Cedar Springs Senior Tiffany Karger committed to play college basketball for Concordia University—Ann Arbor on Thursday, April 19. Concordia plays in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC). Tiffany will be studying pre-med with a major in Physical Therapy. She played four years of varsity girls basketball for the Red Hawks. In 2010 she was honorable mention in the OK-Blue Conference, and in both 2011 and 2012 she made the All-Conference Team, Advance All-Area North 1st Team, and was a Grand Rapids Press All-Area Honorable Mention.

Tiffany averaged 16.1 points per game, 34.1 percent 3-points, 7.86 rebounds and 72.7 percent free throws.

Her senior year she led the OK-Blue Conference in points (338), 3-point shots made (29) and free throws made (101).

Cedar Springs has had only had five other girls that have gone on to play at the college level and completed their four years of playing college basketball.

Class of 1997 - Autumn Mattson (Waite)  – Lake Superior State University

Class of 1998 – Katie Trolla (Wolfe) – Oakland University

Class of 2001 – Jennifer Booth (Rausch) – Davenport

Class of 2005 – Marissa Anderson (Walker) – Calvin

Class of 2007 – Elyse Schlump – Concordia

#22 Allie Veltkamp driving hard to the basket

#33 Tiffany Karger driving hard in for a layup

Cedar Springs girls’ varsity traveled to Coopersville Tuesday night to play the Broncos. Cedar pulled out the victory win 35 to 33.

The Red Hawks got off to a quick start taking an early lead 13 to 7 at the end of the first quarter. The Broncos stepped up their defensive pressure in the second quarter holding Cedar to only eight points and hitting a buzzer beater at the end of the half to trail 21 to 13.

The third quarter saw some outstanding shooting for the Broncos as they connected on two three pointers and went on a 7 to 1 point run to put themselves right back into the game. Coopersville out scored the Red Hawks 13 to 6 in the period leaving Cedar with only a one point advantage to begin the final stanza.

#34 Rachael Ludtke laying up between two opponents

The contest remained close for the entire fourth quarter, with Cedar Springs maintaining a slim 3 to 5 point margin for most of time. Coopersville continued their hot outside shooting finishing the game at 55 percent from three but Cedar managed some timely defensive stops to hold off the Broncos.

Coach Scott Taylor was pleased with the win, and noted that he knew that Coopersville was a good shooting team from scouting them earlier  this month. “We did contest their shots well but we need to work on the rebounding. At the end of the game we knew that they had fouls to give and would be coming after the ball hard and we take better care of the ball,” he said.

Tiffany Karger led the Red Hawks with 16 points and 8 rebounds. She got help from Rachael Ludtke, who finished with 11 points, Brittany Todd with five, Hannah Wight with two and Allie Veltkamp with one.

Cedar Springs improved their record to 5-­1 and Coopersville slipped to 3-­4.

The team is off until January 3, when they take on Kenowa Hills at home.

Chaya Coxon had 11 points against the Huskies.

The Lady Red Hawks Varsity Basketball team made some tough shots when it counted last Friday to earn a 44-41 win over Forest Hills Northern.
The Red Hawks rolled out the welcome mat for the Huskies then jerked it away by taking an 8-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Huskies fought back toward the end of the second quarter, making their final five shots to tie it up 17-17 at the half.
In the third quarter, Rachael Ludtke scored Cedar’s first six points to give them lead. Chaya Coxon and Molly Holtrop added 3-pointers to extend the lead to 29-24 at the end of the quarter. The Huskies continued to battle it out in the fourth, and were within a single point with only 20 seconds left on the clock when the Red Hawks won the game at the free throw line, 44-41.
Top scorers for the Red Hawks were Rachael Ludtke with 12, and Chaya Coxon with 11. Molly Holtrop added 5, Hannah Wight had 5, Tiffany Karger and Meghan Andres tipped in 4 each, and Brittany Todd scored 2.
Coxon went 6 for 6 in free throws, and and Wight went 3 for 4. Karger was 2 for 3, and Ludtke 2 for 2.
“We out-rebounded the Huskies, and were very strong at the free-throw line (76 percent), particularly late in the game (Wight, Karger),” remarked Assistant Coach Chad Wight. “We recognize that those are key ingredients to being successful and winning games.”
Wight noted that the girls seemed to gel better as a team and got the job done. “We began to realize more of our potential tonight. We had a double-double from Rachel Ludtke underneath the basket, as well as a supporting cast of starters and bench-play that filled in the rest.

Rachael Ludtke charges the basket.

“We had some big shots down the stretch, particularly some treys from both Chaya Coxon and Molly Holtrop. Hannah Wight and Rachel Ludtke grabbed some huge rebounds for us in the closing minutes that kept us on top. The Huskies hit some threes to close the gap, but we never lost our intensity,” Wight added.
The Red Hawks are now 3-1 in conference play, and 6-2 overall.