West Michigan Christian Girls Win a Share of Lakes 8 Activities Conference Title

By Craig Beilfuss
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON—The Christian West Michigan women’s basketball team captured a share of the 8 Lakes Activities Conference title Saturday night with a 73-19 win over conference foe Manistee.

The Warriors will share the last Lakes 8 conference basketball title with the Ludington Orioles.

WMC got off to a 4-0 start to see Manistee come back with a 6-0 run to only take the lead at 6-4.

The Warriors then scored the next 23 points in the first quarter, led by senior Kyla Wiersema who scored 22 of those points. Wiersema finished the evening with a game-high 38 points.

Manistee managed to connect on a 3-point shot to end the opening period and found themselves trailing 27-9 after the first eight minutes.

The Warriors continued to rack up the points in the second stanza, beating the Chippewas 19-6 to take a 46-15 halftime lead. WMC freshman Lexi Dagget made three 3-pointers in the second period to lead the Warrior offense with nine points.

There was no offensive release of the pedal in the second half for the Warriors as they held a 15-3 advantage in the third quarter and a 12-1 advantage in the final eight minutes over Manistee.

“Kyla was amazing in the first quarter with 24 points,” Goorman said. “She also took over in defense. The girls were looking for her in positions to score.

“We definitely ended the season on a high note,” said WMC coach Jeremy Goorman. “We worked incredibly hard on the defensive side of the pitch. Our goal is for that defensive intensity to continue Wednesday night in the districts,” Goorman said.

The only other double-digit Warrior was Dagget who had 13 points while making four 3-pointers for the Warriors. Sophomore Ashley Folkema has eight assists.

WMC finished the regular season with an overall record of 15-4 and 9-1 in the Lakes 8 Activities conference. The Warriors will be back in action on Wednesday, March 2 at Holton in the Division 3 Women’s District. They will face the winner of Monday night’s contest between North Muskegon and Shelby. Game time is set at approximately 7 p.m.

Manistee finished the regular season with a 4-15 overall record, and a league-best 3-6 was trailed by sophomore Libby McCarthy with 10 points.