BENTON HARBOR — Over the years, Niles girls basketball coach Patrick Touhey has had some big wins.

He said following the Vikings’ 65-32 loss to Benton Harbor Friday night, he said he has never been prouder of a team.

Touhey was proud of his young squad as it faced a team in the Tigers, which has two of the top guards in the state.

Kyrse and Kalabrya Gondrezik put on quite a show, scoring 46 of Benton Harbor’s 65 points.

But Niles showed that its better days are still ahead of it. The Vikings held their own for the first half of the opening quarter before a big run allowed the Tigers to take over the game.

Niles (0-2) led 7-6 halfway through the opening quarter. Benton Harbor, behind the play of Kysre Gondrezick, went on a 20-3 run and led 26-10 by the end of the period.

“We started out in a man defense and it just wasn’t working,” Tiger coach Lisa Harvey-Gondrezick said. “We needed to push them out farther away from the basket, making them think harder and pass more which led to a lot more turnovers for us.”

The Vikings played nearly even with the Tigers in the second quarter, but before the big run, found themselves down 35-17 at halftime.

Niles continued to play well in the third quarter, but Benton Harbor pulled away a little bit more and took a 46-24 advantage into the final quarter. From there, it was all Tigers as the Vikings ran out of steam.

Kysre Gondrezick led all scorers with 30 points. She came up two assist shy of a triple-double as she finished with 15 rebounds and eight assists. Older sister Kalabrya Donrezick finished with 16 points and Nashaye Sutton 12 points.

Niles was led by Elyse Zimmerman and Jaiden Rolan, both of whom scored eight points. Lashonda Greene finished with seven points and 14 rebounds.

“I will never be prouder of a group of kids when I go to bed tonight as I am because of what they did here against Benton Harbor,” Touhey said. “When you look at it, coming here to play is very difficult in itself. You ask a bunch of young kids to play against arguably two of the best guards in the state. That’s a pretty tall order for such a young team.

“I think what our team showed and it wasn’t reflective of the score, was we play with tenacity, we play all the way to the end. We get opportunities through execution that we don’t always capitalize on because of our inexperience. But we don’t look like a bunch of freshmen.”

NILES 32

Khalilah Abdullah 0, Lashonda Green 7, Jaiden Rolan 8, Antonia Palmer 0, Elyse Zimmerman 8, Maya Brookins 3, Kylee Myer 0, Tala Gentry 0, Kasia Dockery 0, Jazmin Brann 0, Libby Moody 6. TOTALS: 11 6-13 32

BENTON HARBOR 65

Kysre Gondrezick 30, Sinnamon Shelby 1, Kalabrya Gondrezick 16, Eulasia Ellis 0, Nashaye Sutton 12, Dennee Brown 2, Kayla Dumas 4, Kia Vaughn 0. TOTALS: 23 16-28 65

 

Niles 10 17 24 32

Benton Harbor 26 35 46 65

3-point goals: Niles 4 (Rolan 2, Zimmerman, Brookins), Benton Harbor 3 (Ky. Gondrezick 2, Sutton). Total fouls (fouled out): Niles 19 (Brookins), Benton Harbor 14 (none). Varsity records: Niles 0-2, Benton Harbor 2-0