![The Lansing Central girls basketball team, in 1898, is believed to be the first girls high school team in Michigan.](/sites/default/files/2024-06/160201_gbb_2H.jpg)
Girls Basketball Builds Century-Long Legacy
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
February 1, 2016
A stroll through old high school yearbooks illustrates the amazing history of sports in Michigan.
Here one can see evolution. We see the influence of fashion, technology and the norms of society on uniform design, equipment and the games that we play. We see how photography changed.
Look cautiously, and with additional investigation, we can catch glimpses into the effects of migration patterns in our country. Turning pages, we can sometimes catch the building of gymnasiums, stadiums and fields of play.
With careful study and research, we can also gain knowledge on how education handled the female athlete.
Dr. James Naismith created the game of basketball back in 1891 in Massachusetts at the Springfield YMCA. In Michigan, the sport dates back to at least 1898, when some senior girls at Lansing Central High School raised money for “baskets” and wine color “suits” trimmed in white braid and formed a basketball team.
“Their four games were played against the (Michigan Agricultural College) girls’ team. Two of these games were played before the public in the Lansing Armory,” wrote Lewis L. Forsythe, president of the MHSAA from 1924 to 1942, in his book, Athletics in Michigan High Schools: The First Hundred Years.
Hence, it is believed that the girls game predates the boys version at the high school level in the Great Lakes state. While we don’t know what rules were used by the Lansing Central girls, initially, girls played basketball by the same 13 rules created by Naismith. Senda Berenson, director of physical training at Smith College in Massachusetts, had read about Naismith’s game.
“As the game was first played it was almost too rough for girls or women to play,” states an article in the December 24, 1899, Springfield, MA Republican newspaper. Based on the suggestions from the players and the stamina of the girls she taught, Berenson altered Naismith’s original 13 rules to make the game more suitable for women. Her rules allowed 5-10 players on the court at a time on a court divided into three sections. By design, the players could not leave their section of the court. Like the men’s game, it was played during the winter sports season.
“So, at the conference of physical training held here last June,” continued the article in the Republican, “a committee of prominent physical directors of women’s colleges was appointed to draw up a set of rules.” The guidelines were adopted and the American Sports Publishing Company published “Basket Ball for Women” as part of their Spalding athletic library. Spalding guides were used by physical directors at colleges and schools across the country. Berenson would serve as editor of the Spalding guide until 1917.
“Basketball as an interscholastic game developed rapidly between 1913 and 1920,” wrote Forsythe in his book. “And quite naturally, as had been the case in other sports, the schools … came to talk about their status as ‘champions,’ or were acclaimed such by admiring followers or the press. Inevitably and perhaps with some ulterior motive, a college or a city came forward and proposed to conduct a ‘tournament’ to decide the issue among several schools.”
State Championships
Boys basketball tournaments in Michigan, designed to identify a state champion, date back to 1917 and perhaps before. Yet the governing bodies for high school sports did not sponsor a girls basketball championship tournament until 1973.
Why the difference?
As noted, it’s not that girls didn’t play basketball. The sport remained quite popular into the late 1920s. Like the boys prior to the arrival of the tournaments, local newspapers were quick to proclaim “state championship” honors for successful squads.
The 1914 Grand Haven girls team listed nine players on the team, with six positions listed: Running Center; Jumping Center; Left Guard; Right Guard; Left Forward; Right Forward. The team traveled by train to away games that winter and posted a 5-1 record against regional opponents. (The Grand Haven boys played eight games that year). The Grand Haven Daily Tribune proclaimed the girls “one of the best teams in Western Michigan if not the entire state.”
“Though hindered by lack of proper gymnasium room, 40 Central high school girls are practicing faithfully for basketball, now that a first class schedule has been arranged,” came word in a late December 1921 issue of the Flint Journal. The girls team from East Lansing High School occupied one of the spots on the published Flint Central schedule.
