The Sun and News, Saturday, March 2, 2024/ Page 13No. 7 DeWitt bests Scots in regular season finale
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The moments were there
when the Fighting Scots did
everything right except put
the ball through the rim
Tuesday night in a tough sea-
son finale.
Early in the second half
the Fighting Scots worked
the offense, got the ball
inside got good looks for
junior center Lakely Bottum
in the lane for decent looks
that just didn’t drop.
Sophomore guard Baylee
Devries attacked the basket
for a good look at the hoop.
Teammates Mackenzie
Myers and DeVries both hit a
couple back-to-back late
threes in the third quarter.
The Scots would have
really had to be on fire to
knock off seventh-ranked
DeWitt though. The visiting
Panthers improved to 20-
overall with a 60-35 win
over the Caledonia varsity
girls’ basketball team at
Caledonia High School.
There were also times
where the Scots turned the
ball over a little too often too
though. The Panthers more
than their fair share of break-
away lay-ups in the contest.
The Scots had an early 6-
lead, but DeWitt closed the
first quarter on a 10-2 run
and never looked back.
CHS junior guard Kathryn
Langenburg banked in athree a minute and a half into
the second quarter and a cou-
ple free throws from fellow
junior Brecken Bloemers
kept the Scots in striking
distance for a bit. A bucket
by freshman guard Kayla
Briseno had Caledonia with-
in 23-15 midway through the
quarter.
DeWitt closed strong
again though. This time it
was a 14-3 run to close the
quarter. DeWitt led 37-17 at
the half. The Panthers’ lead
never dipped below 20 points
the rest of the way.
Langenburg finished with
a team-high seven points on
the night. Mackenzie Myers
had six points and Bloemers
finished with five.
DeWitt had three girls in
double figures, led by 15
points from junior guard Tara
Kurncz. Sophomore forward
Carly Dennis had 14 points
and junior guard Madi Uyl
finished with 12 points for
the Panthers.
The Scots end the regular
season with a 5-17 overall
record. They were 2-12 this
season in the OK Red
Conference.West Ottawa
bested the Caledonia girls
65-27 in the conference fina-
le last Friday, Feb. 23, in
Holland.
Caledonia is scheduled to
host Ottawa Hills in the
opening round of its MHSAA
Division 1 DistrictTournament Monday at 6
p.m. The winner of that ball-
game heads to Lowell to faceEast Grand Rapids in the
district semifinals
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Caledonia senior
duo qualifies for
spots in D
Bowling Finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Caledonia seniors Kala
Bisterfeldt and Emma
Whitman are at the MHSAA
Division 1 Individual
Bowling Finals today,
March 2, after rolling their
way through to spots in the
top seven at the regional
tournament last week in
Kalamazoo.
Bisterfeldt placed fifth
and Whitman seventh in the
MHSAA Division 1
Individual Bowling
Regional Friday, Feb. 23, at
Revel N Roll West. The top
seven from the regional
qualified for today’s state
finals which are being held
at Thunderbowl Lanes in
Allen Park.
Whitman was two pins
behind Grandville freshman
Daniela Atkins heading into
the last of their six games in
the competition. Whitman
rolled a 169 in that last
game to wind up 34 pins
ahead of Atkins, who placed
eighth in the end.
Zeeland East senior Rylee
Smith won the individual
regional title on the girls’
side with an overall pinfall
of 1,258 capped off by a
perfect 300-game in her last
contest of the day. That 300
gave her a safe cushion over
Grandville junior Paiton
Thompson who was second
overall with 1,130.
Thompson is the only one
of the seven state qualifiers
from the girls’ regional in
Kalamazoo who is not a
senior. The other state qual-
ifiers included Zeeland
East’s Brianna Fortney, East
Kentwood’s Kamaria
Stewart and Portage
Central’s Miranda
Gunthorpe.
Bisterfeldt ended her day
with her top score of the
tournament too, a 197. She
had other high games of 171
and 178 and was steady
throughout the day. Whitman
had high games of 189, 188
and 175 among her six.
Scot sophomore Addison
Luxford was 22nd, junior
Kaelin Kalacanic 28th,
freshman Riley Kalacanic
41st and junior Josie Burns
56th overall for the day.
Sophomore Brady
Humbarger led the
Caledonia boys during the
day’s competition placing
22nd. He had high games of
207, 191 and 181. Senior
Wade Cawson rolled a high
game of 201 at the end of
the day and finished 26th.
The CHS boys’ team also
had senior Noah Crueger
42nd, senior Jack Thornton
47th and senior Cam Elmore
49th. Crueger had a high
game of 219 and Thornton
had a high of 205 to close
their varsity bowling
careers. Elmore had a top
tally of 175 in his opening
game of the tournament.
Portage Central’s Matt
Sprau was the individual
regional champion in the
boys’ meet with a total pin-
fall of 1,279. He had high
games of 256, 238 and 224.
Zeeland East junior Noah
Vandervelde was the run-
ner-up with an overall score
of 1,224.
The team regional com-
petitions were held
Thursday. The CHS girls
were fifth and the boys ninth
overall.
Zeeland East took the
boys’ regional title with an
overall score of 2,764 and
Hudsonville also qualified
for the team state finals with
a score of 2,660. Grandville
was third in the 11-team
meet with a score of 2644.
Grandville won the girls’
meet with a score of 3,
and Hudsonville finished as
the runner-up with a score
of 3,298. Zeeland East
placed third in the 12-team
girls’ meet with an overall
score of 3,185. The team
regionals consisted of eight
Baker games and two regu-
lar games for each team.Caledonia seniors Kala Bisterfeldt (right) and
Emma Whitman celebrate qualifying for the singles
competition at the MHSAA Division 1 Bowling
Finals with their top seven finishes at their regional
tournament in Kalamazoo Feb. 23.
Caledonia guard Lily Gortmaker attacks the basket
during her team’s non-conference ballgame against
visiting DeWitt Tuesday night. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Caledonia junior guard Kathryn Langenburg works
to flip a shot around DeWitt’s Emmalee Wolfe-Plain in
the paint during their non-conference ballgame at
Caledonia High School Tuesday. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)Fighting Scot senior Mckenzie DeVries celebrates
a teammates late three-pointer during their loss to
visiting DeWitt Tuesday night at Caledonia High
School. (Photo by Brett Bremer)