Holland Christian second-half surge tops Hopkins in district semis

HOPKINS - It was beginning to look like it might be a premature end to the season for Holland Christian on Wednesday night after the Maroons were unable to find any sort of offensive rhythm and trailed Hopkins 23-19 at halftime.

But Holland Christian had other ideas, outscoring Hopkins 15-4 in the third quarter and holding the Vikings to just nine second-half points in the Maroons' 45-32 win in the Division 2 district semifinals.

"Holding them to nine (points) was huge," said Holland Christian coach Levi Painter. "I think our defense really stepped up. We have a deep team and we played nine (players) tonight. They all brought it and I felt like we kind of wore (Hopkins) down there in the third and fourth quarter."

Holland Christian (16-7) will now move on to play Hamilton in the Division 2 district finals on Friday. The teams split their two OK Blue regular-season meetings.

"Hamilton is a great team and they've got some star power there," Painter said. "They can shoot the 3 and they can get it done inside. We've gotta match their energy because they're a solid team. We'll see how it goes."

Subscribe:Get complete Hope College and local sports coverage with this special offer

Camryn VandenBosch and Bria Lampen each hit a 3-pointer early in the first quarter to help Holland Christian move out to an early 6-2 lead. Hopkins (15-7) outscored the Maroons 11-4 over the rest of the quarter to take a 13-10 lead into the second.

Tryna VanderZwaag drained a 3 and made two free throws to help Holland Christian tie the score twice in the second quarter, but Hopkins scored four points in the final 30 seconds of the first half to maintain a 23-19 lead at the break.

Both teams scored four points in the first minute and 45 second of the third quarter before the Maroons started to make their move. Lampen knocked down two free throws and scored on a breakaway layup off a steal and long pass from VanderZwaag, VanderZwaag drove the left side of the lane for a basket, Lampen got a steal and raced the length of the floor for a score, VandenBosch made a crafty baseline jumpstop and short bank shot, and VanderZwaag hit a free throw to help Holland Christian score the last 11 points of the third quarter to take a 34-27 cushion into the fourth.

"We knew that we needed to bring energy (in the second half) because this could've been our last game," VandenBosch, who paced the Maroons with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, said. "But we just pulled through and brought the energy on defense. I was able to get to the hoop a lot tonight, which helped (us on offense). Our defense was great and we got a lot of stops, which transitioned to offense to give us some good layups. We work on (defense) a lot in practice, so it feels good to see it pay off like that.

"We also noticed that the driving lanes were open a lot, so we really took advantage of that. Our rebounding was (great) as well, which helped us get some good putbacks."

Painter had high praise for his sophomore guard and the way she has adjusted her style of play on offense.

"Camryn has definitely added that to her game this year where she can score both outside and inside," Painter said. "The outside shot wasn't working for her too much (tonight), but she still helped our team win by scoring inside. Her rebounding has also improved a ton."

Holland Christian's lead never shrunk below six in the fourth quarter, as Jenna VandenBrink had a block and VandenBosch scored on an offensive rebound. The Maroons made nine free throws over the final 3:51 of the game to help them pull away for the double-digit win.

VanderZwaag had 13 points, five steals, and three assists for Holland Christian. Lampen added nine points and Kayla Cannon swiped four steals for the Maroons.

"I think we were just a little excited to start the game and we were just trying to get the girls to settle down," Painter said. "Those drives were there for them in both halves, but they settled in and knocked down their layups in the second half. I thought we got out in transition a little bit more in the second half and that's what kind of fueled the spurt for us (at the end of the third quarter). We also got some good contributions from the bench tonight. Tianna Stygstra and Teagan Schoonveld brought some good energy and got some loose balls for us throughout the game."

Senior Mady Weber led Hopkins with nine points in her final game for the Vikings.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian second-half surge tops Hopkins in district semis