East Lansing’s girls were considered defending state champions after posting consecutive undefeated seasons in the winters of 1919 and 1920. The 1921 team continued the tradition, posting nine straight victories before falling 38-26 to Birmingham, another state power. East Lansing finished the regular season with a 13-1 record (although, it appears the contest with Flint never occurred).
In April 1921, for the first time, four of the state’s strongest girls squads were invited to Michigan Agricultural College for a tournament. Although unsanctioned by the state’s high school athletic governing body, the old Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association, the press felt that this invitational would decide a girls state champion. The games were played at the same time as the boys Class A tournament games at M.A.C. On Friday, Birmingham’s girls downed Saginaw, while East Lansing defeated Onaway. In the tournament final Saturday night, East Lansing avenged a regular season loss to Birmingham by a score of 50-15.
“There was little doubt in the minds of those that saw the return game but what East Lansing could rightfully claim the State’s championship for this, the third consecutive year,” wrote Raynor Hall, the athletic editor of the Ceniad, in the East Lansing annual.
Plans were in place to host another invitational in 1922, but were abandoned by the Agricultural College when more than 30 teams requested entry into the tournament. Without preliminary games for elimination, it became impossible to select representative teams. That, however, did not prevent squads from laying claim to state honors.
With the defeat of Onaway in its season finale before a crowd of 400, the Tawas City girls team proclaimed itself 1922 champion of northeastern Michigan and beyond. While newspapers around the state debated assertions on the crown by Tawas City, Muskegon and Saginaw Eastern, all once beaten during the season, the Three Rivers girls tossed their achievements into the ring. It was tough to question their merit. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, the girls scored 518 points to their opponents’ 126 over 11 straight wins, including a 40-4 victory over Decatur, a team previously unbeaten in 13 games.
Following a victory over East Lansing on their home floor in March of 1923, the Birmingham Eccentric wrote, “This was the last game of the season for the Birmingham girls. They have won all their high school games and lost two independent games to the Central Methodist team. They may, for the third consecutive year, claim the championship of Michigan.”
Changes afoot
Activities at the 1923 convention of the American Physical Education Association would soon impact athletics for females in Michigan and across the United States. With the publication of the Official Handbook of the National Committee on Women’s Athletics, approaches began to shift as society wrestled with who should control athletic instruction for women. Despite the popularity, many academics, superintendents and school administrators felt that interscholastic competition was inappropriate for females, and suggested that it should differ from that of men. An emphasis on “play for play’s sake” and “a sport for every girl and every girl in a sport” gripped athletic instruction and administration.
Still, in Traverse City, a total of 50 girls tried out for the high school basketball team in 1925, “making it possible to select a team of unusual skill,” according to the editors of the school’s yearbook, The Pines. That same season, Coach Tena Nelson’s Muskegon Heights squad tallied 14 straight victories, and laid claim to the state’s mythical crown following a season-ending victory over that Traverse City team.
One year later, the 1926 Aurora annual from Saginaw High School (also known as Saginaw Eastern) described that philosophical shift that had swept across the state.
“This year girls’ athletic contests have been conducted under a plan very different from that of former years. Under the old system of inter-scholastic athletics very few girls could participate in the various sports. Now, under the new plan of intramural athletics, it is possible to include a large number of girls because each class has several teams. Thus the various classes compete with each other. Although the varsity girls have had to give up out of town games they have retained their enthusiasm for athletics.”
The 1926 Saginaw Arthur Hill yearbook, Legenda, summed it up more bluntly: “Due to an agreement made by the girls’ physical directors of Saginaw Valley to discontinue interscholastic games, only interclass games and those with Saginaw Eastern were played.”
Under the banners like Girls Athletic Association or Girls Athletic Club, intermural programs were established by administrators at numerous high schools across the state. In many cases, a point system was set up, based on participation, designed to determine the awarding of varsity letters. As more schools moved to this model, which often featured competition between sophomore, junior and senior classes, there were fewer schools to compete against interscholastically.
