ALPINE TWP. — The Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team was having a dream season entering Wednesday’s district semifinals, with a conference championship in the bag, a 15-game winning streak and an anticipated berth in the district finals.
But with a few ticks of the clock at Kenowa Hills High School, the dream came to a heartbreaking end.
Reeths-Puffer, despite leading for most of the game, fell to host Kenowa Hills 42-41 in a Division 1 district semifinal on a last-second shot by the Knights.
Reeths-Puffer led 41-40 after a go-ahead three-pointer by Ariel Walker with 22 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession, Kenowa Hills missed its first shot, leading to a scramble for the rebound. It ended up in the hands of Are’ne Guiarte, who scored the winning layup with just seconds remaining.
[1]Reeths-Puffer had no time outs left to stop the clock, and time ran out on an excellent season.
“They were able to scrap and get that last rebound, that was the deciding factor of the game,” Reeths-Puffer head coach Rodney Walker said of the final play. “There was a lot of scrambling, I thought it was a foul, but hey, what can you do about that?”
Wednesday’s loss brings a hard end to a great season, and the end of the road for a stellar senior class, which includes standouts Ariel Walker and Sophia Hekkema. Reeths-Puffer ended the year with an 18-6 record and an outright O-K Green championship. Over the last four years, R-P won three league titles and a district championship.
“They are going to be sisters forever,” Coach Walker said of this senior class. “The history they were able to create at Reeths-Puffer is unbelievable. They won three conference championships and a district championship.
“To end like this is tough, but at the end of the day they have no reason to hang their heads because of the things they were able to do for Reeths-Puffer basketball.”
[2]Prior to the frantic end of Wednesday’s game, Ariel Walker reached a major milestone. With a basket midway through the fourth quarter, Walker surpassed the 1,000-point mark in her career, making her the third girl to do so at Reeths-Puffer.
“Across the board, seeing her growth from middle school basketball up to this last game, I’m extremely proud of her, definitely, as a father and definitely as a coach,” Coach Walker said about his daughter, who he has coached for the last four years. “She gave it her all, and what more can you ask for?”
Ariel Walker is the second Rocket in less than a week to achieve the feat. Hekkema reached 1,000 last Friday.
“Having two kids hit a thousand points in their career is huge,” Coach Walker said. “The work they put in to get to the place they’re at right now is just totally unbelievable.”
Reeths-Puffer trailed for less than 45 seconds of game action on Wednesday.
[3]The Rockets began with a 12-0 run in the first 3:20 of the game. However, they didn’t score the rest of the quarter and led just 12-9 after one.
Kenowa Hills continued its run in the second, briefly taking its first lead at 19-18. That lead lasted just seven seconds before Ariel Walker converted a three-point play to put R-P back up 21-19, which was the halftime score.
A solid third quarter gave Reeths-Puffer some breathing room, and the Rockets led 34-27 heading to the final frame.
A basket by Walker with 3:38 to play, her 1,000th point, put the Rockets up 37-31. The Knights scored the next seven points to take a 38-37 lead. A free throw by Sophia Hekkema evened the score at 38-38 with 1:27 to play.
After a Kenowa Hills basket with 39 seconds left, Walker hit a go-ahead three to put R-P up 41-40 with 22 seconds left, leading to the Knights’ winning possession.
Ariel Walker finished with 12 points to lead Reeths-Puffer, followed by Billie Tryska with nine. Hekkema added seven points, Brooklyn Tornes scored six, Irelyn Niklasch had five and Ashlynn Anderson had two.
Kenowa Hills (16-8) advances to play Muskegon in the district final Friday night at Kenowa Hills High School. 
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