By Travis Smola
Vicksburg’s varsity girls’ basketball team has a tough act to follow considering last year’s undefeated regular season and Conference title. But things look promising at the start.
The Bulldogs took down rival Three Rivers on its home court 59-42 in a matchup that was much closer than the final stat sheets will show.
Senior Maddi Diekman led the team with 15 points on the night, which included three key three-pointers. Fellow senior Emma Steele was the next leading scorer. She was the most consistent from the free throw line, with seven of her points coming there. Juniors Hannah DeVries and Scarlett Hosner both had eight points.
Makayla Allen had six points and Emily Zemitans had five. Brooklynn Ringler and Ella Mann both had two. The Bulldogs had some trouble at the free throw line and making layups. They ended up leaving a lot of points on the court that allowed Three Rivers to stay in the game until late.
Vicksburg had a 10-point lead at the half and an 11-point lead after three. It wasn’t until late the Bulldogs started to drain the baskets they missed earlier in the night. But Head Coach Tim Kirby suspects playing four games against tough opponents like Paw Paw and Buchanan in only eight days had something to do with the slow start. Especially considering the Bulldogs’ aggressive, up-tempo style.
“I think the legs kind of left us a little bit tonight,” Kirby said. “You know, we just looked sluggish a little bit.”
While there were a lot of weird bounces in the game, Kirby gave Three Rivers a lot of credit for playing hard defensively all night. The Wildcats were able to take advantage of the missteps to keep the game close. The Bulldogs defeated Buchanan 67-35 and Niles 72-30 in the leadup to the face-off between Conference foes. Paw Paw handed Vicksburg their first regular season loss in a year in a 60-50 loss on the road. But Kirby said the team felt an immediate sense of relief in the aftermath.
“I actually think getting that early loss took some pressure off us to go undefeated again,” Kirby said. “And we came out Monday night against Buchanan and it was 52-14 at halftime. Buchanan’s a good basketball team.”
Kirby knows expectations for this team are high after last season. But he feels the schedule gives them a good chance to rack up the wins again. The team was 5-1 heading into the winter break after a 49-30 win over Plainwell. But this team wants more than to just defend its Conference title. The team was obviously upset it fell short in the subsequent District game.
“We want to win a District championship, we want to win beyond that,” Kirby said. “I’m going to be honest with you, our goal is to get to the Breslin Center this year. Last year our goal was to win the Conference, this year we’re looking at much bigger things. We’re dreaming big. I’ve told a lot of people that: We’re dreaming big this year.”
