By Drew Dargavell, WKTV Sports Intern
ken@wktv.org

In what’s been a bit of an up-and-down season for the South Christian High School girls basketball team, they seem to be hitting their stride at the perfect time with a District title in their hands and a spot in the MHSAA Regional 11 tournament.

Following a convincing win in the Division 2 District 44 finals March 8 against Godwin Heights, the Sailors (13-9) will open play at Coopersville, against the host Broncos (16-7) tonight, Monday, March 11, in a 5 p.m. game.

The Sailors had a slow start to the season, starting off winning only two of its first seven games and then proceeded to win five straight games giving them a record of 7-5. After the streak came to an end, they went back-and-forth winning, then losing every other game for the remainder of the regular season putting their record at 11-9 and finishing in a tie with Grand Rapids Christian for third in the OK Conference-Gold with a conference record of 7-5.

So, in an almost de-facto tie-breaker between Christian and South Christian, they met in the district tournament semifinals.

Christian had the upper hand in the first meeting of the year, winning by a score of 51-41, while South Christian won the second meeting 48-41. But South Christian left no doubt in their district meeting as they defeated Christian 59-26, outscoring Christian 36-12 in the second half. Senior guard Sydney Cleary led the way in this one, scoring 18 points with three 3-pointers, while freshman Sydney Vis scored eight.

Their district final matchup came against a Godwin Heights team that entered the playoffs with a 9-10 record on the season. Godwin looked impressive in their first two district wins, beating West Michigan Aviation 51-17 and Wyoming Kellogsville 56-40.

But South Christian was on a mission as they jumped out to a whopping 44-7 halftime lead. Senior Emily Brinks put up 12 points in the first quarter and Sydney Vis scored 11 in the first half. They lifted their foots off the pedal a bit in the second half as they were outscored four-to-three in the third quarter, but finished the game off strong, winning by a final score of 55-19.

For a story on Wyoming Godwin Heights season follow this link.

Brinks and Vis both ended up with 12 points. Cleary, who was the leading scorer in the semifinal game, ended up with just two points, but she was very active on getting her teammates involved in the scoring.

“I like to pass the ball a lot and get my teammates the opportunity to score as much as I can” Cleary told WKTV after the game. “But I also work on my own game when I need to and when my team needs it from me.”

WKTV also caught up with South Christian head coach Kim Legge after the game on their impressive district performances.

“It’s taken us all season long to get to this point,” Legge said, “but at this point in the season is when you really want it all to come together and that’s what’s happening for us.”

South Christian has now advanced to the regionals for a third straight season where they will take on Coopersville. Coopersville finished the regular season with a 13-7 record and finished third in the OK Conference-Blue. They are in the midst of a 6-game win-streak, which include three district wins coming against Grant, Sparta and Newaygo.

The winner will advance to the region 11 final against the winner of Grand Rapids Catholic Central (15-6) and Muskegon Oakridge (20-3).

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