Wolves win nailbiter against young Bears

Chris Abbott

Regional Editor

Waterford Wolves senior girls managed to hold off the Valley Heights Bears 19-16 on Oct. 24 in what was the closest AABHN basketball game of the season for both teams.

“Too close for comfort,” said Waterford District High School coach Jason Mayo, who admitted there was a bit of stress during the final minutes. “Very proud of both teams for just playing their hardest and giving their all. They did great – both sides.”

Waterford took a 10-2 lead at the very start, noted VHSS coach Caleb Girard, but the Bears dug in and started their long comeback. Late in the fourth quarter, with about three minutes left, it was only a one-point game, and Valley had at least two opportunities to score the go-ahead basket in the final minute before the Wolves scored with 10 seconds left to make it 19-16.

“Got a couple good looks,” said Girard.

“It was a similar game to SCS (Oct. 22), we fell behind, then the girls and I figured out where their points were coming from and we were able to change our strategy a little bit. We kind of changed some of our positioning around to shut them down a little bit.

“It worked again today, we got back into the game, and we could feel the momentum changing. We had a good crowd out here tonight cheering us on and the girls were all in it. Win or lose, it was our last game so these girls were leaving it all on the line. They played their hearts out… and came up just short.”

Valley Heights’ junior team had folded a week earlier because they weren’t getting enough players out. A few were elevated to the senior team – six Grade 9 and 10s played for the seniors in the season finale.

“They honestly made a difference, they put in a good shift and helped out our seniors. They brought a little energy, a little juice. We only had six seniors – that’s all we had that tried out, so only one sub.”

Fresh legs allowed Valley Heights to press, which at times late in the game proved to be problematic for the Wolves.

“Today we were switching in a couple juniors at a time, letting them run their legs off. Then did it again – they really helped out a lot bringing up the intensity and giving the seniors a well-deserved break out there.”

On Nov. 4, undefeated Holy Trinity defeated Waterford 53-16 in the AABHN South Division semifinals.

chris@granthaven.com