MMCRU Girls Basketball

by Mari Radtke
Hull schools have a long reputation of being tough in athletics. Trinity Christian hosted the MMCRU Royals on Tuesday February 3 and held to that reputation. In girls basketball action the Tigers put the Royals on notice from the start. They took an opening period 10-2 lead. But the visiting Royals roared back during the second period. The Royals tied up the score late in the second quarter for a very close score at halftime. The teams took a halftime break with a 17-18 Trinity Christian lead to the locker rooms. What a second half! The Royals took an early 3rd period lead. There were lead changes during the 3rd quarter up to about halfway through it. The Royals had a flat score for nearly the last third of the quarter while losing ground to the host Tigers. Trinity expanded their 1-point lead by 6 during the third quarter. Both teams struggled to get points on the board for the first third of the 4th quarter. Scoring was pretty well matched between the two teams during the final stanza until the last maybe 3 minutes. The Tigers were scoreless during that time while the Royals were putting points on the board. The effort fell just short, 38-41.
Leading Trinity scorers were Kierra Heynen, junior; Keely Groeneweg, junior and junior Ali Van Der Brink. They put on the board respectively 14, 11 and 9. Groeneweg and Van Der Brink were hot from downtown. Groeneweg scored 9 and Van Der Brink scored 6 from the circle.
Heynen topped the possession battle. She boarded 10 misses with 4 second chances. She also blocked a shot and stole 6. Sophomore Aubyn Boogerd took down 6 with 2 offensive and a pair of steals. Sophomore Whitney Westra pulled down 5 with 3 offensive, a block and 3 steals.
Royals’ junior Tia Tentinger scored 15 points, with an outside sweet spot giving her 6 from outside. Junior Chloe Alesch drilled 8 points and freshman Samantha Peterson added 7 points, including a 3-pointer. Alesch led Royals possession battles. She took down 7 misses with 3 offensie and 2 steals. Peterson boarded 6 with half from under the Royals’ basket. She also grabbed 3 steals. Half of Tentinger’s 4 rebounds were second chance grabs. Her quick stole 7.
Gehlen girls were in Marcus on Thursday February 5. After about the middle of the 1st quarter it was pretty much a Royals game to lose. They didn’t. The Jays gained during the first half of the third quarter. They hit a flat spot stretching into late 4th quarter. The Royals claimed the win 47-34.
No Royals stats are available at press time.
Gehlen’s leading scorers were sophomore Ayla Schmidt with 8; sophomore Delanie Budden with 6 and sophomore Ella Ruhland, also contributing 6. Junior Halle Walgenbach booked 7 rebounds with 4 offensive and a steal. Bella Scheitler, freshman took half of her 4 boards at each end with a steal and Budden grabbed 4 boards and 2 steals.

The Royals had a good win at Akron Westfield on Friday February 6. The girls held their host Westerners to single digit scoring throughout the game. Royals claim a 32-point road win 52-20. No game stats are available at press time.

MMCRU Boys Basketball News

Tuesday night at Hull the Trinity boys had a tough time finding the basket. They scored just single digits all 4 periods while the Royals ran up a lead by halftime that put the clock on constant running. The game final was 68-21.
Trinity’s leading scorer, senior Clint Van Der Zwaag put in 9 points. Freshman Tyler De Boer and junior Bryce Uittenbogaard both scored 4. Van Der Zwaag grabbed 7 rebounds with 2 offensive and 2 steals. Senior James Postma and Uittenbogaard both took down 6 misses. Postma grabbed half at each end while taking 2 steals and Uittenbogaard grabbed 2 offensive and 1 steal.
Royals game leaders at the scoring end was topped by senor Kamden Bork with 11 points. Senior Michael Schmillen sored 10 and senior Brayson Mulder put in 9. Bork was strong under the baskets with 4 rebounds, half from under each basket. He booked a block and 4 steals. Junior Josh Peterson topped the rebounding with 5/3. He blocked 3 and stole 3. Gavin Poeckes, also a junior boarded 4 with 3 from the scoring end and a steal.
Thursday at Gehlen was another Royals win. Final score was 64-46. No quarter scores are available at press time. No Gehlen stats are available.
Royals scoring leaders are: senior Kamden Bork, 14 with 9 from outside. Junior Josh Peterson put in 14 points and senior Wyatt Alesch scored 13 points included 9 from outside.
Peterson boarded 9 with 5 from Royals scoring basket and 2 blocked shots. Senior Michael Schmillen leaped after 5 rebounds, hands up for a block and quick to get 2 steals. Senior Brayson Mulder also pulled 5 misses with 2 offensive. He grabbed 2 steals.

Limited information for the annihilation of Akron-Westfield Westerners at Akron is available. Final score was 91-24.