Sirena Johnson assisting on offense

Due to the wonderful winter weather in Michigan, the JV Red Hawks girls basketball team only played one basketball game last week. The West Catholic game that was scheduled for February 1 has been rescheduled.
Although there was no school for both teams on February 3, the Cedar Springs JV Red Hawk girls traveled to Sparta to battle the Spartans. Both teams started out slow with very little scoring and ended the first quarter with Cedar Springs leading 8-3. The slow pace continued through the second quarter, with the  Red Hawks scoring 3 points and Spartans scoring 8 points to end the half tied 11-11.
Sparta stepped it up in the third scoring 14 points to Cedar Springs’ 9 points and took the lead at the end of the quarter 25-20. The Red Hawks came back with determination in the fourth quarter and tied the score at 28 points early on. Key jump shots by Abby VanDusen and 3-point baskets by Shaelyn Fasel and Allie Veltkamp helped seal the Red Hawk victory 36-33.
Abby VanDusen led the JV Redhawks in scoring, and Allie Veltkamp. Shaelyn Fasel, Sommer VanDyke and Jeanette Sukstas also scored for the Red Hawks.
The JV Lady Red Hawks were scheduled to host Tri-County on Tuesday, February 8 and Coopersville on Thursday, February 10.

Red Hawk Tiffany Karger scored 9 points against the Kent City Eagles last week. Photo by R. Karger.

The Cedar Springs Red Hawks Varsity girls basketball team had a rough couple of games last week, losing to both Wayland and unbeaten Kent City.
The Red Hawks traveled to Wayland to face the Wildcats on Thursday, January 20.
Cedar Springs kept up with Wayland in the 1st and 3rd quarters, but were out scored in the 2nd and 4th due to a lot of unanswered buckets. The Red Hawks trailed by a score of 14-10 in the first quarter, and while the Wildcats kept up the pace in the second quarter, scoring another 14 points, the Red Hawks only managed 2. The third quarter saw more buckets from Cedar, but they only scored 10 points to Wayland’s 11. The fourth quarter was also dismal for Cedar, with them scoring only four points to answer Wayland’s 12. Final score was Wayland 51, Cedar Springs 26.
Scoring for the Red Hawks was Rachael Ludtke and Molly Holtrop both with 8 points; Chaya Coxon with 6; and Brittany Todd and Tiffany Karger both with 2. Coxon also went 4 for 4 on free throws and Ludtke 4 for 6.
Leading scorer for the Wildcats was Molly Lameyer with 18 points.
The Red Hawks then faced an unbeaten Kent City team on Saturday, January 22. Kent City kept the Red Hawks at bay, allowing them to score only 12 points in the first half, to Kent City’s 22. The Eagles came on even stronger in the second half, scoring 16 points in the third quarter to Cedar’s 5, and 19 in the fourth. Cedar answered with 13, but it was not nearly enough and the Red Hawks lost 57-30.
Leading scorers for the Red Hawks were Tiffany Karger with 9 points, and Rachael Ludtke with 7.
Leading scorer for the Eagles was Anna Iwaniw with 16 points. Also in double digits were Kara Carlson and Sonnie Kumat, both with 11. Alleigh Braford tipped in 8.
The Red Hawks were back on their game Tuesday, January 25, when they pulled out a close victory over the Comstock Panthers, 49-42. Read about it next week’s Post!
The Red Hawks are in second place in the OK-Blue with a 4-1 record, and are 7-4 overall. They host Belding on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym, and travel to face division leader West Catholic (5-0, 10-3) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at West Catholic High School.

Sommer VanDyke driving to the basket.

The girls JV Red Hawks were snowed out on January 18 but made it up in more ways than one on Saturday, January 22. It was a great afternoon of basketball with the JV Red Hawks traveling to Kent City. At the end of an exciting first quarter, the girls were behind with a score of 12-10. The Red Hawks played hard in the second quarter, scoring another 10 points and going to the locker room leading 20-16.The girls came out from halftime to play another good quarter of basketball and still held the lead 30-26. They scored 12 points in the fourth to take the victory 42-39.
“We played very intense and our free throws won the game for us in the end,” commented Coach Tom Welsh.
Jeanette Sukstas, Sommer VanDyke and Allie Veltkamp scored a combined total of 37 points with Molly Caniff, Shealyn Fasel and Abby VanDusen also scoring for the Red Hawks.
On Thursday January 20, the JV Red Hawks hosted Wayland. The game started very physical and the girls fought hard against a very good Wayland team.  The Red Hawks found themselves behind 39-23 at the halftime buzzer. The girls came out scoring in the third quarter to shorten Wayland’s lead to 14 points and end the quarter 55-41. The hard physical play was too much for the Red Hawks and they fell to Wayland 68-48.
Even with a 20 point loss coach Tom Welsh commented that the JV girls were out sized but everyone played hard and played their best.
Sommer VanDyke led the Red Hawks in total points with Allie Veltkamp. Jeanette Sukstas, Sirena Johnson, Abby VanDusen, Delaney Holtrop and Shelby Towers also scoring the the Red Hawks.
The JV girls traveled to Comstock Park on Tuesday January 25 and will play on Friday January 28 against Belding.

