Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 8
January 25, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 19 teams over four classes remain undefeated as we reach the midpoint of another girls basketball season.
But a number of others aren’t far behind – more than 140 teams have lost only two or fewer games.
Each week during the regular season, we’ll glance at four teams from each class that have caught our attention. (Results and records below are based on schedules posted at MHSAA.com.)
Class A
Caledonia (10-1) – The Fighting Scots have won seven straight, kept alive with a 43-41 win over Grand Rapids Christian on Friday – and are only a one-point loss to Byron Center from perfection.
Flushing (9-2) – Following up handing Detroit Renaissance its second loss, two weeks ago, Flushing nearly doubled up solid Flint Carman-Ainsworth and further extended its lead in the Flint Metro League with a win over Swartz Creek.
Southfield (9-0) – The Blue Jays’ perfect run so far has included only one win by fewer than 10 points – 46-42 over Harper Woods Chandler Park on Dec. 8 – and they have won 19 straight regular-season games.
St. Joseph (10-1) – The Bears trail Stevensville Lakeshore in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West because of a 58-55 loss to the Lancers on Dec. 11 – but St. Joseph gets a rematch Feb. 5 and is two wins better than at the midpoint last season.
Class B
Frankenmuth (10-1) – Only undefeated Bay City John Glenn has beaten the Eagles, 41-23 on Dec. 7, and Frankenmuth has downed the next four teams chasing in the Tri-Valley Conference East including handing second-place Birch Run its only loss.
Marshall (10-1) – The Redhawks are undefeated after falling to Williamston 40-33 on opening night, and two weeks ago Marshall handed Jackson Northwest its only loss to earn a one-win lead in the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference.
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (9-1) -- The Fighting Irish have won nine straight since opening night, when they fell to Macomb Dakota 49-31; Notre Dame Prep hasn’t had a game closer than 10 points since Dec. 18.
Stevensville Lakeshore (9-0) – The Lancers are halfway to a third straight league title in the SMAC West and have yet to be challenged outside of St. Joseph (see above) and Elkhart Memorial (Ind.), which Lakeshore beat by a point Jan. 2.
Class C
Flint Hamady (10-0) – The reigning Class C runner-up is cruising as usual, with only one win by single digits – a 42-35 overtime victory over Burton Bendle on Jan. 8; but second-place and one-loss New Lothrop is up next.
Gobles (11-0) – The Tigers have won 51 straight regular-season games and moved to 80-5 overall during 1,000-point scorer Ellen Doyle’s career. Gobles has won six straight by 20 or more points.
Kalamazoo Hackett (10-0) – The Fighting Irish’s perfect first half has been driven by defense; Hackett hasn’t given up more than 35 points in a game and has held eight opponents to 29 or fewer.
Laingsburg (10-1) – A semifinalist last season who lost to eventual champion Calumet the game before Hamady did the same, Laingsburg hasn’t slowed in handing Bath its only loss and Class B Durand one of its two defeats.
Class D
Bellevue (9-1) – The Broncos will wait one more week for a rematch with Climax-Scotts, the only team to beat them this season, but are in line to improve significantly on last season’s 13-9 finish.
Big Rapids Crossroads Academy (11-1) – The reigning league champion Cougars have opened up a two-win lead in the West Michigan D with their only loss to expected Class D contender Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Pittsford (11-0) – Last season’s Class D runner-up held both of last week’s opponents to single-digit scoring – making that four teams this winter held to fewer than 10 points as the Wildcats have continued a 57-game regular-season winning streak.
Posen (10-0) – The Vikings have been challenged rarely, with only Hillman (twice) playing to within single digits – but Posen will get a sure challenge this week from Class C Tawas (8-2).
PHOTO: Class A contender Saginaw Heritage remained undefeated with a key win last week over rival Midland Dow. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Grass Lake Caps Thrilling Rise with 1st Finals Title
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
April 9, 2021
EAST LANSING — Though it may very well look like a fun play on words, Grass Lake girls basketball coach Andrea Cabana has established quite a culture in the small town located just east of Jackson.
