WHITEHALL — Whitehall did not bring back a win from Tuesday’s battle against Ludington, losing a hard-fought game 44-37, but the Vikings showed how much they’ve grown since December.
The first game between the teams did not go well for Whitehall, which allowed “the first 20 points” that night, coach Brian Milliron said. Tuesday was far different; Whitehall led 13-12 after a quarter.
“Eight kids from last year’s team are not there, so it took a while to mesh,” Millron said. “We’re meshing. We’re peaking at the right time. We had pieces, but it takes a while for pieces to become a unit, and they have.”
The Vikings rode perimeter shooting to that early lead, making three first-quarter three-pointers; in fact, their first two-point field goal came in the final minute of the quarter. Ludington took the lead in the second, but the Vikings were able to hang in the game with tough, active defense.
Milliron credited Lucy Zamojcin, who spent much of the game assigned to much taller Ludington star Jordyn Anderson, with terrific defensive effort. Anderson managed eight points.
Whitehall did take one last lead late in the third quarter on a free throw, preceded by a tying putback layup from Clare Westerlund. However, the Orioles briefly caught fire from the arc themselves in the fourth quarter and built a big enough lead that Whitehall couldn’t catch up.
It was simultaneously frustrating and heartening for the Vikes that they could point to a couple of key areas in which the game got away from them. Whitehall struggled at the free throw line, shooting 9-of-19, and allowed too many offensive rebounds for Milliron’s liking, though he noted Ludington’s height advantage.
“I thought that we moved the ball extremely well, and we had people with touches throughout,” Milliron said. “I thought we were able to do some things that we wanted to. We’ve just got to clean up some small stuff against a very, very good Ludington team.
“In the second half, it just felt like they just had multiple possessions (a lot). You give a team like Ludington, and Coach (Warren) Stowe does a fantastic job with them, multiple chances on their side in a tight game, that’s not a good formula for success.”
Still, given Whitehall’s current trajectory, the possibility of challenging Spring Lake, the acknowledged district favorite, is one the Vikings can entertain.
“We have to do a better job of blocking out so we don’t give up offensive rebounds,” Milliron said. “If we clean that up, we’ll be tough to beat moving forward.”
