Saugatuck girls top Fennville in Never Forgotten Game
FENNVILLE - Saugatuck girls basketball coach Kevin Tringali has been around the game of basketball for years. So there was something extra special in the Trailblazers' 47-25 win over Fennville on Saturday night in The 12th Annual Wes Leonard Never Forgotten Game.
"This game means so much more than just the game and our kids understand that," said Tringali. "As long as I'm a coach here, I'm gonna do all I can to remind my kids what a special young man Wes Leonard was. I had the honor and privilege to coach him (with the West Michigan Lakers AAU team) and to this day I'm still close to his family. We also appreciate that Fennville could ask anyone to be a part of this game and they choose us."
Fennville (4-15) started the game off strong, as Addyson Brown made a lefty layup and a free throw, Kyli Bushee drained a corner 3, and Kallie Wyman swished a 17-footer to help the Blackhawks move out to an 8-5 lead after one quarter.
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Saugatuck (12-9) found its rhythm in the second quarter, though, as Kennedy Gustafson went 7-of-7 from the line and scored nine of her game-high 18 points to help the Trailblazers outscore Fennville 22-5 over the next eight minutes to take a 27-13 cushion into the half.
"We really bounced back (in the second quarter) even though nothing was going our way," said Gustafson, who also had 15 rebounds. "It's just a crazy environment (tonight), playing in front of all these people who are encouraging you and some who are trying to get in your ear. All of the emotion kind of ate us up and it was really tough to kind of get over that hump, but we did. I'm very proud of our girls and it felt really good, especially to do it for Wes. I know some of us have siblings who knew Wes and I remember (when it happened), so it just felt really good to channel our emotions in a different way and put that focus into the game."
Gustafson had six points and five rebounds in the third quarter to extend Saugatuck's edge out even further, as the Trailblazers took a comfortable 39-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
"I thought we defended well and we showed that we could play with them in the first quarter, but foul trouble hurt us and the highest percentage shot in the game is from the free-throw line," said Fennville coach Josh Weimer. "Our girls played hard and we're a young team that will have everyone returning (next year). We're improving and we're celebrating growth. This is a big stage for us and we're thankful for the opportunity. We know that the cause is much bigger than the outcome of the game and we spoke about that all week long."
Tringali summed up the thoughts of many when asked what he said to his team to help them remember Leonard.
"As time goes on, these younger kids might not necessarily remember Wes, so we share the (ESPN) video with them and we watched it today before we got on the bus," he said. "It really hit home and it's still personally hard for me to watch. These kids just don't understand or know the kind of kid he was and all of the great things that have happened since then thanks to his foundation and his family. This was really, really important for me to make sure that our kids understand his legacy."
Jennifer Schock had eight points and 10 rebounds for Saugatuck. Haley Rivera also scored eight points and dished out three assists, while Ada Roth chipped in seven and Erin Moerler added six for the Trailblazers.
Bushee paced Fennville with nine points and three steals. Lila Rosema helped out with six points and 11 rebounds for the Blackhawks.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Saugatuck girls top Fennville in Never Forgotten Game
