Savannah Hamilton finishes bowling career with amazing State Finals run
Coloma had three bowlers make it to the State Finals for individuals this past weekend as they would compete in Jackson, Michigan at the Jax 60 Lanes on Saturday, March 4. Savannah Hamilton would represent the Comets’ girls bowling team and she would have a terrific State Finals event.
Savannah would make it out of the qualifying round of 16 bowlers for the championship. She placed 10th overall to qualify.
In her six qualifying games, Savannah would bowl a 168 in her first game and a 179 in her second game. She would go on to have her best overall game in her third game where she bowled a 232. Which was the second highest game bowled in the qualifying round! Savannah would go on to bowl a 156, 194 and 171. Savannah would finish with an even score of 1,100 after six games and there would only be a 106-pin difference between her and the first place qualifier.
In her first match of the State Finals Tournament, Savannah would bowl a 203 and a 160 to defeat Elizabeth Teuber from Flint Powers Catholic, who scored a 183 and a 171. In her second match, she would stay consistent as she would again bowl a 203 in her first game and would outscore Kylie Junak of Ishpeming Westwood by a score of 203-160 in the first game. Savannah would be outscored in the second game by a score of 139-151 but she would go on to win the match by a score of 342-311.
In the quarter final round Savannah would have her best two games combined in the tournament. In the first game she would be outscored, 181-223, by Kayla VanLinden of Grand Rapids West Catholic. Savannah would bounce back in the second game though to get a big win, as she would beat Kayla by a score of 200-125 and would win the match by a score of 381-348.
Savannah would move on to the championship round where she would come out strong in the first game at 185. Sydney Nichols of Onsted would score a 170. As it came down to the final match, Savannah would have another great game scoring a 185 again, but Sydney was just able to squeeze past her as she would score a 205. Savannah would miss being crowned the champion by a total of five pins, but she had an incredible run on her way to the championship round, from being the 10th seed to the Division 3 State Runner-Up.
Great job Savannah on an incredible season and career that was capped off by a tremendous run at the State Finals!
James Anthony was one of two boys that qualified for the State Finals for Coloma. James would come into the event as a freshman and would have a great outing for his first season on the varsity bowling team. He would bowl a 216 in his first game, 188 in his second game, 189 in his third game, 138 in his fourth game, 202 in his fifth game, and 208 in his sixth game. James would finish the qualifying round with a score of 1,141 and would be just four pins shy of qualifying for the State Finals tournament as he would place 17th overall and the top 16 individuals moved on to the tournament. Congratulations on a great first year and an amazing performance for a first time varsity bowler at the State Finals! Great things are ahead for James in the future!
Brodie McQuillan was the other boy to qualify for the State Finals for Coloma. Brodie would place 44th overall at the highly competitive State Finals where he would score a 232 in his first match which was the fourth highest score in the qualifying round! Brodie would go on to score 168, 174, 177, 152 and 140 in his other five qualifying games. Brodie would finish with a final score of 1,043. Congratulations on a great bowling career for the Coloma Comets and a strong showing at the State Finals!
Boys basketball suffers two losses
Coloma would start the week off on Tuesday, Feb. 28 against the Benton Harbor Tigers. Benton Harbor would come into the game with a record of 14-7 on the season. They would go throughout the season with a prolific offense as they would score 70 or more points in eleven out of their 21 games. Their best offensive performance would come against Dowagiac as they would score 85 points while also holding Dowagiac to only 33 points, as this would be the Tiger’s best defensive performance of the season as well.
Benton Harbor would be coming into the game following a loss to the Berrien Springs Shamrocks by 13 points and have a record of 1-5 in their last six games coming into the matchup against Coloma. Following the rough stretch for the Tigers, they had only two loses in their previous fifteen games. Benton Harbor always has the potential to have big games so the Comets could not take the Tigers lightly due to their previous games, but the Comets would look to end their own losing streak of two games and secure their third win of the season in a major upset over the Tigers.
The Comets would come out in this game and have a good offensive first quarter, but they would learn quickly how a good offense can pile on points if they are not playing their best defense. Benton Harbor would get out to an early seven-point lead, but Coloma would bring it back to a five-point deficit. Unfortunately for the Comets, that would be the closest that they would be to Benton Harbor for the remainder of the game. The Tigers would take a large 25-12 lead over the Comets just after the first quarter.
Coloma would have a good offensive second quarter, but the defense was not able to slow down the Tiger offense enough. The Tigers would take a 42-24 lead into halftime. Coming into the third quarter the Comets would look to step their game up on the defensive end and limit the easy opportunities the Tigers were receiving, but they were just not able to slow them down. The Tigers would outscore the Comets 22-9 in the third quarter and 20-7 in the final quarter, beating Coloma 84-40.
De’anthonie Cornelius would score 14 points for the Comets. Adarius Jenkins scored 11 points, Tyrell Taylor-Owens scored eight points, PJ Parker scored three points, Zacorious Tanner finished with two points, and Ryan Schroeder scored two points.
Coloma would play again on Thursday, March 2 against the Sough Haven Rams. South Haven would come into the game with a great record of 16-5 on the season with their most recent game resulting in a loss to Berrien Springs in overtime by a score of 59-66. When the Comets and Rams played earlier in the season, the Rams would beat the Comets in a close game with an end score of 50-44.
Coloma hoped to get a victory in their last regular season game and have some momentum going into their next matchup which would be the start of district play. The game would start off pretty even as both teams would make some shots but their defenses were the ones that would keep the game close. Coloma would lead by as many as six points in the first quarter but the Rams would end the quarter on a 8-0 run and take a 12-10 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter both teams would see a bit of a decrease in their offensive production and would miss their shots and not challenge the opposing defense. With a low-scoring second quarter, South Haven was still able to outscore the Comets 9-6 and take a 21-16 lead into halftime. Coming out of the half Coloma looked to key in on the defensive side of the ball as they were able to continuously create turnovers as well as force South Haven to shoot tough contested shots. For the first time throughout the game, Coloma would outscore the Rams by a score of 10-6 in the third quarter and the Comets would cut the deficit to just one point going into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Comets though, the offense for South Haven would get hot in the fourth quarter as they were able to make shots from beyond the arc as well as in the midrange. The Comets would not have a bad offensive quarter but the defense of South Haven would keep the Comets down as the Rams would outscore the Comets 19-9 and they would defeat Coloma by a final score of 46-35.
Adarius Jenkins scored 11 points, De’anthonie Cornelius scored five points, Tyrell Taylor-Owens scored eight points, and PJ Parker scored nine points. The Comets Record would go to 2-20 following the week’s games.
Girls basketball finishes season
The Coloma girls basketball team would face off against Niles Brandywine on Wednesday, March 1. The Bobcats would come into the game with a record of 20-2 on the season with their only two losses coming to Buchanan. The Lady Comets struggled finding their offense throughout the season so they would definitely have a tough time having to face off against one of the best teams in the district in their opening District match.
Coloma would struggle to find much offense throughout the game as Niles Brandywine was able to keep the Comets away from the basket and force them to shoot jumpers. The offense for Niles Brandywine would remain hot like they had all season, and they would score from open opportunities throughout the game. The Comets would give it their best shot to keep the game competitive but Niles Brandywine would run away with the victory, defeating the Comets 66-14.
Congratulations Comets on a hard fought season! It is never easy having such a young team playing together for the first time at a high level, but the ladies didn’t give up. After gaining some experience this season, there is no doubt that they will come back next season and look to be competitive.
Comments