By Bruce Rolfe

The Climax-Scotts girls varsity basketball team held off Battle Creek St. Philip 45-41 March 7 in a district championship game played at C-S Jr./Sr. High School.

C-S, winners of their last five games, took an 18-5 overall record into Monday’s regional semifinal game against Lawrence at Martin at 7 p.m.

The district championship game wasn’t decided until the final seconds.

A pair of free throws by Addi Dzwik with 27 seconds left pulled St. Phil to within 43-41, however Kendal Reitz split a pair of free throws to bump C-S’ lead to 44-41 with 23.4 seconds left.

Both teams turned the ball over in a 4 1/2 second span, giving the Tigers one more opportunity to go for a tie. However a missed three-point attempt by St. Phil with five seconds left and a foul with 3.4 seconds left sent C-S to the free throw line. Sophie Braithwaite sank the first free throw but missed the second, however St. Phil did not have enough time to get a shot off.

“It was definitely a team effort. It took everybody. Everybody on the floor, everybody on the bench,” said C-S coach Chip Paddock.

The game was close the entire way, with both teams enjoying mini runs. The biggest lead of the game for the Tigers was four points and C-S’ largest lead was six points.

But overall, both teams struggled with shooting from the floor and at the free throw line. C-S knocked down 16-of-48 (33.3%) attempts overall from the floor, including an 0-for-8 effort from behind the three-point arc. St. Phil connected on 29.1% (14-48) overall from the floor.

C-S was 13-for-23 from the free throw line while St. Phil was 8-for-19.

St. Phil took a 10-9 lead after one quarter on a basket by Ellery Downey with 15 seconds left.

A basket down low by Holly Talbert with 56.4 seconds left in the second quarter sent the two teams into halftime tied 16-16.

Holly Talbert took over in the second half, scoring 15 of her game high 20 points in the last two quarters. The Panther junior scored seven points in the third quarter, including a basket in the paint with 26.4 seconds left that gave C-S a 32-28 Panther lead entering the final quarter.

“It’s a team effort. Holly, she’s a gamer. She’s one of our leaders. When she needed to step up, she stepped up. Extremely proud of her,” said Paddock.

C-S’ largest lead of the fourth quarter was 36-31 on a basket by Talbert with 5:36 left in the stanza, however the Tigers came back to take a 37-36 lead on a basket by Quinn Dzwik with 4:14 left.

Talbert, who added eight more points in the fourth quarter, came up with a key steal, scored with 1:37 left, was fouled and hit the free throw to turn a 39-39 tie into a 42-39 C-S lead with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter.

“The defense really came through. All the credit to St. Phil. They did a really good job over there. I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Grimm (St. Phil coach David Grimm). We’ve built relationships with St. Phil because we co-op (in softball and baseball). Extremely proud of those girls over there. They’ve got a lot to be proud of. But our girls persevered and we stuck with it. It was tight, but we continued to stay with it,” adds Paddock.

Addy Reeves scored 14 points, to go with 12 rebounds and three steals for C-S, and Holly Talbert had four assists.

Quinn Dzwik scored 10 points to lead St. Phil and Ellery Downey and Mylee Grimm each contributed nine points, Addi Dzwik scored eight points.
Battle Creek St. Philip 10 6 12 13 - 41
Climax-Scotts               9  7  16 13 - 45
Kendal Reitz 1, Sophie Braithwaite 4, Holly Talbert 20, Ashlynn Gilbert 2, Annabelle Edwards 4, Addy Reeves 14
Free throws: C-S 13-23/Battle Creek St. Philip 8-19
3-point baskets: C-S 0/St. Phil 2 (Mylee Grimm 2)
C-S Stat Leaders
Rebounds: Addy Reeves 12, Annabelle Edwards 5, Ashlynn gilbert 4, Holly Talbert 3
Assists: Holly Talbert 4, Kendal Reitz 2
Steals: Addy Reeves 3, Sophie Braithwaite 3, Holly Talbert 2

Steals: Holly Talbert 6, Sophie Braithwaite 5, Kendal Reitz 3

By Bruce Rolfe

A strong defensive effort over the final three quarters helped the Climax-Scotts girls varsity basketball team to a 44-21 win over Lawrence Monday in the regional semifinals at Martin.

C-S faced Zion Christian, 63-40 winners over Michigan Lutheran in the other regional semifinal game, March 12 in the regional championship game.

The last Lady Panther team to win a regional championship was the 2013 team coached by Dana Perrin.

C-S took a 19-5 record into the regional championship game while Lawrence ends the season with a 17-8 record.

The winner of the March 12 regional championship game will play the winner of the Concord regional champion (Concord faced Reading) March 18 at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals at Harper Creek High School.

Nine turnovers in the first quarter prevented the Lady Panthers from getting into any rhythm offensively and C-S settled for a 10-8 lead after one quarter.

C-S’ defense went into lock down mode the rest of the way, holding Lawrence to just 3-for-31 (9.6 percent) shooting from the floor over the final three quarters.

After holding Lawrence without a basket from the floor over the final 1:08 of the first quarter, the Lady Panther defense held the Tigers without a basket the entire second quarter and the first 4:06 of the third quarter for a dry spell of 13:14 from the floor.

“We cleaned it up defensively and our offense started feeding off of our defense. Once we started cleaning some of those things up, got a couple of the jitters out and stuff like that, we played much better in the second half,” said C-S coach Chip Paddock, who has watched his team win their last six games.

The C-S defense forced five Lawrence turnovers in the second quarter that the offense turned into six points, helping the Lady Panthers to a 22-12 lead at halftime.

Both teams struggled offensively in the third quarter, but the Panthers were aggressive going to the basket, resulting in seven free throw opportunities. Addy Reeves went to the line six times and knocked down five attempts that led to seven points in the quarter for the C-S junior, helping C-S to a 33-17 lead after three quarters.

A 2-for-13 effort from the floor prevented Lawton from getting closer in the fourth quarter and the Lady Panthers built the lead to 20 points on a basket by Annabelle Edwards with 3:14 left.

Lawton connected on just 15 percent (6-39) of its overall attempts from the floor, while C-S shot 33 percent (14-43) overall from the floor, including a 3-for-5 effort from behind the three-point line.

Holly Talbert finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and two steals to pace C-S and Reeves had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Climax-Scotts 10 12 11 11 - 44
Lawrence          8   4   5   4 - 21
Sophie Braithwaite 4, Stephanie Behlke 3, Holly Talbert 18, Annabelle Edwards 4, Addy Reeves 15
Free throws: C-S 13-16/Lawrence 8-15
3-point baskets: C-S 3 (Holly Talbert 2, Stephanie Behlke 1)/Lawrence 1 (Brooklyn Remelts 1)
C-S Stat Leaders
Rebounds: Holly Talbert 11, Addy Reeves 10, Ashlynn Gilbert 5, Sophie Braithwaite 4, Annabelle Edwards 3
Assists: Kendal Reitz 3, Annabelle Edwards 2
Steals: Kendal Reitz 5, Addy Reeves 3, Holly Talbert 2

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