Whitehall’s Leah Deuling (left) heads for the basket as Montague’s Elyse Taylor gets in position to defend during Friday night’s girls basketball game at Montague. Whitehall edged the Wildcats,.

In the first half Friday night, the Vikings looked like a team that had taken that to heart.

Whitehall played probably its best half of the season to open its rivalry matchup with Montague, and played well enough in the second half to beat back a Montague rally in a 52-46 West Michigan Conference victory.

The Vikings moved to 2-9, 2-5 in the WMC with the win while the Cats dropped to 1-9 and 1-6 in league play.

The story of the game for Whitehall was the domination of post players Brandi Balzer and Emily MacArthur. Both spent so much time in the paint they could have pitched a tent, and it paid off with 20 points for Balzer and 19 for MacArthur.

MacArthur racked up 21 rebounds for the Vikings, who appeared calm and cohesive on offense.

“We relaxed for a change on offense,” Kent said. “We have been focusing really hard on rotating the ball, not forcing in passes. If we have to pass around the perimeter five or six times before we have an open shot, that’s what we’ll do.”

MacArthur and Balzer forced Montague’s depleted frontline into fouls and shot 26 combined free throws out of the 30 Whitehall shot as a team.

The ‘Cats were two girls down Friday night as Sarah Harrie was out due to a family illness and Madison Aebig was out with a concussion. That left Elyse Taylor, Nicole Rumsey and Karleigh Davis to deal with the Vikings’ posts alone, and all three ended up fouling out.

“That really hurt us, especially when Elyse, Nicole and Karleigh got in foul trouble,” Montague coach Bill Stone said. “The starters saw a lot of time.”

Whitehall raced out to a 30-18 halftime lead before the Wildcats began to claw back in, scoring a key jumper in the third quarter’s final seconds. A couple of key treys by Hailey Cockerill cut the Whitehall lead down to 48-46.

Two times during Montague’s rally, Kent called timeout just to remind her team to relax.

“I could see in my girls’ expressions that they were getting tense and paranoid on offense,” Kent said.

The timeouts paid off, and Whitehall stiffened defensively, not allowing another point. The Vikings then put things away from the foul line, as MacArthur made three of four attempts in one key stretch.

Both coaches came out of the matchup confident that their teams will continue to improve as the season progresses.

“We are getting better every game,” Stone said. “If we put four quarters together like the last one, we’ll be okay.”

WHITEHALL (52) Uganski 1 0-0 2, Balzer 6 8-14 20, Deuling 1 0-0 3, Seeger 1 1-2 3, MacArthur 6 7-12 19, Pesch 1 2-2 5. Totals 16 18-30 52.

MONTAGUE (46) Kessler 5 0-2 10, Cockerill 5 0-0 12, Shugars 2 5-7 11, Rumsey 6 1-2 13. Totals 18 6-11 46.

Whitehall....18 12 12 10 — 52

Montague..... 9 9 18 8 — 46

Three-point goals — Deuling 1, Pesch 1, Cockerill 2, Shugars 2. Total fouls — Whitehall 17, Montague 18. Fouled out — Whitehall: Uganski, Montague: Taylor, Rumsey, Davis. Technical fouls — none. JV score — Montague 44, Whitehall 39.

Rockets win

6th straight

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer won its sixth straight game Friday night, defeating Union 46-29.

The Rockets are 9-2 and 2-0 in O-K Black Conference play.

“A sloppy first half by both teams turned into a second half blowout on behalf of the Rockets,” R-P coach Brandon Barry said.

The Rockets played strong third-quarter defense and turned it up on the offensive end to take control. R-P led by as much as 20.

Kalisa Williams’ 20 points paced the Rockets, and Taylor Walker and Grace Swanson each added eight points.

UNION (29) A. Lesatz 0 0-1 0, Dawson 1 1-5 3, S. Lesatz 5 2-4 12, Watkins 3 0-0 8, Swarn 2 2-5 6. Totals 11 5-11 29.

REETHS-PUFFER (46) K. Williams 6 8-9 20, C. Williams 2 0-1 4, Seidell 1 0-0 2, Walker 4 0-0 8, Swanson 3 2-4 8, Klemp 1 0-0 2, Lemieux 0 2-2 2. Totals 17 12-16 46.

Union............ 6 6 6 11 — 29

Reeths-Puffer....12 7 19 8 — 46

Three-point goals — Watkins 2. Total fouls — Union 18, Reeths-Puffer 17. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none.

Montague falls

just short of win

MONTAGUE — The Montague Wildcats took some steps forward Tuesday night, but ultimately not enough to earn an upset win over one of the better teams in the West Michigan Conference.

Montague took a tough 49-45 loss to Mason County Central, a game in which the ‘Cats had a chance to tie the score with 24 seconds to go.

Two shot attempts misfired, and the Wildcats (1-8, 1-5 WMC) were forced to foul Madison Geers, the Spartans’ top scorer. Geers hit both free throws to put the game away for MCC.

“The girls played their hearts out, and considering that MCC will probably end up at least third in the conference, a great showing all in all,” Montague coach Bill Stone said.

Stone credited both of his top two scorers in the game, Elyse Taylor and Nicole Rumsey, with their best games of the year.

Taylor notched a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She also had four steals. Rumsey fell just shy of her own double-double, with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Hailey Cockerill scored eight points and Leanne Fessler added seven. Morgan Shugars held Geers, who had 26 points overall, to six second-half points to enable the Wildcats to have a chance.

Vikes edged by

North Muskegon

WHITEHALL — Whitehall’s struggles continued Tuesday night as the Vikings dropped a hotly contested game to North Muskegon, 34-32.

The Norse were able to make the key plays down the stretch to get the win after the contest entered the fourth quarter in a 22-22 tie.

Emily MacArthur led Whitehall (1-9, 1-5 West Michigan Conference) by posting a double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jenna Pesch added 11 points and also had three steals.

Abby Clark’s 11 points led North Muskegon.

Rockets bounce

Zeeland East

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer improved to 8-2 by scoring a 47-33 victory Tuesday night over Zeeland East in its O-K Black Conference opener.

R-P took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Chix 18-8 in that frame to build an 11-point halftime lead. The Rockets were never seriously threatened after that.

Three Rockets led the charge offensively by reaching double digits in scoring. Kalisa Williams scored 13 points, while Grace Swanson had 12. Taylor Walker contributed 10.

R-P dominated the boards, with a 30-18 rebounding advantage, and also recorded 15 assists on its 19 made baskets while Zeeland East posted a mere three assists.

Casie Curtiss led Zeeland East with 12 points while Aubrey Ende had 10.

ZEELAND EAST (33) Schutte 2 0-0 4, Raterink 1 0-0 2, Curtiss 3 6-8 12, South 0 2-2 2, VanDoornik 1 0-0 2, Ende 4 1-2 10, Cooke 0 1-2 1. Totals 11 10-14 33.

REETHS-PUFFER (47) K. Williams 3 6-10 13, C. Williams 2 0-0 4, Seidell 2 1-2 5, Walker 5 0-0 10, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Swanson 6 0-0 12, Klemp 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 8-14 47.

Zeeland East....8 8 11 6 — 33

Reeths-Puffer...9 18 8 12 — 47