Davis Adding to Pittsford Winning Ways
December 13, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
PITTSFORD – Aaron Davis doesn’t have to worry about rebuilding Pittsford girls basketball.
While Davis is putting his own stamp on the program that has won two MHSAA Finals championships over the past five seasons, he knows the pieces already were in place when he was named the varsity head coach in June.
“There is a lot of ground work already in place at Pittsford,” said Davis. “It all starts with the youth level, and that’s already there. That is a blessing.”
Davis is in his first season at Pittsford and has the Wildcats off to a 3-0 start. He took over for Chris Hodos, who helped make Pittsford a household name in Class D girls basketball circles over the past decade.
“There are things that I do differently, but Chris and I shared a lot of the same philosophies about basketball,” said Davis, a 2007 graduate of North Adams-Jerome. “There are some things that we do that are from Chris. We still run some of the same presses.”
Davis was a three-sport athlete at North Adams-Jerome, playing basketball, football and baseball. He was a four-year varsity baseball player and spent a year on the Adrian College diamond, but an injury that dated back to his high school days cut his college career short.
“I tried it for a year, but it got to be too much stress on my body and arm,” he said.
Davis said that while growing up, his dad coached him in multiple sports. Davis also learned a lot from his high school coaches while playing at North Adams.
“My wife and I had always talked about me getting into coaching someday,” he said.
Davis got his start in coaching at his alma mater. He coached the junior varsity boys basketball team and had coached baseball with Hodos. In fact, when Hodos contacted him about coaching at Pittsford, Davis thought he was talking about baseball.
“After a few minutes, I was like, ‘Oh, you are talking about basketball,’” Davis said. “Chris was a great mentor. He helped me become a better coach.”
Davis spent three seasons as the Wildcats JV girls basketball coach. Hodos, he said, let him run the JV team as he wanted. That valuable experience has paid off in multiple ways early this winter.
Pittsford’s 3-0 start includes wins over Hudson (41-25), Tekonsha (50-12) and Waldron (68-15). Thus far, the Wildcats are giving up just 17.3 points a game. That’s by design.
“We’re real athletic, and we play good defense,” Davis said. “I have a lot of great defenders. Everything starts with our defense.”
Davis said the team presses, often full-court, and likes to create havoc for the other team as it works to just get the ball over the timeline.
“We are built to run, pressure and play fast,” he said. “We do a lot of trapping and try and force the other team into making bad passes. We like to try and create our offense with our defense.”
The Wildcats have 11 players: five seniors, four juniors and two sophomores. Jordyn Cole has been the team’s top scorer through three games. Another senior, Sara Cole, is right behind her. The other seniors are MaKayla McDaniel, Sam Leggett and Brooke Campbell.
“Jordyn and Sara, I’d say, take the majority of our shots,” Davis said, “but we really don’t have just one girl who can score for us. We don’t have that one player we rely on. We have girls up and down the line who are comfortable shooting. We like to spread it out.”
One thing that has helped in his transition is that every girl on the varsity roster played for Davis for at least a season. They all are familiar with him and his systems. He also brought on Greg Mallar to coach the Pittsford JV team. Mallar is also familiar to the girls because he has been coaching in the Wildcats youth program.
“He’s actually helped develop a lot of the girls,” Davis said.
Pittsford became a state power under Hodos. In his seven seasons as the head coach, the Wildcats went 156-14, including five consecutive 20-0 regular seasons and the Class D titles in 2016 and 2017. They fell just shy of Michigan’s record of 78 consecutive wins during that time frame.
Pittsford athletic director Mike Burger said the program is in good hands.
"I think that the way that he approaches coaching girls basketball fits quite nicely with the overall small-school athletics philosophy we have here at Pittsford,” Burger said.
The Wildcats play in the Southern Central Athletic Association with North Adams-Jerome, Jackson Christian, Hillsdale Academy and Camden-Frontier. Camden-Frontier and Hillsdale Academy both return several players from quality teams and also will play in the same District as Pittsford.
“It’s still early,” Davis said. “We’ve struggled at times offensively, but I’m not worried about that at this point. If we play up to our potential, we can make a run. But, like I said, it’s early. We’ll see what happens.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) First-year Pittsford varsity girls basketball coach Aaron Davis talks things over with his team during a practice this season. (Middle) Davis and his team are off to a 3-0 start. (Top photo courtesy of James Gensterblum; middle photo provided by Pittsford girls basketball program.)
Senior Standout Aiming to Add to Grass Lake & Family Fame
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 17, 2021
GRASS LAKE – What will Lexus Bargesser do for an encore?
The Grass Lake senior had an unbelievable junior year, leading the Warriors to their first-ever MHSAA Finals basketball championship, in Division 3, then winning three events to pace Grass Lake’s team title at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 track & field championship meet. She spent her summer on the basketball circuit, traveling the country to compete against top competition.