And it’s really beginning to pay off.
“It’s a grass-root, fundamental approach to changing the overall culture of the program,” she said. “We’re very in-tune to the younger kids in the Junior Warriors (program), throughout the middle school to JV and varsity. It’s a full program effort to keep everyone involved.”
On Friday, she and her Grass Lake team took another step in keeping everyone involved, capturing the school’s first girls basketball state championship. The Warriors overcame an early seven-point deficit and held off a late charge by Kent City for a 52-50 victory in the Division 3 Final at the Breslin Center.
Trailing by 10 points with just more than five minutes remaining in the game, Kent City went on a 10-2 run to nearly dissolve Grass Lake’s lead. Seniors Kenzie Bowers and Jenna Harrison hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get their team within four points at 46-40. After a Lauren Pongracz layup put it back to a six-point advantage for the Warriors, Harrison hit another 3 and Bowers hit one of two free throws to make it a 46-44 game, in favor of Grass Lake.
The two teams would trade baskets before Grass Lake junior Lexus Bargesser hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining to give her team a four-point lead. She added two more with 10 seconds left to essentially seal the victory for her team.
“I feel so proud of our team and how we pulled through and didn’t let the pressure get to us,” Bargesser said. “Truly, this is the best thing that any basketball player could imagine happening to them. To be able to go and say you won a state championship is truly such a blessing.”
Kent City entered the game unbeaten at 21-0 and jumped out to early leads of 16-9 and 21-17 thanks in part to its 3-point shooting. The Eagles shot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 11 of their 28 attempts.
They also played well defensively early on, keeping Grass Lake’s two leading scorers, Bargesser and Abrie Cabana, in check.
“The girls executed the game plan absolutely perfectly,” Kent City head coach Scott Carlson said. ”We wanted to take away (Bargesser) and (Cabana) and we did that in the first quarter, the first half really. But they had some players hit some shots that we were going to make them shoot.”
Bargesser finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Cabana had 10 points to go along with her five rebounds. Junior Gabrielle Lutchka hit four 3-pointers and scored all 14 of her points in the first half.
Harrison led Kent City with 16 points, while Bowers chipped in 13.
“We had a great season,” Carlson said. “These girls played absolutely fantastic. They overcame a lot and worked their tails off all offseason on their own when we couldn’t get together. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
For Grass Lake, the championship is a culmination of five years of growth in the program, a program which Coach Cabana took over five years ago. The Warriors faced one of the toughest schedules in the state this season, which helped prepare them for Friday.
“We intentionally had a very tough schedule this year,” said the coach, who now has a 95-18 record in five years with the program. “Our philosophy is we want to see the best. We want to see how good we are. We want to be pushed to our limits. Teams like that will expose every weakness that you have. So we were able to work on the things that needed to be adjusted before big games like this.”
Grass Lake also captured its first Regional title this year, having fallen just short a couple of times under Cabana.
“Our program has definitely been on the rise the past couple of years,” Lutchka said. “We had a team make it to the Regional Final and (it) ended up not winning, so we’ve been trying to get past that point. Every year, we’ve gotten better and better and better.”
And this year, the Warriors reached the basketball summit.
“It’s huge for the girls within the program, something to build on and keep focusing on,” Cabana said. “It’s huge for the district. We’ve never won a basketball state championship at Grass Lake, and I think it’s huge for the community. We’ve had people who graduated a long time ago show up and give us their support. The amount of people who have reached out wishing us luck is astronomical. It will (someday) become a basketball town. We’re working on it.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grass Lake's Lexus Bargesser (1) tries to get a hand on a shot during Saturday's Division 3 Final at Breslin Center. (Middle) Kent City's Lexie Bowers (3) makes her move around the arc with Amber Boomer defending. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)