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.)
Newaygo Finds Way Past Country Day, Back to Finals
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 7, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS – To make a long story short, the Newaygo girls basketball team is headed to the MHSAA Finals for the first time in almost 40 years.
The Lions leaned on the Long sisters to earn their spot after pulling away in the fourth quarter to knock off Detroit Country Day 55-39 in Wednesday’s first Division 2 Semifinal at Van Andel Arena.
Senior Jaylee Long and junior Jaxi Long combined for 23 points, eight assists, seven steals and six rebounds to help lift Newaygo to the victory. The Lions were led by junior Emmerson Goodin, who had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Newaygo (21-1) will play Portland in Friday’s 5:30 p.m. Final at Breslin Center.
“I love playing with my sister, especially because this is my last year, and so playing with her and going to the state championship game is pretty amazing,” said Jaylee Long, who recorded 11 points, five assists and four steals.
“I’m going to miss playing with her, and I will try to convince her to go to Cornerstone with me, but it is definitely going to be fun for our last game.”
Jaylee Long said a majority of the players on the team have played together since third and fourth grade.
“We’ve all played together since we were younger.” she said. “We played together on AYBT teams and just all the way up. It’s been fun.”
Newaygo hasn’t been to the Finals since 1985, when it won the second of back-to-back Class C championships.
“It’s really a cool experience, and it is really a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Jaxi Long, who added 12 points. “It’s not like you get to come here every year, and I really love this team. This is a great team, and we love to hang out with each other.”
Jaylee Long is one of three seniors along with Anna Brummel and Lily Ruehmeier, who both hit shots in the second half.
“This is definitely the way to go out,” Jaylee Long said. “I’m really happy about this opportunity since last year we weren’t able to finish. It’s been kind of crazy, but to see our community come out to support us has been pretty amazing. They love us and want us to do well, and hopefully we can finish it off and get it.”
The Lions needed a fourth-quarter surge to stave off the youthful Yellowjackets (15-3), whose roster was primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores.
Detroit Country Day scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to pull within one (39-38); however, Newaygo went on a 16-0 run and held the Yellowjackets scoreless for more than six minutes.
“It was just a championship moment,” Lions coach Nate Thomasma said. “Someone makes a run on you, and how are you going to respond? They responded, and they tightened up defensively and we hit some big shots.
“That’s what you have to do in this tournament, because there’s always highs and lows. You have to keep playing hard, and we got the job done. Hopefully we can do that one more game, and I’m just really proud of these girls.”
Detroit Country Day was unable to withstand the Lions’ run and struggled to score throughout the fourth quarter.
The Yellowjackets were 0 for 7 from 3-point range in the final quarter and a dismal 4-22 (18 percent) from beyond the arc for the game.
“They took us out of what we wanted to do,” first-year Country Day coach Jerica Williams said. “We are a three-point shooting team and we didn’t get off that many in the first half, and they took us out of our identity. They are a tough team top to bottom.”
Freshman Emma Arico led Country Day with a team-high 18 points. Chelsea Abulu, the Yellowjackets’ lone senior, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and finished with 18 total. She also had four blocked shots.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day's Victoria Miller (0) works to wall off Newaygo's attack during Thursday's Division 2 Semifinal at Van Andel Arena. (Middle) Newaygo's Jaylee Long pushes the pace during Thursday's win. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)