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.)
Happy Birthday & Happy to be Back: Hagemann, Edison Celebrate at Breslin
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 22, 2024
EAST LANSING – Detroit Edison senior guard Devin Hagemann couldn’t have found a better way to celebrate her 18th birthday.
A victory, and another chance to win a championship.
The Pioneers used a balanced attack, coupled with their size and athleticism, to overpower Negaunee 63-46 in Friday’s Division 2 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
“It’s my birthday, but we’re still trying to win a championship so I can celebrate after that,” said Hagemann, who was one of three Edison players in double figures scoring with 11 points. “We still have to get the job done.”
Isis Johnson-Musah paced Edison with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Myana Cooksey recorded 13 points, three assists and three steals.
The Pioneers will seek their second Finals win in the three years Saturday. They won Division 2 in 2022 before losing during Regionals a year ago.
“We are just really glad to be back here,” Edison coach Monique Brown said. “Our seniors were here as sophomores, and we had a chance to finish that out with a victory.
“Last year we got stung, and we had that on our mind the whole year. The whole summer they worked hard, and to be able to get back here and get a chance to win again is an awesome feeling right now.”
The Pioneers broke up a close game at the end of the opening quarter with a scoring barrage during the second and third. Edison went on a 13-1 run in the second quarter to snap a 16-16 tie and never looked back.
Their lead ballooned to 48-28 in the third quarter as Hagemann knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
“I told her to shoot it, and I wished her Happy Birthday in the middle of the game,” Brown said. “I think that kind of got her going.”
The balanced scoring, along with pressure defense, have become major factors in this postseason run.
“That is who we have been,” Brown said. “Just really trusting and sharing the basketball and playing good defense. We had to do it by committee this year as far as scoring, and that's why we are here right now.”
Negaunee, playing in its first Semifinal, finished the season 26-2.
“They are very good, and we respect their program,” Miners coach Mike O’Donnell said. “They showed why (they are) one of the top teams in the state, and their size bothered us. We haven’t seen that size this year, the closest was Ishpeming, and their quickness and athleticism in transition.”
Senior Ella Mason, the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the school’s all-time scoring leader, tried to keep Negaunee in the game.
She finished with a game-high 25 points, shooting 9 of 18 from the field and 5 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc.
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Edison’s Devin Hagemann (1) launches a 3-point shot Friday with Negaunee’s Aubrey Johnson defending. (Middle) The Pioneers’ Nabrea Lane (11) gets to the basket. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)