D4 Preview: 2021 Champ Fowler Back Leading 2022 Title Charge
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 16, 2022
The four remaining contenders for the MHSAA Division 4 girls basketball championship won’t be complete strangers when they arrive at Breslin Center for Thursday’s Semifinals.
All three opponents should have some knowledge of reigning champion Fowler, which returns three starters from last year’s title run. The Eagles also faced and defeated Plymouth Christian Academy this regular season, while PCA defeated Adrian Lenawee Christian just a month ago.
The lone outlier in this conversation is Baraga – the only Upper Peninsula team making the trip downstate this postseason. But the Vikings have seen their share of top competition too defeating two of the other three U.P. teams among the final top 20 by the MHSAA’s Michigan Power Ratings (MPR).
DIVISON 4 Semifinals – Thursday
Baraga (23-1) vs. Fowler (22-3), 5:30 p.m.
Adrian Lenawee Christian (19-6) vs. Plymouth Christian Academy (21-4), 7:30 p.m.
FINAL – Saturday – 10 a.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 4 semifinals (with rankings by MPR and statistics through Regional Finals):
ADRIAN LENAWEE CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 19-6, No. 4
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Jamie Salenbien, fifth season (104-16)
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 2019), one runner-up finish.
Best wins: 36-27 (Regional Final) and 48-32 over Athens, 63-31 over Genesee Christian, 38-29 over Onsted.
Players to watch: Kylie Summer, 5-9 sr. G (11.3 ppg, 62 3-pointers); Lizzy Scharer, 5-4 sr. G (10.3 ppg, 2.8 apg, 2.7 spg); Avery Sluss, 5-8 jr. F (8.8 ppg, 42 3-pointers).
Outlook: After ending last season in the Division 3 Regional Semifinals, Lenawee Christian has added another impressive achievement to several over the last half-decade by earning this Semifinal trip after graduating four-time all-stater Bree Salenbien last spring. Four seniors start, and Scharer and forward Cara Anderson saw time during the 2019 championship game win over St. Ignace. Three of Lenawee Christian’s five in-state losses this winter came to opponents in larger-school divisions; the other two were to the top two teams in final Division 4 MPR (PCA and Portland St. Patrick).
BARAGA
Record/rank: 23-1, No. 10
League finish: First in Copper Mountain Conference Copper Country
Coach: Tyler Larson, first season (23-1)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 57-40 over No. 7 Pickford in Quarterfinal, 61-47 over No. 14 Carney-Nadeau in Regional Final, 50-29 (Regional Semifinal) and 40-28 over Ontonagon.
Players to watch: Reide Osterman, 5-8 sr. G (16.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, 6.7 spg); Cori Jahfetson, 5-3 sr. G (13.8 ppg, 62 3-pointers, 3.5 apg); Makenna Hendrickson, 5-4 soph. G (8.4 ppg).
Outlook: Baraga is making its first Semifinal trip since 1992, with its only loss this season to Division 2 No. 9 Houghton on Jan. 6. All but two wins came by double digits, including all five during the postseason. Larson coached at every level of the girls basketball program before taking over the varsity this winter, and he inherited a program that has now won four straight league titles and made the Quarterfinals in 2019. Osterman earned an all-state honorable mention last season.
FOWLER
Record/rank: 22-3, No. 3
League finish: Second in Central Michigan Athletic Conference
Coach: Nathan Goerge, 12th season (156-114)
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 2021), two runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 58-26 over No. 8 Gaylord St. Mary in Quarterfinal, 52-42 (Regional Final) and 60-44 over No. 6 Saginaw Nouvel, 50-41 over No. 2 Portland St. Patrick in District Final, 43-35 over No. 1 Plymouth Christian Academy.
Players to watch: Mia Riley, sr. G; Emma Riley, 5-7 jr. G. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: The Eagles avenged a pair of losses to league rival St. Patrick to win the District, and the only other defeat this winter was to 2021 Division 2 champ Portland High. Both Riley sisters made the all-state first team last season, and Mia was the Division 4 Player of the Year by The Associated Press and will continue at Ferris State. Junior guard Avery Koenigsknecht also started in last season’s championship game, and junior Grace Epkey supplied the second-most minutes off the bench and has joined the starting lineup this winter.
PLYMOUTH CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Record/rank: 21-4, No. 1
League finish: First in Michigan Independent Athletic Conference Blue
Coach: Rod Windle, 17th season (191-174)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 45-39 (OT – Regional Final), 35-29 and 34-25 over No. 11 Allen Park Inter-City Baptist, 58-56 over No. 4 Adrian Lenawee Christian, 51-36 over Division 3 No. 6 Schoolcraft, 65-49 over Detroit Country Day.
