By ERIKA PICKLES
Niles Daily Star

During its first six games of the season, the Niles girls’ basketball team has given up an average of 50 points per game to its opponents, something head coach Patrick Touhey said needed to be changed fast.

Entering Tuesday evening’s game against Battle Creek Central, Touhey set a goal for his Lady Vikes – keep the Bearcats to a minimum of 40 points in the game.

That goal was achieved.

The Vikings claimed a 62-34 non-divisional victory over Central, bumping their overall record to 4-3 on the season. The win comes after Niles’ first game back since Dec. 19.
“We achieved the goal we needed to tonight, but now we have to keep that goal going for the rest of the season. We can’t give up that many points, especially with the teams we face,” Touhey said.

Battle Creek’s only lead of the evening came from Dareica Eaton’s basket after the opening tip-off. For the rest of the game, the Vikings held no less than a seven point lead in the first half and never let the Bearcats come closer than 15 points in the second.
Niles had an 18-8 advantage after the first and expanded the lead to 32-18 at halftime.

Returning guard Maureen Craig, who has been unable to play for the last four games due to a fractured thumb, nailed two of her four 3-pointers in the second period alone.
“She’s a threat when it comes to threes and it made a big difference with her being back tonight,” Touhey said.

He also credited point guard Nichole Sly, who had a game-high 13 points for the Vikings.
“She struggled in the first half and really got down on herself, which made her lose her offensive spark. At halftime, I told her to just pretend she was on a basketball court at the playground having fun and she did it,” Touhey said.

Niles opened the second half by going on a 10-0 run. Sly and Alex McIntee each nailed a 3-pointer and Jenna Grannell contributed a bucket in the first two minutes of the third. Niles carried a 54-25 lead heading into the fourth.

“Jenna is a hard girl to cover in the post, which gave her a lot of good looks to the basket,” Touhey said.

Bench play was also a key in the victory, as Taylor Glick and Gabby Ezell provided seven and five points respectively.

“Taylor is always a good shooter and I know we can count on her for buckets,” he continued. “We’ve been putting Gabby at point guard when she comes in, which is something she isn’t used to, but she’s been stepping up for us. We only have one point guard and it’s Nichole (Sly). We needed someone else to be able to step in and Gabby has done a great job at taking on that responsibility.”

Niles had four players reach double digits by the end of the fourth. Other than Sly, Craig ended the night with 12 points, McIntee had 11 and Grannell added 10.

Battle Creeks’ high scorer was Jamica Jamison, who had nine.

Whitney Ellis grabbed six rebounds for Niles while Sly had five steals and four assists.
“Overall everyone did a good job. Tonight was a great team effort and it felt good to be back on the court,” Touhey added.

Niles will host Lakeshore on Friday evening for a 5:45 p.m. tip off. The boys’ varsity team will follow at 7:15 p.m.

In other action, the freshman girls’ basketball team took a 38-30 win over Battle Creek, while the junior varsity squad fell to the Bearcats, 43-17.

NILES 62
Savannah Wolnik 0 6-4 4; Starr Ford 0 0-0 0; Alex McIntee 2 2 2-1 11; Brittany Buti 0 1-0 0; Gabby Ezell 2 2-1 5; Maureen Craig 0 4 0-0 12; Nichole Sly 3 1 5-4 13; Taylor Glick 2 1 0-0 7; Jenna Grannell 3 6-4 10. TOTALS: 12 8 22-18 62
BATTLE CREEK 34
Jalen Gunter 1 2 0-0 8; Rayven Felix 0 0-0 0; Skylar Pollard 0 0-0 0; Jamica Jamison 2 1 4-2 9; Victoria Gordon 0 0-0 0; Dee Smith 0 0-0 0; Markeyla Porter 0 1-0 0; Destiny Johnson 0 3-1 1; Dereica Eaton 2 0-0 4; Janelle Hayes 3 1-0 6; Shakeyia Love 3 1-0 6. TOTALS: 11 3 7-3 34

Niles 18 32 54 62
Battle Creek 8 18 25 34
3-point baskets: Niles 8 (Craig 4, McIntee 2, Sly 1, Glick 1), Battle Creek 3 (Gunter 2, Jamison 1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Niles 34, Battle Creek 26.
Varsity record: Niles 4-3