D2 Preview: Past Powers, New Hopefuls Bring Stories to Breslin
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 16, 2022
This weekend’s Division 2 Finals bracket might have the most pre-packaged storylines of any of the four divisions that will celebrate girls champions this weekend at Breslin Center.
Detroit Edison returns after the last two seasons were cut short, seeking to add a fourth title in six years with another Miss Basketball leading the way. Detroit Country Day owns the most Finals championships in girls basketball history and is seeking its first since 2018.
Grand Rapids West Catholic hopes to follow the Miss Basketball runner-up to its first championship in more than three decades. And Ludington, making its first appearance at Finals weekend, is looking to add more firsts to a historic run.
DIVISON 2 Semifinals – Friday
Grand Rapids West Catholic (24-1) vs. Detroit Country Day (14-7), 5:30 p.m.
Detroit Edison (17-3) vs. Ludington (20-5), 7:30 p.m.
FINAL – Saturday – 6:15 p.m.
Tickets for this weekend’s games are $12 for both Semifinals and Finals and are available via the Breslin Center ticket office. All Semifinals will be broadcast and viewable with subscription to MHSAA.tv, and all four Finals will air live Saturday on Bally Sports Detroit’s primary channel as well as on the BSD website and app. Audio broadcasts of all Semifinals and Finals will be available free of charge from the MHSAA Network.
Here’s a look at the four Division 2 semifinals (with rankings by MPR and statistics through Regional Finals):
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/rank: 13-7, No. 28
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Jerica Williams, second season (28-10)
Championship history: Thirteen MHSAA titles (most recent 2018), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 59-55 over Marysville in Quarterfinal, 54-39 over St. Clair Shores Lakeview, 47-45 over Division 4 No. 11 Allen Park Inter-City Baptist.
Players to watch: Jaidyn Elam, soph F (13.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.2 spg); Emma Arico, soph. G (8.9 ppg, 3.4 apg); Ari’Yana Wiggins, fr. F (9.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
Outlook: Four starters are back from the team that made last season’s Semifinals, with Elam and Arico joined by junior guard Aysia Yokely (8.6 ppg) and sophomore forward Peja Liles (4.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg). The Yellowjackets have all of that experience and still no seniors, with Elam also having made the all-state second team last season and Arico earning an honorable mention. Country Day saw its share of tough opponents, with six of its seven losses coming against teams that ended up with 14 or more wins.
DETROIT EDISON
Record/rank: 17-3, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Monique Brown, 10th season (177-40)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2019).
Best wins: 53-35 over No. 3 Portland in Quarterfinal, 85-43 over No. 2 Redford Westfield Prep, 67-44 over Division 1 No. 3 Farmington Hills Mercy, 60-32 over Division 1 No. 13 Bloomfield Hills Marian, 60-47 over Division 1 No. 11 Parma Western, 68-30 over Division 1 No. 14 East Lansing, 67-48 over Division 1 No. 1 Hudsonville, 60-52 over Division 3 No. 1 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep.
Players to watch: Ruby Whitehorn, 6-0 sr. G (23.9 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 4.5 spg, 2.1 bpg); NaKiya Bonner, 5-6 soph. G (8.2 ppg, 5.5 apg); Madisen Wardell, 6-1 sr. F (13.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg).
Outlook: After last season’s undefeated team was sidelined during Districts by COVID-19, Edison is back looking to add to its three straight Finals championships won from 2017-19. Whitehorn, who has signed with Clemson, gave her program its fourth-straight Miss Basketball Award winner earlier this week, and Wardell will continue her career at DePaul. Edison’s only losses were to Division 1 semifinalist West Bloomfield, Indiana state champion South Bend Washington and Illinois power Joliet West. All but one of the Pioneers’ in-state opponents finished with a winning record this winter.
GRAND RAPIDS WEST CATHOLIC
Record/rank: 24-1, No. 8
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue
Coach: Jill VanderEnde, eighth season (119-69)
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 1990), one runner-up finish.
Best wins: 82-27 over No. 6 Edwardsburg in Quarterfinal, 55-29 over No. 20 Newaygo in Regional Final, 55-43 over Grand Rapids Christian in Regional Semifinal, 64-29 over Grand Rapids Catholic Central in District Final, 63-23 over No. 13 Sparta.
Players to watch: Abbey Kimball, 5-10 sr. G (25.1 ppg, 97 3-pointers, 3.0 apg, 4.4 spg); Cadence Dykstra, 5-9 jr. G (8.2 ppg, 4.5 apg); Elisha Dykstra, 5-10 fr. F (8.3 ppg).
Outlook: West Catholic is returning to the Semifinals for the first time since 1995, when it finished Class B runner-up. Kimball was the Miss Basketball runner-up and added three more 3-pointers Tuesday – the Michigan State signee’s 100 are tied for second-most in a single season in MHSAA history and five off the record. Freshman guard Anna Ignatoski adds 7.8 points off the bench and was the team’s leading scorer in the Quarterfinal win over the Eddies. The team’s only loss was Dec. 23 to Division 1 semifinalist Rockford.
