SL girls hoops avoids upset at hands of OV

With its hopes of catching league-leading Ludington on life support, Spring Lake couldn’t afford to drop a home game against visiting Orchard View on Friday.

The Cardinals put a scare into the Lakers by holding a 14-11 halftime lead, but Spring Lake controlled the second half and withstood a late surge by OV in its 42-36 victory.

Spring Lake improves to 14-2 overall and 8-2 in the Lakes Eight — two games behind leading Ludington. The Lakers now have a week to prepare for their showdown against the Orioles next week Friday.

The Lakers had an 11-8 lead on the Cardinals after one quarter on Friday, but the hosts went scoreless in the second quarter.

“OV picked up the energy and put a lot of pressure on us,” said Spring Lake coach Rich Hyde. “They played us with a zone and really packed it in the middle so we could go to Jess (Lewakowski).”

Spring Lake was re-energized in the third by a pair of big contributions off the bench. Molly Cooke scored five of her season-high eight points in the quarter, while Megan VanDeWeg scored four in the third, as Spring Lake outscored OV 13-4.

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