Led by senior Theryn Hallock, a late scoring surge got the girls varsity basketball team an admirable 65-59 win against Greenville on Tuesday night. In total, Theryn had 33 on the night, scoring a majority of her points in the second half to solidify the win for the Lady Rangers. 

“We really locked down on defense in the second half,” head coach Kristina Prins said. “We also got going again at the free-throw line and were able to make some more shots in the second half as well.”

After another week splitting games against Grand Rapids Christian and Northview, the girls looked to find some consistency starting Tuesday night against Greenville.

In the first quarter, it was all Greenville. Junior guard Megan Leslie was lighting up the court for the Yellow Jackets, shooting three-for-three from deep. Relatively, it looked like Greenville would never miss, but FHC made some strides towards the final minutes of the quarter.

Theryn scored 4 points on two nice drives to the hoop, while freshman Jordan Koning scored a three-ball from deep to end the quarter. Junior Maya Holser and senior Madison Wilkins also both scored a bucket each and the Lady Rangers were only down 21-12 to start the second quarter.

The second quarter saw the Lady Rangers gain some more ground back from the first, outscoring Greenville 19-10 in the quarter. Thanks to Theryn and sophomore Maggie Sneider, the duo just kept running the offensive side of the ball for FHC. Maggie scored 8 while Theryn scored 9, and Maya added another bucket to tie it up 31-31 at halftime. 

After some key halftime adjustments, coach Prins and the girls were able to lock down on the defensive end. Junior Delaney Smith, who is arguably the most efficient defender for the girls this season, was put on Leslie and the girls would play a lot of help defense to defend any open shots or drives. It worked for the most part in the third, as Delaney scored a mid-range shot of her own on the offensive end while Maggie scored 4 in the quarter. Meanwhile, Madison scored 2 points and Theryn scored 4. At the end of the third quarter, Greenville was still up 45-43.

The fourth quarter was a phenomenal defensive showing for FHC, and it fed off of that momentum on the offensive end. It was all Theryn in the end, as she scored 16 in the final quarter while Madison put in a couple of crucial free throws along with a layup.

Jordan got a layup to go in for an and-one as well, but she wasn’t able to convert the free throw. On defense, the ladies were able to contain the elusive Yellow Jacket offense to 14 points in the quarter and take away its biggest scorers. In the end, FHC snuck away with a 65-59 win over the Yellow Jackets. Maggie finished with 12 points, while Madison finished with 8. Jordan amassed 5, Maya had 4, and Delaney had 3.

“We fought well at the end, and we have to continue that later into the week, especially against a very good Byron Center team,” coach Prins said. 

Now at 7-5 and 3-2 in conference play, the girls will have a very tough test this upcoming Friday, January 28, at Byron Center, a team that remains undefeated so far this season.