Holland Christian girls use big run to top Holland
HOLLAND - After Holland senior Ariana Gray made a 16-footer from the baseline to cut Holland Christian's lead to 16-8 with 2:12 left in the first quarter, it looked as if the two neighborhood rivals might be in for a closely contested battle.
The Maroons had other ideas, though, as they scored the next 34 points of the game over a 12 minute and 10 second span to help Holland Christian to a 66-13 win over Holland on Tuesday night.
"I'm really proud of the girls and the way they locked down defensively, especially when we went to our half-court defense," said Holland Christian coach Levi Painter. "That led to transition points and the girls shot it really well tonight. We hit a bunch of 3s and that's kind of what sparked us was our defense and our rebounding, which led right into transition."
Holland Christian (2-2) jumped out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter thanks to Tryna VanderZwaag's eight points. The Maroons really got things rolling in the second quarter, as they outscored the Dutch 22-0 in the period. VanderZwaag and Camryn VandenBosch buried triples to start the quarter, Tianna Stygstra scored two straight baskets in the paint, Bria Lampen drained a corner 3 and scored on a driving layup, Kierea Smits had two straight buckets, and Paige Phelps drilled a wing 3 just before the halftime buzzer to make it 39-8 Maroons at halftime.
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"I think we just stepped it up by playing more aggressive defense and playing as one," Lampen, who finished with 12 points and three steals, said in regards to her team's impressive spurt. "We all communicated really well on offense and defense. We also pushed the ball on the fast break and saw the court better to find our (open) teammates. We work a lot on making the extra pass and getting our teammates open for a better shot. We had good energy this game and I think that just really showed in the outcome of it."
Holland (1-3) had a rough go of it all night, as the Dutch were never able to get any sort of flow going on offense or defense against the hot-shooting Maroons.
"Holland Christian is a very good team and we knew that coming in," said acting Holland head coach Kristen Slotman. "But when you have (a young team), it's also tough to explain to them how much effort they need to give on a consistent basis. I think we gave a really good effort the first part of our (defensive possessions), but then as soon as a shot went up, we decided to either take the rest of the possession off or we thought we did our work well enough that we were just gonna get the rebound.
So this team needs to learn what fighting for the full quarter means rather than what they think they need to do. It's a learning experience for sure."
Painter was happy with the efforts he got from his entire team.
"It was the whole team tonight," he said. "We're pretty strict on shot selection and when they move the ball, they're gonna get good shots. I was really proud of the girls making that extra pass and that's why we shot it so well. We have a deep team, so playing time is tough to get for those last seven on the bench. 'Five is one' is kind of the motto that we run with and they play like that on the court no matter who is out there."
VanderZwaag paced Holland Christian with 13 points and eight assists. Stygstra and Lampen both added 12 points, while VandenBosch chipped in eight points for the Maroons.
Gray led Holland with seven points, four steals, and three blocks.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian girls use big run to top Holland
