Arbor Prep Earns Another Title Game Trip
March 15, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
GRAND RAPIDS – Ypsilanti Arbor Prep calls its championship pursuit a “4-mile run.” And the Gators got through about 3.9 a year ago.
They’ll get another chance to finish the final leg after a 53-35 Class C Semifinal win over Maple City Glen Lake on Thursday at Van Noord Arena.
The Gators, who won Class C in 2016 and then finished Class B runner-up a year ago, will face reigning Class C title winner Detroit Edison in Saturday’s 4 p.m. championship game.
Arbor Prep was the only team this season that defeated Edison, downing the Pioneers 54-49 on Jan. 11.
“Considering what happened with us last year, and the type of players we are and the type of team we have this year, we’re anxious that way,” Arbor Prep senior Jala Petree said. “We’re ambitious to get what we deserve. And I think we’re going to keep working. It isn’t over yet.”
Junior Mahri Petree – Jala and senior Lasha’s younger sister – said after she can feel “a different type of energy in our locker room and practices.”
Arbor Prep (21-5) came out with that drive, opening the Semifinal on a 12-1 run. Glen Lake (23-3) – a semifinalist last season as well – pulled to within four points with two minutes to go in the first half, but the Gators finished with another 7-0 surge.
“It’s like a roller coaster,” Glen Lake coach Jason Bradford said. “The first couple of buckets, (our) first two layups were in and out.
“We’ve been behind before, and the girls know how to work through the runs. We say it’s a roller coaster and just keep on fighting. We have confidence since these girls are used to fighting back, since freshman year, each tournament run … (they have) a lot of composure and a lot of heart.”
The Lakers played Arbor Prep even in the third quarter – notable especially because senior forward Jennifer LaCross, who scored 10 points during the first half, didn’t play at all during the second because of a broken nose.
But the Gators got rolling again in the fourth quarter, closing on a 12-5 run to earn the third straight championship game berth.
Jala and Mahri Petree both scored 12 points, Mahri grabbing seven rebounds with five assists and three steals. Lasha Petree, a Miss Basketball Award finalist this season, had eight points, five assists, five steals and four blocks.
“Last year, losing, that pain is still in my heart,” Lasha Petree said. “I want to avenge it, and I’m ready for it and want to help my teammates do whatever to win.”
Freshman Hailey Helling led Glen Lake with 11 points and five rebounds. LaCross, despite not playing the second half, was the second-leading scorer. The Lakers’ 35 points total were 10 fewer than their previous season low.
Guard Savannah Peplinski and forward Allie Bonzelet joined LaCross finishing four-year careers that included two league titles and two Semifinal trips – and many more memorable moments.
“As a team, it’s just fun the memories we make – not even during the games, but like at the hotel (during Finals weekends),” LaCross said. “I’ll probably be thinking about it when I’m missing basketball the rest of my life.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Maple City Glen Lake’s Allie Bonzelet (11) works to get past Arbor Prep’s Karli Waddell (11) and Lasha Petree. (Middle) Petree defends against Savannah Peplinski.
Coach's All-Nighter Helps Brandywine Net 1st Trip to Championship Day
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2024
EAST LANSING — Niles Brandywine girls basketball head coach Josh Hood said following Tuesday’s Quarterfinal win over Grand Rapids Covenant Christian, he pulled his “first all-nighter since college.”
Hood said he was up until 5 a.m. Wednesday scouting what was going to be a taller Lake City opponent for Thursday’s Division 3 Semifinal. He decided to come up with something on the fly to try and slow down the Trojans’ frontcourt duo of seniors MacKenzie Bisballe and Alison Bisballe, the tallest players on the floor.
“We knew it would take an army to defend them, and I thought our kids did a phenomenal job,” Hood said. “In one day, we instituted a triangle-and-2 defense. They executed it to perfection.”
Brandywine certainly did, holding the Bisballe cousins in check and using its superior 3-point shooting to earn a 52-39 win.
Members of Brandywine’s team were in the stands last week watching the Bobcats boys team win their program's first Finals championship, and the roles will be reversed Saturday as the boys watch the girls attempt to claim a state title for the first time.
“Watching the boys last (weekend) really helped,” Hood said. “That helped calm all of us. When you walk into the Breslin, you are in awe.”
MacKenzie Bisballe, a 6-foot-1 forward, finished with 13 points for Lake City. Alison Bisballe, a 6-foot-4 forward who has signed with Wisconsin, finished with 10 points, which was what Brandywine (26-1) hoped for when it designed its new defense.
Lake City head coach Bill Tisron said his team had seen other opponents play a triangle-and-2 defense on the Bisballes this year, but Brandywine was effective with its execution of it.
“It wasn’t completely brand new, but they ran it really well,” Tisron said. “Their starting five has very athletic girls. They executed it well, and we just couldn’t get shots to fall early.”
Meanwhile, Brandywine’s edge on the perimeter played out, as the Bobcats went 10 of 23 from 3-point range.
Junior Miley Young scored 16 points, and senior Kadence Brumitt added 11 to lead Brandywine to the Final.
“I can’t wait,” Brumitt said. “We have been working all year for this, and we knew from the beginning that this was the year.”
Lake City finished its season at 25-3.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted, but it was fun,” Tisron said. “I thought Brandywine shot lights out. I thought we did a good job of challenging those threes, but they were falling.”
Leading 27-13 at halftime, Brandywine didn’t let up in the third quarter, going on an 8-2 run to take a 35-15 lead with 3:22 left in the period.
From there, Lake City went on a surge, first cutting its deficit to 36-21 going into the fourth.
The Trojans then made it a 10-point game at 39-29 with 5:46 remaining on a steal and layup by MacKenzie Bisballe and a free throw by Alison Bisballe.
But Young hit a big 3-pointer from the wing to extend Brandywine’s lead to 42-29 with 4:49 left. The Trojans couldn’t cut their deficit below double digits the rest of the way.
Brandywine got off to a great start, taking a 13-4 lead during the first quarter and increasing the advantage to 27-13 by halftime.
The Bobcats went 6 of 12 from 3-point range and held an 18-10 rebounding advantage in the first half.
PHOTOS (Top) Brandywine’s Adeline Gill (0) gets a hand on Payton Hogan’s shot during the Bobcats’ Division 3 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) Ellie Knapp works to find space with Lake City’s MacKenzie Bisballe defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)