By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
NILES – Host Niles went inside early and often to hand Portage Central a 68-49 Big 16 Conference non-divisional girls' basketball defeat Tuesday night.
The Lady Vikings (15-4) went inside to Baysia Cox and Kaleigh Hill, who combined for 27 points and 15 rebounds.
Cox was effective early and she finished with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds. She also had six steals and four blocks.
Hill came off the bench and tossed in 13 points and grabbed seven caroms.
Lindsay Craig, who has been moved down to the post area for Niles, also had a big nine with 11 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
Despite some early shooting difficulties, Niles was able to open up a 14-5 lead after one period of play, which it stretched to 35-20 at the intermission.
The Lady Mustangs (9-10) tried to rally back into the game in the second half.
Portage Central, which got the lead down to 12 points early in the third quarter, trailed 53-40 heading into the fourth.
The Lady Mustangs continued to fight their way back into the game and closed the gap to 10 points (53-43) with 6:37 remaining.
Niles outscored Portage Central 15-6 over the final six and a half minutes to pull away for the win.
"They made a run and got it down to 10," Niles coach Patrick Touhey said. "They had a lot of energy going right then and you could see in their body language that they were getting very confident. I called a time out and I told the kids that 'right now they are starting to believe that they can turn this game. And what our test is right now is to go out with as good or better energy and stop this thing right now. That we make a statement right now that we are capable of turning this thing right back around again.'
"And by God, they went out and picked it up a notch and we built that 20 point lead," he added.
Niles also got nine points from Jenna Grannell and eight points from Kaitlyn Touhey.
Bri Russell led the Lady Mustangs with 12 points, while Shelby Humphries added 10.
Niles will wrap up the regular season on Friday night when it hosts St. Joseph in a Big 16 Conference West Division contest.
PORTAGE CENTRAL 49
Paige Wesner 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Weissert 0 0-0 0; CeCe Smith 2 0-1 4, Bri Russell 5 1-3 12, Shelby Humphries 4 1-4 10, Megan McQueen 1 2-4 4, Julie Howlind 1 0-0 2, Becca Shemberger 3 1-1 7, Mandi Mills 0 4-4 4, K.C. Christopher 2 0-2 4, Maria Tomlinson 2 0-2 4, Patyn Gillam 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 9-21 49
NILES 68
Lindsay Craig 3 4-6 11, Baysia Cox 6 2-2 14, Nichole Sly 2 3-3 7, Kaitlyn Touhey 5 4-5 8, Kaleigh Hill 5 3-3 13, Autumn Lucero 1 0-0 3, Alyssa Pingel 0 0-0 0; Savannah Wolnik 0 0-0 0; Alexis McIntee 0 0-0 0; Jenna Grannell 2 5-8 9, Maureen Craig 0 1-2 1, Rachel Smith 1 0-0 2, Bryanna Cramer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 22-29 69
Portage Central 5 20 40 49
Niles 14 35 53 68
3-point goals: Niles 2 (L. Craig, Lucero), Portage Central 2 (Russell, Humphries). Total fouls (fouled out): Portage Central 23 (Humphries, Tomlinson), Niles 21 (Cox). Varsity records: Portage Central 9-10, Niles 15-4