MONTAGUE — Whitehall and Montague both ran into a sticky situation late in Friday’s game when a top scorer on each team fouled out around the midway point of the fourth quarter. Luckily for the Vikings, rapidly improving freshman Clare Westerlund was their ace in the hole.
Westerlund hit what proved to be the winning basket with 2:53 to go and Whitehall hung on for a thrilling 37-35 win, avenging an early-season defeat in the rivalry.
Westerlund was terrific throughout the game, scoring a game-high 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.
Montague’s Addison Pranger fouled out with just under five minutes to play in the game, followed shortly by Whitehall’s top scorer, Lexi Daggett. Boosted by Westerlund, the Vikings were able to work around the situation just a bit better than Montague.
“That was Clare Westerlund’s breakout game,” Whitehall coach Brian Milliron said. “Kendall Osborne (too)...Those two girls made all the difference. Lexi Daggett has been arguably our best player all year and she was taken out of the game through fouls. For these girls to understand that we can lose a huge piece like that and still find a way, that’s great.”
Montague dominated much of the first half of the game, coming out in a full-court zone press that flummoxed the Viking ballhandlers and led to some turnovers and easy baskets. The Wildcats built a seemingly stable 13-5 lead in the first quarter, and answered Whitehall’s second-quarter surge by attacking the basket early in the third and getting the lead back up to nine points, at 29-20.
That’s when Whitehall rallied, displaying the growth Milliron said he’s seen all year.
“It was like we were just throwing a group of random kids together at the beginning of the year, it felt like, when you graduate so many, and you get transfers and freshmen,” Milliron said. “We’re a little over halfway (through the season) and the kids have integrated. They’ve committed, and they play so well together. I’m very fortunate to be able to coach them.”
Westerlund scored an and-one basket to put Whitehall ahead, 33-32. She missed the free throw, but the Vikes caught a break when it stuck to the side of the rim, giving Whitehall the ball on the possession arrow. She then got the ball again and returned to the free throw line, where she drained a pair of shots.
Montague got back to within a point in the final minute when Adilynn Peterson hit a putback basket. Montague coach Jess DeBruin credited Peterson with showing on-court leadership when it was needed late.
“Adi Peterson took control of the ball and started running things and tried to get some offense going,” DeBruin said. “That’s what’s going to have to happen in those situations.”
Montague got one final chance to tie it up with 22 seconds to go, but after a timeout, couldn’t get a clear look at the basket, giving Whitehall the dramatic win.
“We may face them again in the districts and I’m sorry, but they’d better watch out because we’re out for them now,” DeBruin smiled.
For Milliron and the Vikings, the sweet win brought back memories of last season, when the underdog team upset the Wildcats for the district title on the same floor.
“We played a terrible 16 minutes to begin with, and then they found a way to come back,” Milliron said. “We talked about it in the locker room. They believed us, and that’s a huge part of being able to understand that in high school basketball, anything can happen.”
