With 20 seconds remaining in overtime of the girls’ basketball game between visiting Plainwell and Middleville on Friday, Feb. 21, Lauren Vandersteldt hit a shot to give her Plainwell the 58-57 lead.
But Middleville had an answer, scoring on a putback with five seconds left on the clock.
A desperation 3-pointer for Plainwell fell short at the buzzer to seal its fate and secure the 59-58 win for Middleville.
“It was a back-and-forth game,” Plainwell coach Tim Rieman said. “It was kind of crazy.”
That craziness didn’t simply refer to the close nature of the score. Rather, it also described the fact that a total of 57 fouls were called on the teams with 65 free throws being shot.
Vandersteldt finished with 18 points to lead Plainwell.
“Lauren is really coming into her own offensively,” Rieman said.
Ellery Troff joined Vandersteldt in double figures, coming off the bench to score 12 points.
“Ellery gave us a lift, which we needed with so many players in foul trouble,” Rieman said.
Plainwell (13-5) started the game by taking a 16-8 lead at the end of the opening quarter only to see Middleville come back to narrow the gap to 23-22 at halftime. Plainwell led 35-32 after three quarters only to see Middleville use a 22-19 edge in the fourth period to tie the score at 54-54.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, Plainwell posted a 53-36 win over Kalamazoo Christian in another non-conference affair.
Vandersteldt led the way with 14 points, followed by Rebecca Gibson with 13 points and Vannessa Robinson with 10 points.
Gibson hit four 3-pointers as part of her scoring total.
“It was good to see Rebecca hitting those threes as she’d been struggling a bit before that,” Rieman said.
The Trojans led 17-1 after one quarter and pushed the lead as high as 26 points.
“It was a great defensive effort against a team that had just defeated unbeaten Schoolcraft on Friday (Feb, 14),” Rieman said.
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