PENTWATER — In a game of runs Thursday night, Pentwater was able to come up with the last laugh, hanging on for a 46-44 win over county rival Walkerville.
The game wasn’t decided until the final buzzer, when the Wildcats’ final shot from near midcourt was off the mark, officially halting the Falcons’ four-game losing streak.
Both teams took double-digit leads during the game, with the Wildcats doing so first, racing to an 18-5 edge in the first quarter behind strong defense and good jump shooting. Pentwater then stormed back with an 11-0 run to get back in the game, grabbing the lead on a floater by Lauren Davis to make the score 22-20 Falcons.
“Unfortunately, we’ve gotten pretty good this year at getting in a pretty good hole starting off, so it’s almost like we get comfortable when we get into the hole,” Pentwater coach Brandon Knoll said. “Walkerville did a good job. They came out and they played really hard. They put us in a good hole, but we battled pretty hard tonight.”
Pentwater (4-7, 3-5 West Michigan D League) then built up a sizeable lead of its own as Wakerville struggled to string good possessions together on offense. However, after a while the Wildcats began to battle back, as its defense returned to its first-quarter form.
Gaby Berumen made some of the biggest plays, scoring an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Wildcats (1-8, 1-7 WMD) back to within four, 36-32. She then capped a 10-0 run by making the audacious decision to pull up for a three-pointer on a fast break, drilling it to give the ‘Cats the lead again at 39-36. She was also a major factor on the defensive end at the biggest moments for Walkerville.
Pentwater's Emma Werkema-Grondsma stops Walkerville's Gaby Berumen from getting to the basket during Thursday's game at Pentwater. Each player was a major factor for their teams in the Falcons' 46-44 win.
“She’s really worked,” Walkerville coach Mandy Achterhof said of Berumen. “She puts in a ton of time in the summer and in the gym, and she’s a workhorse. Her goal was to work on her perimeter shot, and she really has stepped it up and done that a lot.”
The Falcons’ Aubrie Adams responded to Berumen’s trey with one of her own to tie the score with 3:32 to play, then went coast to coast for a layup to put her team ahead for good, 41-39. Emma Werkema-Grondsma had her team’s final four points on a putback and a layup coming off a steal.
Adams had some big moments for Pentwater in the game, knocking down a second-quarter trey before being fouled on the follow-through and displaying confidence with the ball in her hands.
“We lean on her a lot, a senior guard,” Knoll said. “She’s been here before, so it’s nice to have somebody like that. You can put the ball in her hands, and you take the stress down a little bit.”
Walkerville clawed its way back to within two points and had one last chance to win it after the Falcons missed a couple of free throws late, but could only get to midcourt before being forced to try a long buzzer-beater, which missed.
Walkerville really struggled to put up points early in the season, and while that’s still not the strongest part of the Wildcats’ game, they’ve bumped their point totals from the mid-20s at the start of the season to consistently going near or over 40 points, which is clear progress. It’s fueled by the Walkerville defense, which is athletic and smart, harassing ballhandlers and occasionally intercepting passes, which leads to fast breaks.
“They work really hard on trying to read the floor and be in the right positions,” Achterhof said. “We worked a lot on defense in the first half of this year in practices and continue to work on that, making those steps and those improvements to be able to understand and read the floor and understand the game better.”
As for Pentwater, Adams’ steady presence has been complemented by the emergence of Werkema-Grondsma as a scoring threat on the inside. Her growing confidence makes the Falcons a more dangerous team for opponents.
“Emma’s just growing huge,” Knoll said. “The confidence is getting better. As you could see tonight, she’s way more confident getting the rebound and pushing it herself, and we’re a way better team when she’s aggressive like that. You can see that it pulls us out of the hole.”
Adams scored 15 points and Werkema-Grondsma had 13 for the Falcons, while Berumen put in 11 points for Walkerville. Isabel Babbin had five first-quarter points for the ‘Cats and ended up with 10.