The 1928 edition of Grand Haven High School’s annual, Blue & Gold, noted that the girls basketball team won only two of seven games that school year. The 1929 edition of the yearbook stated, “No regular High School girls’ team was organized this year, but rather than giving a few the privilege of playing, Miss Smith organized a (intramural) league giving all girls a chance to play.”
At Muskegon Heights, the 1928 team finished with a 4-2 record. In 1929, the school had switched to inter-class basketball, with the school title won by the junior class.
Intra-Mural competition over Interscholastic
While by no means was the approach universal, for the next 30 years plus, girls across Michigan saw options to compete against other schools decrease.
With the 1929 arrival of Vaughn Blanchard, who served as director of health and physical education in Detroit, city league schools withdrew from statewide competition following the 1929-30 school year. As the state’s largest city, Detroit schools offered a broad range of competitive athletics, including competition in sports not offered by many outstate schools. Blanchard believed there was an overemphasis on competitive athletics, and chose to focus on a program of greater intra-school intramural activity.
Strong “house” programs of intramural athletics were added in Detroit and girls varsity basketball was retained. However, unlike past seasons, no city championships were played beginning with the 1930-31 season.
“Will intramural sports eventually replace interscholastic contests?” was the question raised in the 1933 Detroit Southeastern annual under the banner Girls’ Sports. “This is the question which will be answered in the very near future; in fact, there have been several decisive steps taken in this direction.”
Girls basketball competition among Detroit Public School League teams did continue in Detroit. Hamtramck completed a seven game schedule undefeated in 1935 against teams from Detroit Central, Northeastern, Western, Southeastern, Eastern, Northern, and Cass Tech.
Outside Detroit, competition did remain between some smaller rural schools across pockets of Michigan, where intramural might not be practical due to small class sizes. For example between 1937 and 1942, White Cloud’s girls played a changing array of teams from Hesperia, Newaygo, Grant, Ravenna and Baldwin.
In 1938, girls basketball rules were officially changed to state that teams were made up of six players per side and the court was divided into two with three players on the offensive and three players on the defensive end.
“In the years following World War II, attitudes concerning women in general, and their participation in sports, had begun to change”, stated Joan S. Hult in the book, A Century of Women’s Basketball. Those changing attitudes, combined with the prosperity of the war years, did see girls interscholastic basketball return to some Michigan schools in fits and starts.
In Fremont, “the Packerettes, with Mrs. Miller as coach, entered their second year of existence with several losses to their credit,” noted a writer in the school’s 1946 annual, Mogul. “Only two of the players were back from last year’s team.”
Detroit Southeastern ended the 1945 season with two victories and two losses. The 1948 Detroit Cass Tech girls played games against teams from other Detroit school: Mackenzie, Eastern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Detroit Commerce.
However, in the 1949 yearbook, it appears Fremont’s girls basketball team had changed to a girls sports club teaching the fundamentals of basketball. Based on 1955 annuals from Hesperia, Ravenna and Newaygo, it appears girls basketball disappeared from the varsity sports menu at those schools as well.
While the boys continued to explore an expanded menu of sports activities (including football, basketball, swimming, baseball, track, wrestling, tennis and golf), many yearbooks featured girls only as cheerleaders (which prior to the war had also been dominated by men). Competitive athletics didn’t always fit well with the "sugar and spice and everything nice" viewpoints of the time.
Still, the game found a home in some places. In the 1954 New Lothrop annual, the senior class celebrates its class history.
“The fall of 1953 finally arrived. … In this year our school got its gym, and we started our first year of Girls Basketball, by winning the first game from Byron.”
Girls basketball teams can also be found in cities like Morrice, Corunna, Fowler, and Holt, as well as in Detroit-area parochial schools like Detroit Servite and Harper Woods Regina and the Detroit PSL.
Changing Times
In 1966, the MHSAA formed the Girls Athletics Committee to look at the growth in girls high school sports in Michigan and across America. The group held its first meeting in October of that year with the intent of offering guidelines for schools choosing to offer girls athletic programs. For many, it signified the start on the long road back.
