WHITEHALL — Basketball can be a complicated sport to the layperson, but at times the action on the court can be simplified: If one player is pouring in baskets, just give them the ball.
That's what Whitehall did with Clare Westerlund during Friday night's rivalry contest with Montague, leading to a 26-point, 12-rebound performance in a 43-27 win.
Viking guards took notice that the junior forward was on a heater and threw her the ball over and over in the second quarter, resulting in five buckets. To cap it off, Westerlund made a three-pointer at the buzzer, bumping her first-half point total to 19 and Whitehall's lead to 28-14.
"When someone's hot, like she was in the first half, we don't have to get too cute with things," Whitehall coach Brian Milliron said. "Just feed her and let her work. I thought the girls identified that and did a great job doing it, but we didn't force it."
What made Westerlund's first-half explosion even more impressive was that she wasn't just bulling her way to the lane and scoring. On a few occasions she made nifty moves in the post that froze her Wildcat defenders enough to create an open shot.
That's the result, Milliron said, of Westerlund's hard work in the offseason on her footwork.
"There's not a huge secret sauce when it comes to stuff like that," Milliron said. "You know what you've got to do; put the time in and do it. Clare Westerlund, as a junior, has made a huge jump when it comes to that."
"You can't really do much in season," Westerlund added. "You're not working on your skills. You're more working on your team things. You have to work in the offseason to do that. (I) and a few of my teammates have been able to get in the gym often in the summertime, and that helps a lot."
Aiding Westerlund's explosion was some early foul trouble for Montague (3-10, 2-5 West Michigan Conference Lakes). Annelyse Schneider, the main defender on Westerlund, was called for her second foul of the game late in the first quarter, both on rebounds. That forced her to the bench. Westerlund quickly took advantage, scoring on a nifty pick and roll with Peyton Schultz and dishing out an assist to Emma Decker over the next couple of minutes.
Montague coach Jess DeBruin unfortunately was given a front-row seat to Westerlund's huge half as the Wildcat bench was on that side of the court in the first half, and there was no magic solution to slow her down.
"Unfortunately, there's not much you can do," DeBruin said with respect to when a player gets rolling like that. "She's a great player, and she figured it out against us. I would have been that same thing, kept going at us. It's just a matter of adjusting and doing what we're supposed to do. There were a lot of times where we just didn't do that, and it shows."
Whitehall (5-8, 4-3 WMC Lakes) maintained its double-digit lead throughout the second half as the Wildcats struggled to get offense going. It took nearly five minutes for them to score in the fourth quarter before Schneider finally ended the drought with a three-pointer. Gentry Knop led Montague with 10 points.
Turnovers, a common issue for the Wildcats this year, was again Friday. As Westerlund noted, skill development rarely occurs in-season, so there may be limits on what Montague can do to improve in that regard, but DeBruin is hoping an emphasis on "the little things" can produce better results.
"I preach it to them every day," DeBruin said. "They've got to work on the little things to get the big things. Those little things are just being there on defense, guarding the person, getting a good shot, cutting to the basket. Those little things will all lead to big successes in the end, and we weren't doing those little things."
The Vikings are hoping the fact that they were able to build on a strong win over Mason County Central with another impressive game is a sign that their good play will continue.
"The momentum is great," Westerlund said. "I think that winning that game was a huge thing for us, because we had the energy, and (playing) Montague gives us 10 times more energy, so I think that it's just three games in a row (that we've played well) now."