LUDINGTON
Record/rank: 20-5, No. 45
League finish: Tied for first in the Lakes 8 Activities Conference.
Coach: Warren Stowe, second season (34-10)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 30-27 over No. 5 Frankenmuth in Quarterfinal, 34-31 over Negaunee in Regional Final, 54-36 over Standish-Sterling in Regional Semifinal, 38-33 over Muskegon Western Michigan Christian.
Players to watch: Keelyn Laird, 6-3 jr. F (10.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 3.2 apg); RyAnn Rohrer, 5-10 sr. F (10.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.2 apg, 3.3 spg); Abi Bandstra, 5-9 sr. G (4.5 ppg, 2.8 spg).
Outlook: Ludington will be playing in its first Semifinal since 2004 and has won 17 of its last 18 games. The Orioles avenged an early defeat to league rival WMC and also got good early prep in losses to eventual Division 1 semifinalists Hartland and West Bloomfield, and Muskegon Reeths-Puffer. Only one opponent has put up more than 40 points during the 18-game run – Cadillac, which scored 47 in handing Ludington the lone loss over that stretch. Junior forward Olivia Lynn adds 7.5 points off the bench.
PHOTO Detroit Country Day’s Jaidyn Elam brings the ball upcourt during last week’s Regional Semifinal win over Livonia Clarenceville. (Photo by Douglas Bargerstock.)
Bowers' Balance Paying Big for Kent City
December 20, 2018
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
KENT CITY – Kenzie Bowers’ mother made sure her daughter wasn’t going to grow up to become just a scorer.
An extra incentive did just the trick.
“When I was younger my mom would record my games, and she would give me a dollar for every five or 10 points, but then she would also give me a dollar for every assist, too, because she didn’t want me to go out there and think that I was just going to score,” the Kent City standout sophomore said. “That was my way of thinking I was going to score, but I’m not going to be selfish with the ball because I wanted money both ways.”
Bowers, a 5-foot-10 guard, is still doing her share of scoring and distributing, and she’s picking up where she left off after a sensational freshman season.
In her debut campaign on the varsity, Bowers averaged 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while also leading her team in assists and steals en route to being named to the Class C all-state first team.
Bowers also helped spark Kent City’s historic postseason run to the Class C Quarterfinals.
“I’ve talked to Coach since seventh grade, and he told me if I kept working hard then he would have a spot for me on the varsity,” Bowers said. “He wanted me to be a leader, and I knew I was going to have to be a leader. I was ready for it, and I expected it.”
Kent City girls basketball coach Scott Carlson has known Bowers since first grade and helped coach her at every level leading up to high school.
He knew early on that she had a bright future ahead.
“By third grade you knew she was going to be a ball player because she was playing with our fifth and sixth-grade travel players at that point,” Carlson said. “She could handle the ball, and she loved the game. She was a baller from the word go.”
Bowers’ passion for the game developed from watching her two older brothers, and she started playing with older girls when she was in third grade.
“I was the only third-grader, and I think it was definitely good to have that experience going into my fourth and fifth grade years when I was playing against girls my own age,” Bowers said. “You could tell I had played recently, and I was the second or third tallest girl on my team, but I was very skinny.”
Bowers’ overall skill set quickly progressed. She attended multiple basketball camps and started playing AAU.
As middle school began, college coaches became aware of Bowers’ rare abilities.
“Seventh grade was the first time someone told me that college coaches were watching me and they thought I was pretty good,” Bowers said. “I was like, ‘College coaches are watching me?’ It was definitely surreal.”
A highlight of Bowers’ first high school season was a 37-point performance in a Regional Semifinal win over Beaverton.
Kent City went on to win its first Regional title in 29 years before losing to Pewamo-Westphalia in the Quarterfinals.
“She certainly surpassed what I expected of her as a freshman, but it didn’t surprise me in how hard she works,” Carlson said. “She’s very athletic, and she’s a quick study. If you show her something once she gets it quick, as quickly as anyone I’ve ever seen, and she’ll work on it until she perfects it.”
Bowers already has received several scholarship offers from Division I college programs, including Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Illinois State, Davidson and Oakland.
“It’s been really cool knowing I can go play college basketball at the next level,” Bowers said. “It makes me feel blessed and happy because I know I don’t have to spend all that money and I get to do something I love.”
Kent City is 4-1 this winter with its lone loss coming to Detroit Martin Luther King, 40-39.
Bowers is one of eight returning players from last season’s 22-4 squad.
“We didn’t lose anybody, so we know we are going to be a good team,” Bowers said. “We’re working to get better and make it further this season.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kent City’s Kenzie Bowers drives to the basket against White Cloud during a Dec. 7 win. (Middle) Bowers works to get past a Detroit Martin Luther King defender during their Dec. 8 game at Okemos. (Photos courtesy of the Bowers family.)