Advancements were slow but steady. For example, prior to the 1968-69 season the MHSAA Representative Council took action to increase the allowable number of varsity high school games from eight to 10 per team. In April of 1969, a move was made to sponsor a two-year experimentation using five-player basketball contests (involving extensive changes to the rules outlined in the official guide for the Michigan Division of Girls and Womens Sports). In 1971, the number of basketball games allowed for junior high school teams was increased from five to eight. Finally, the official rules of the game were changed to five-player, full-court basketball.
Still schools were not required to offer interscholastic athletics programs for females in 1971. A survey by the National Federation of High School Athletic Associations showed 707 high schools in Michigan offered boys basketball, while 296 sponsored girls basketball. Post-high school opportunities within the sport were slim. In addition, there were relatively few four-year colleges offering scholarships for women basketball players.
The arrival of Title IX on June 23, 1972 changed that. Legislation prohibiting discrimination against students based on race, sex, or religion, Title IX forced the creation of women’s athletic programs at high schools and colleges across the nation. With that, according to a survey by the National Federation, 699 high schools in Michigan sponsored boys basketball, while 627 offered girls basketball.
Oklahoma began tournament play for girls in 1919, missing one state championship in 1934 because of the depression. In Iowa (where the girls often outdrew the boys during March Madness), the women's tourney began in 1920. In December 1973, eight high school teams gathered at each of four sites around Michigan to compete for the first MHSAA Girls Basketball titles. In addition, many schools now offered softball, tennis, swimming, volleyball and track & field programs. With the stroke of a president’s pen, the world of high school athletics, and the view of the female, changed.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Lansing Central girls basketball team, in 1898, is believed to be the first girls high school team in Michigan. (Middle top) This Spalding guide outlined the rules for girls basketball. (Middle) The 1921 East Lansing girls team was a force of its time. (Middle below) The 1946 Fremont team played the second season of girls basketball at that school. (Below) The 1957 Detroit Northern team was among those representing Detroit Public School League member schools. (Photos collected by Ron Pesch.)
![Chelsea's Leila Wells was among stars last week as her team went from unseeded to District champion.](/sites/default/files/2023-03/230307_gbb_2H.png)
Breslin Bound: 2022-23 Girls Regional Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 7, 2023
We’re two weeks and three wins from sending 16 teams to the Breslin Center.
And if District week was an indication, the storybook moments will continue to be plentiful as we surge toward the final rounds of this year’s MHSAA Girls Basketball Tournament.
We give a glance at some of last week's highlights below, and look forward to many more with three Regionals in each division that could be especially intriguing this week. Once again, everything else you could want to know about tickets, brackets and more can be found on the Girls Basketball page. To watch any of several games online, visit the NFHS Network.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Goodrich 54, Lake Fenton 53 The Martians (21-3) had fallen to previously-undefeated Flint Metro League Stars rival Lake Fenton by six, 26 and three over the final five weeks of the regular season, but got past the Blue Devils (23-1) in a Division 2 District Final.
2. Chelsea 51, Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 47 This was a District Semifinal, but more notable as unseeded Chelsea (24-1) downed the Detroit Catholic Bishop Tournament champion and top-seeded FGR (19-4), on the way to then defeating Cardinal Tournament winner and second-seeded Wixom St. Catherine (22-2) in the Division 2 District Final.
3. Negaunee 47, Hancock 44 (2 OT) The Miners (21-4) avenged a 42-31 loss to the Bulldogs (20-2) from Dec. 16 to clinch in Division 3.
4. Farmington Hills Mercy 59, North Farmington 23 The Marlins (21-3) advanced with a Division 1 District title by handing North Farmington (23-1) its only defeat.
5. Olivet 48, Vicksburg 33 The Eagles (19-4), also in Division 2, claimed their first District title since 2011 in handing Vicksburg (23-1) its lone loss.
Regionals at a Glance
These could be among our most competitive brackets. