Western Impressive in Season-Opening Basketball Win
By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports
(November 30, 2021 11:34 PM) Two teams that advanced to at least the quarterfinals in the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs last year met to begin the 2021-2022 season.
One team appeared to be ready to make another run with the other looked to get healthy and have some seasoning.
Western High School defeated Columbia Central 57-17 at CCHS on Tuesday.
Western tallied more than two dozen turnovers at the Golden Eagles had trouble getting the ball over halfcourt and into the hands of Division 1 commit Tadassa Brown.
CCHS also missed the inside presence of Zoie Bamm – who didn’t play due to an injury.
Western Coach Gina Fortress challenged her players to pressure the basketball all night. That worked well as the Panthers’ defense shut out CCHS in the first quarter, 13-0.
Alyna Lewis scored seven of the 13 points for Western in the first eight minutes of action.
The Panthers took a 26-6 halftime lead as Hillary Griffin tallied seven points in the second quarter.
The Golden Eagles were held scoreless again in the third quarter as Lewis had eight points for Western.
Western scored 19 points in the fourth quarter playing a variety of players.
All five of the Western starters – Lewis, Griffin, Riley Kubiak, Lilli Luma, and Reece Hitt – had at least four rebounds in the contest, Kubiak finished with seven steals, Lewis and Luma finished with four steals apiece, and Hitt dished seven assists in the win.
Lewis led all scorers with 19 points, and Griffin finished with 13 points.
CCHS was led by Brown with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and three steals.
Haslett 41, Northwest 38: Layne Sleight scored 12 points and Ashley Weller added nine points for the Mounties.
Concord 50, Hanover-Horton 46: The Comets had a two point lead at halftime, but the Yellow Jackets outscored H-H 16-10 in the third quarter.
Springport 49, Olivet 46: Springport High School won a non-conference battle against Olivet to open the season.