Senior Theryn Hallock shined for the girls varsity basketball team over the weekend with two outstanding performances on Friday and Saturday. She scored 22 on Friday against Lowell and 15 on Saturday against Portland. But, despite Theryn’s success, the girls went 0-2 in the weekend slate.

“Both teams were good, and just not practicing a lot over the week didn’t help us either,” head coach Kristina Prins said. “Both games were close at the end of the first half, but we could not finish the games strong.”

With a strong 4-1 record, the girls had a tough weekend ahead of them against undefeated powerhouses Lowell and Portland–both of which are recent state championship programs. 

In the first game of the weekend against Lowell, the girls kept it close in the first quarter. Junior Maggie Sneider put in a couple of buckets in the paint while Theryn drained a mid-range jumper and two free throws to put up the Rangers 11-10 at the end of the first.

Quickly, though, the Red Arrows took over and found a groove. Lowell outscored the Rangers 20-10 in the second quarter to take a 30-21 lead at halftime. The rest of the way, it was all Red Arrows, as their tandem of five sophomores took down the Rangers 64-41. 

The next day, the Lady Rangers took on Portland—the defending Division II champions—in the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament. With many missing varsity players due to travel and illness, the girls went short-handed, playing some JV players. The first half was close, with Theryn scoring the first two buckets for the Rangers, but the Raiders held on with a significant number of players from their state title roster last year. At halftime, the Raiders were up 33-17. However, the second half saw the Rangers not being able to finish in the paint while the Raiders shot very well from the perimeter. In the second half, freshman Jordan Koning scored a mid-range shot in the third, while senior Madison Wilkins saw some minutes in the fourth quarter. She got a nice putback to go in as well, but the Rangers’ late efforts weren’t enough as they suffered a 62-29 loss to Portland.

“We have a whole lot of basketball left,” Prins said after the tough weekend slate,” we are looking forward to getting some of our players back and tackling this conference.”

The girls are now 4-3 on the season, and conference play is underway. The Rangers will face East Grand Rapids, the favored winner in the OK White, this Tuesday, January 11, at 7 p.m. at FHC. They will host crosstown rival Forest Hills Northern later this week as well on Friday.