By SCOTT NOVAK
Dowagiac Daily News

NILES – Despite picking up two early fouls, Niles point guard Nichole Sly stayed in the game pretty much the entire way Tuesday night and led the Vikings to a 61-44 victory over visiting Coldwater.

Unlike Niles’ previous game against Mattawan, when Sly spent a great deal of time on the bench, Vikings coach Patrick Touhey decided to let his junior standout remain on the floor.

Sly responded by not picking up another foul in the contest and scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

She also dished out seven assists, had five steals and grabbed four rebounds.

After a quick start, the Vikings found themselves in a 9-9 game with the scrappy Cardinals.

Touhey called for a timeout to make sure everyone knew who they were supposed to be guarding.

The timeout seemed to work as Niles outscored Coldwater 10-5 over the remainder of the opening quarter and led 19-14.

The Vikings (11-4) increased their lead to 31-23 at halftime, but Touhey and company were anything but happy with the first half performance.

Niles went with a zone defense against the Cardinals most of the second half and the switch seemed to pay off.

Coldwater struggled to get off shots against the Vikings’ zone and Niles began to pull away.

The Vikings took a 44-34 lead into the fourth quarter and then scored 17 points to put the game out of reach.

Alex McInee scored a career-high 18 points in the game, which proved to be the difference according to Touhey.

Niles also got seven points each from Maureen Craig and Jenna Grannell.

Coldwater was led by Sonya Bowers, who netted eight points.

Niles hits the road Friday night for a Big 16 Conference West Division game against Lakeshore.

The Cardinals did win both the freshmen and junior varsity contests.

Coldwater defeated Niles 52-24 in the freshmen game and 44-16 in the JV game.

COLDWATER 44
Opal Farwell 0 0-2 0; Sonya Bowers 3 0-0 8; Alissa Herlan 2 0-0 6; Abigail Fulmer 2 0-0 4; Querubin Dubois 3 1-2 8; Rebecca Peck 3 0-0 6; Ashley Burkhardt 3 0-0 6; Hayley Wuori 2 0-0 4; Erika Rockwell 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19 1-4 44
NILES 61
Savannah Wolnik 0 3-4 3; Starr Ford 0 0-0 0; Alex McIntee 6 3-4 18; Brittany Buti 0 0-0 0; Gabby Ezell 0 1-2 1; Maureen Craig 3 0-0 7; Nichole Sly 8 8-8 24; Whitney Ellis 0 0-0 0; Taylor Glick 0 1-2 1; Jenna Grannell 3 1-4 7; Kelsey Crago 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 17-24 61

Coldwater 14 23 34 44
Niles 19 31 44 61
3-point baskets: Coldwater 5 (Bowers 2, Herlan 2, Dubois 1), Niles 4 (McIntee 3, Craig 1), Total fouls: Coldwater 15, Niles 7. Fouled out: None. Varsity record: Niles 11-4

Brandywine…45
Watervliet…34
WATERVLIET – With seven games left in the regular season, one has to wonder if the Brandywine girls’ basketball team can run the table in the regular season.

The Bobcats (13-0) passed a big test Tuesday night as they defeated host Watervliet, one of the better teams on its schedule, 46-34 in a non-conference game.

Brandywine led 19-9 at halftime and cruised home with the victory.

Each time the Bobcats win another game it adds to the school record for consecutive victories.

Next up for Brandywine is a road test at Bridgman, which upset Edwardsburg on Monday night.

The Bobcats got off to a bit of a slow start on Tuesday, leading just 7-6 after one quarter.
But Brandywine turned it up in the final three periods and steadily pulled away from the Panthers.

Watervliet was able to outscore the Bobcats in the third quarter to cut the margin down to 33-24 heading to the final stanza.

Brandywine outscored Watervliet 13-10 in the final eight minutes to pull away to the 12-point win.

Carlie Newman led the Bobcats with 12 points and four steals, while Lauren Leonard added 11 and Morgan Smallwood finished with 10.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well, but we still found a way to win,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said.

Nicole Winter and Alex Spaulding both had 12 points for the Panthers.

BRANDYWINE 46
Carlie Newman 12, Nicole Newman 3, Mackenzie Shelton 4, Kelsey Pressley 2, Morgan Smallwood 10, Lauren Leonard 11, Madison Pellow 4. TOTALS: 19 7-14 46
WATERVLIET 34
Nicole Winter 12, Brooke Kling 1, Alex Spaulding 12, Katie Amabile 1, Lauren Richardson 2, Kiersten Sill 2, Andrea Hiler 4. TOTALS: 12 9-16 34

Brandywine 7 19 33 46
Watervliet 6 9 24 34
3-point baskets: Brandywine 1 (N. Newman), Watervliet 1 (Spaulding).
Total fouls: Brandywine 16, Watervliet 14. Fouled out: Hiler (W). Varsity records: Brandywine 13-0. JV score: Watervliet 35, Brandywine 25