As she embarks on her senior year of high school, Bargesser is looking forward to having fun, working hard – and bringing home more hardware.
“It was pretty amazing,” she said this summer. “Everything came together and worked out.”
The Bargesser family certainly could have been called the first family of Grass Lake sports over the last few years – in the least for track & field – and Lexus is likely to add a few more highlights during 2021-22. She won’t play a sport for Grass Lake this fall as she’s prepping for basketball season and a hopeful encore to last winter’s achievement. But next month she will begin making college visits and could make a decision before the 2021-22 basketball season begins.
“I don’t really have a timeline,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the season and helping the younger girls on the team grow. I’m excited for it.”
Grass Lake’s Bargesser surge began with 2020 grad Xavier, who’s currently playing basketball at Alma College.
Second-oldest Brennen Bargesser made a splash last school year as a senior both on the basketball court and track, during the spring winning three individual events and running on a first-place relay to lead the boys team to a Finals title as well.
“My older brother and my younger sister are insane athletes,” Brennen said. “I’m the middle child and just wanted to make a name for myself.”
Lexus Bargesser had won the 100 and 200 dashes as a freshman at the 2019 Finals, then burst onto the national prep basketball scene with an amazing summer that saw colleges from across the country start offering her scholarships.
Their parents also are part of the mix. Father David Bargesser coached the Warriors boys basketball team last season and was an assistant to the girls team. Mother Lori Bargesser was the scorekeeper for the boys team.
Sports is the common bond that links the entire family.
“We’re a really close family,” Lori said. “We’ve always just played sports. That’s what we did. We were in the yard from the time I can remember.”
David, who played basketball and golfed in college, and Lori are from upstate New York. They originally moved to Belleville, then landed in Jackson when he accepted a job at the Michigan Department of Corrections. The family has lived in Grass Lake for about 25 years.
“When I got off work, we’d go outside and play basketball or throw the football,” he said. “From the time I can remember, we were always outside playing something.”
Lori said the organized sports started through a local YMCA.
“Xavier was probably 3 or 4 years old,” she said. “David helped coach. Ever since they started, they were always in at least two sports. It was hectic at times, with practice schedules and everything. It was weird when one of them could drive because they could take themselves to practice.”
Xavier, being the oldest, was the first to play organized sports. Brennen soon followed.
“Basketball is very important in my family,” Brennen said.
“As soon as they could walk, they had a basketball in their hands,” Lori said.
Lexus showed her basketball talent and poise from a young age.
“Basketball was the thing that took off for her,” her father said. “I remember realizing how fast she was on the basketball court. I didn’t realize how fast she was.”
One of the first colleges to offer was UCLA.
“Once one started offering, they all took notice,” David said. “It was a fun two weeks where everyone started calling. She’s would get 4-5 calls in an hour and a half.”
The Bargessers might have had the best day for any one family in state track & field history. Along with both Grass Lake teams winning championships, Brennen won the 100 with a time of 11 seconds, the 200 in 22.6 and the 400 in 49.10. He also anchored the 400 relay that came in first with a time of 44.43.
Lexus repeated as LPD3 champ in both the 100 with a time of 12.12 and the 200 in 25.30. (She had won both in 2019, and the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.) She set an LP Division 3 meet record with a time of 55.54 in the 400, then helped the 400 relay place second with a time of 4:11.54.
Between the two siblings were seven first places, one runner-up finish and two team championships.
“When Brennen won that first race, I was so happy for him,” Lori said. “He had worked so hard. Lexus had won before, but he never had. That was a great moment.”
The seeds of those championships were formed during the spring of 2020 when in place of their season Brennen and Lexus trained together almost every day.
“It’s insane to think (about) what we were able to accomplish,” Brennen said. “She’d run the 100 and win it, then I’d run the 100 and win it. I got so excited for her, then I had to run my race. In the conference meet I jumped (early) and was disqualified. I was nervous at the state meet that I would do that again.”
Lexus and Brennen have always been close. Training together brought them closer.
“We spent all summer running together,” Brennen said. “She was my pacer. She was helping me get my times in.”
Their dad was confident that both could accomplish what they set out to do at this spring’s Finals because he had watched their times closely all summer.
“Going into the year, I was checking times and seeing what other kids were doing,” David said. “I knew both had a chance to do it in all three events. It was definitely the goal. It helped them by training together. Brennen really was into lifting, and I think that helped Lexi get into it. The two of them were always training together, pushing each other.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Bargesser family celebrated a championship-loaded Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals; pictured from left: father David, Brennan, Xavier, Lexus and mother Lori. (Middle) Lexus Bargesser (1) gets a hand up on defense during Grass Lake’s 52-50 win over Kent City in April’s Division 3 Final. She finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. (Below) Brennen Bargesser crosses the line first in the 100 at the Finals in June. (Top photo courtesy of the Bargesser family; Brennen Bargesser photo by Jason Ruggles.)