baker for a basket in the paint to make it 52-42.
Ad Choices