MONTAGUE — Injuries and illness factored heavily into Montague’s 31-point girls basketball loss at division-leading Ludington in December.
In Thursday night’s rematch, the Wildcats were feeling mighty fine.
Montague locked down visiting Ludington with a 2-3 zone defense and earned a 28-21 victory in the CatchMark SportsNet West Michigan Conference Game of the Week.
It was the first divisional loss for Ludington (11-5, 8-1 WMC Lakes), which had an opportunity to secure a share of the Lakes title.
When Montague (10-6, 7-2) lost 49-18 Dec. 13 at Ludington, the Wildcats were missing players because of injury and illness. It was Montague’s first game after standout junior Kendall Osborne was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Montague senior Haylee Schwarz was sick for the first meeting and didn’t make the trip to Ludington. On Thursday, the 5-foot-7 forward/post made a big difference by hustling for team highs of nine points and 11 rebounds en route to being named CatchMark SportsNet’s Player of the Game.
CatchMark produced a free livestream of the game. You can watch the replay here:
Here are more details and notables from the game followed by a highlights and reaction video:
With three WMC Lakes Division games remaining, Ludington holds a one-game lead over Montague and two-game lead over Oakridge in the standings. Ludington has Whitehall, Manistee and Orchard View remaining. Montague has Fremont, Manistee and Oakridge remaining. Oakridge has Orchard View, Whitehall and Montague remaining.
Montague countered Ludington’s height with athleticism and active hands operating out of the zone. The Wildcats held the Orioles to 20.8 percent shooting from the floor (10-of-48), including 8.7 percent from 3-point range (2-of-23).
Montague senior Emma Peterson finished with six points, four assists and three rebounds.
Montague sophomore Addison Pranger had six points, five rebounds and three assists.
Ludington’s Keelyn Laird, a 6-foot-3 senior signed with Ferris State University, led all scorers with 13 points.