GRAND RAPIDS – Poise was the word Monday night for Hudsonville’s girls’ basketball team.
The Eagles had it when they were run over by East Lansing to start the game, and they had it when the Trojans tried to run them down late.
Hudsonville defeated East Lansing 56-42 in a Division 1 quarterfinal game at Calvin University. The win sends the Eagles to the semi-final game on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against Midland Dow at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center in Lansing.
In Monday’s game, East Lansing (16-1) was in 2nd place against Hudsonville (21-1) in 3rd place, and things didn’t look so good for the Eagles when the Trojans took the lead 7-0 and 13th led -4 after one. But Hudsonville cut the deficit to 17-16 at halftime, and with the momentum behind them, they’d rise 11 in the third quarter.
The Trojans stormed back in the fourth quarter and reached a value between 35 and 33 at the beginning of the quarter. Again, the Eagles did not panic, quickly gained momentum and finally took control.
“We started not to hit our shots,” said sophomore Jaci Tubergen. “We got an open look and got what we wanted, but we just wouldn’t let her down. I think we did a good job, holding our heads high, trusting our offense and trusting where we would be, and we were able to find open players.
“We knew we could trust each other. We got off to a slow start, but we knew we could play better. “
The big difference was that Hudsonville made nine 3-pointers while East Lansing ended up with zero. Tubergen had five of them and his colleague Maddie Petroelje had four in the second year. The two connected for seven of them in the second half.
Tubergen, who had 21 points to lead the Eagles, opened the third quarter with 3 straight pointers to give Hudsonville the first lead of the game. It was a head start the Eagles would not be without.
Petroelje finished the race with 12 points and had a pair of Clutch 3s to fend off the Trojans in the fourth quarter.
“Jaci was great, she was a freshman,” said Hudsonville coach Casey Glass. “I can’t say enough good things about her. But she will tell you the same thing. It’s not just her. Your teammates put up good screens and their teammates found them open shots.
“Maddie and Jaci are light shooters. If there is room, these shots can hit them. Maddie could hit a few big ones. “
The Eagles will make their second trip to the semi-finals after losing to Warren Cousino in the 2016 semi-finals.
“I couldn’t be happier. Tournament game, March Madness, that’s what it’s about, ”said Glass. “It was fantastic for our girls to fight and fight like tonight.”
Corrine Jones led East Lansing with 13 points while Soraya Timms got nine points.
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