Junior Chaya Coxon helped lead the Red Hawks to another win with 10 points against the Broncos Friday night. Photo by R. Karger.

Freshman Brittany Todd led the scoring for the Red Hawks with 13 points against Coopersville last Friday. Photo by R. Karger.

Cedar Springs Lady Red Hawk Varsity Basketball paid a visit to Coopersville last Friday, January 7 and came away with another victory under their belt.
The Red Hawks hit the ground running early and ended the first period with a 16-6 lead, and finished out at halftime with a 25-9 advantage. The Broncos did not back down, however, and out scored the Hawks by one point in the 3rd quarter and six points in the 4th. The Hawks were already well in the lead, though, and held on to win a 42-33 O-K Blue victory against Coopersville.
Cedar Springs, now 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the O-K Blue, were led by freshman Brittany Todd with 13 points coming off the bench. Also contributing was Chaya Coxon with 10 points, Tiffany Karger with 5 points, Molly Holtrop with 4 points, Amber Milligan 4 points, Rachael Ludtke with 3 and Lindsey Kline 3 points.

Red Hawk Jeanette Sukstas shoots a 3-pointer.

It was a great week of basketball for the Cedar Springs JV girls as they recorded two victories last week. After the long holiday break, the JV Red Hawks traveled to Kenowa Hills on Monday, January 3. Both teams came ready to play with an exciting first half and kept the scoring close. The two teams exchanged the lead five times and tied the game four times before the halftime buzzer. The Red Hawks went to the locker room behind by one point 14-15.
The second half began as the first half left off. The teams again tied the game once in the 3rd quarter and exchanged the lead six times in the second half. Finally the relentless pressure of the defense sealed the victory for the lady Red Hawks with a final score of 32-27. Jeanette Sukstas, Sommer VanDyke, Shaelyn Fasel, Allie Veltkamp and Abby VanDusen had a combined total of 25 steals. Allie Veltkamp was high in scoring with Sommer Vandyke, Molly Caniff, Abby VanDusen and Tamar Clark adding to the total points.
“The team played with integrity and teamwork,” commented Coach Tom Welsh.
The team then traveled to Coopersville on January 6. The girls had another tough game with the lead going back and forth. They fell behind at the end of the first quarter 8–9 and went to the locker room down 16–19 at the half. The Red Hawks came back strong in the third quarter and took the lead 33-29. Coopersville came back in the forth by scoring 10 points to end the game in a tie 39–39 and send the game to overtime.
The girls went into overtime determined to win with four Red Hawk girls scoring a combined 13 points in the overtime period to beat Coopersville 52-45. “It was an even game, but we really picked up the intensity once the game hit overtime,” noted Coach Welsh.
Sommer Vandyke led the scoring effort while Jeanette Sukstas, Tamar Clark, Abby VanDusen and Allie Veltkamp added points to the Red Hawks total.
The Red Hawk girls play at home on Thursday January 13 against Forest Hills Northern.

Allison Hamilton (14) goes for the steal while Jessica Kriekaard plays defense.

The Cedar Springs girls freshmen basketball team started the season with a fine 4-1 record. However, last week they suffered two tough losses by a total of 3 points. After a one-point loss to Kenowa Hills, the Red Hawks played the undefeated Coopersville Broncos last Thursday, January 6. Coopersville had won every game this year by a margin of 13 points or more. Cedar Springs led after one quarter, but Coopersville controlled the second and third quarters to take the lead. The Red Hawks fought back, responding with 17 fourth quarter points to tie the game in the last minute, but the Broncos scored with less than 10 seconds left to defeat the Red Hawks 36-34.
The Cedar Springs freshmen girls have victories over Greenville, Lowell, Sparta and Forest Hills Eastern this season. They are coached by former Cedar Springs basketball player Emily Sorensen. The Freshmen are playing without their top player, Brittney Todd, who is playing on the varsity this season, and led the varsity in scoring last Friday in a win over Coopersville.
The freshmen team scoring leader this season is Mary Monterusso with 59 points (8.43 average per game). Mary also leads the team in steals with 26, and 3-pointers, making four of 11 attempts (36.4 percent). Mikenzie Francis is second in scoring with 46 points and leads the team in assists with 15. Nikki Matzke is third in scoring with 40 points and she leads the team in shooting percentage from the floor (18-48 for 37.5 percent) and is second in rebounding with 29.
Allison Hamilton leads the Red Hawks in rebounds with 40 (5.71 per game) and also leads in blocked shots. She is fourth on the team in scoring with 26 points. Taylor Baker is next with 24 points and 21 rebounds. Sayge Wight has 19 points and 23 rebounds. Kate Miller has 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jessica Kriekaard has 9 points and 10 rebounds for the season, while Alysha Chaney has 4 points and 6 rebounds. Bre Burns has 2 points and 8 rebounds, and Alli Rohacz has 2 points and 3 rebounds.
The Red Hawk freshmen girls continue their season against Forest Hills Northern on Thursday, January 13 at Cedar Springs High School. Game time is 4 p.m.