Players to watch: Anna Fernandez, 5-7 sr. G (17.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 3.6 spg); Morganne Houk, 5-7 jr. G (14.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 5.2 apg, 3.3 spg); Hailey Maulbetsch, 5-8 jr. F (12.6 ppg).
Outlook: PCA is making its first trip to the Semifinals since 2013 paced by returning all-state first-teamer Fernandez and honorable mention Houk. The Eagles loaded their schedule this winter; in addition to the wins above and loss to Fowler, PCA also lost to Division 3 top seed Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, Dearborn Divine Child and Wixom St. Catherine and defeated Genesee Christian during the regular season before also winning the rematch in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal. Fernandez is the only senior.
PHOTO Fowler’s Mia Riley (25) drives do the basket during last season’s Division 4 championship game win over Bellaire. (Photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Blissfield Edges Bishop Foley to Earn Long-Awaited Title Game Return
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2023
EAST LANSING – The Blissfield girls basketball program from this point on hopes it’s a lot sooner than 2073 before it returns to a state championship game.
But for the time being, the Royals will enjoy returning after a 50-year absence.
For the first time since finishing as Class C runner-up in 1973, Blissfield will play for a Finals championship after defeating Madison Heights Bishop Foley, 45-41, in a Division 3 Semifinal on Thursday.
“It was a typical game for us,” Blissfield head coach Ryan Gilbert said. “A gritty win. We gutted it out. I thought we made plays when we had to and played our best when we needed to play our best.”
The difference in the game was Blissfield’s frontcourt, where seniors Sarah Bettis and Julia White proved too much for Bishop Foley to overcome.
White finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Bettis had eight rebounds to help Blissfield earn a 34-21 advantage on the boards.
The Royals (27-1) had 14 offensive rebounds to just three for Bishop Foley.
“That was our thought going in,” Gilbert said. “We wanted to get it inside early and try to get them in foul trouble. We finished some, we missed some. But we got a lot of rebounds. We did a great job on the glass.”
Junior Avery Collins scored 10 points, and freshman Leigh Wyman had nine to flank White for Blissfield.
Collins said many community members have been telling her for years that this season was the time for the team to get to East Lansing, given the nucleus of the team and what grades they were going to be in.
Now, that vision has been fulfilled. Blissfield will face Hemlock in Saturday's Division 3 Final at 4 p.m.
“I believed in us as soon as it started,” Collins said. “I believed in us.”
Junior Ryan Moorer scored 11 points, senior Abby Pasinos had 10 and senior Alyssa Samartino added nine points for Bishop Foley (21-7), which advanced to the Semifinals for a second-straight year.
“To make it two years in a row is tough,” Bishop Foley head coach Colleen Szakacs said. “These girls battle day in and day out, especially in this game. We battled back no matter what and made it a down-to-the-wire, exciting game. Unfortunately, there were a couple of plays we could have done better here and there. But hats off to Blissfield and how well they performed.”
Blissfield entered giving up 26.8 points per game, while Bishop Foley had given up 33 points a contest while playing a scheduled filled with Division 1 and Division 2 schools.
But before the fourth quarter was two minutes old, each team had given up more points than their average.
Blissfield held a 44-38 lead with 27.9 seconds remaining, but Bishop Foley cut the deficit to 44-41 with 17.2 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Pasinos.
The Ventures then got the ball back on a turnover, but after a timeout, missed a 3-pointer with under 10 seconds remaining that was rebounded by Wyman.
Following a foul with 8.1 seconds left, Wyman hit a free throw to give Blissfield a 45-41 lead.
A last-second 3-point attempt by Bishop Foley missed, essentially ending the game.
Trailing 30-25 going into the fourth quarter, Bishop Foley cut the Blissfield lead to two points on three occasions during the first four minutes of the period.
However, Bishop Foley couldn’t get over the hump and tie the game, and Blissfield took a 41-35 lead with 1:47 remaining after a putback by sophomore Peyton Tennant.
Bishop Foley cut its deficit to 41-38 with 1:32 remaining after a 3-point play by Samartino.
Blissfield had an answer, taking a 43-38 lead with 51.3 seconds remaining on a layup by Wyman and then going up 44-38 with 27.9 seconds to go on a free throw by Collins.
PHOTOS (Top) Blissfield's Abrie Louden (3) gets a hand up on a Madison Heights Bishop Foley shot during Thursday's first Semifinal at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Royals' Avery Collins (4) looks for an open teammate.