West Ottawa girls basketball tops Holland Christian behind Reynolds, rebounding

PARK TWP. - The West Ottawa girls basketball team knew it was going to have to find some scoring to balance all-state guard Gabby Reynolds.

After graduating a couple of all-conference players, the offense was going to have to come from some new places, especially if Reynolds was struggling to score.

The Panthers got the best of both worlds on Friday night and used a balanced attack to hold off Holland Christian 56-40 at home.

"I loved our start and our energy, and we were able to overcome their run," West Ottawa coach Paul Chapman said.

Reynolds started strong and finished strong and Chelsea Overbeek, Magaly Lemus and Brooke Pedersen took care of things in the middle as the Panthers (2-0), who never trailed and led by 15 at halftime, were able to pull away in the fourth quarter despite 10 3s from the Maroons (1-1).

"The middle was a lot of double teams and it was exhausting," Reynolds said. "Chelsea helped us gain our momentum throughout the game. In the fourth, I was mentally exhausted, but I knew I had to step up to help the team. Magaly and Brooke were huge on the boards. It was a huge motivation. It gave us second-chance opportunities."

Just 10 seconds into the game, Reynolds hit a 3, only to have Holland Christian's Camryn VandenBosch answer with one.

After a couple of scoreless minutes, West Ottawa's Chelsea Overbeek hit a 3. Magaly Lemus scored in the paint then Reynolds hit to baskets. Sami O'Connor came off the bench and nailed a 3 and the Panthers led 16-3.

Overbeek scored again, before Brooke Pedersen grabbed a tough offensive rebound, was fouled and hit both free throws to push the West Ottawa lead to 20-6 after the first quarter.

In between all of those baskets, the Panthers were playing tough defense, poking steals away leading to those transition baskets.

VandenBosch scored 12 of the first 13 Holland Christian points as the Maroons pulled within 22-13 early in the second quarter.

But Overbeek and Lemus scored in transition and Pedersen and Overbeek each hit two free throws and West Ottawa pushed its lead to 34-19 at halftime.

Tryna VanderZwaag hit three 3s in the third quarter to pull the Maroons within 36-28. Bria Lampen hit a 3 and the Maroons trailed just 38-31.

"Tryna is super touch and Lampen really surprised us," Chapman said.

Pedersen hit a long jumper to put the Panthers up 40-31 after three quarters.

Lampen hit another 3 to start the fourth and the Maroons trailed just 40-34.

But Reynolds scored seven points in the next minute-and-a-half and the Panthers pushed their lead to 47-34.

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Again, Lampen hit a 3. But Reynolds converted a three-point play to return West Ottawa's lead to double digits.

"Brooke and Magaly were outstanding rebounding. Obviously, Gabby is going to get a lot of attention, but the other girls stepped up and are really good players, too," Chapman said.

Reynolds had 25 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Overbeek had 12, Lemus had 10 and Pedersen has six, with four coming directly from offensive rebounds.

VanderZwaag scored 14 points, Lampen had 12 - all on 3s - and VandenBosch had 10.

Despite the loss, the Maroons played extremely well, especially in the second and third quarters.

"Our fight just changed in the second quarter. We went in with a different mindset and knew we had each other's backs. We worked really well as a team," VanderZwaag said. "We played as one."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.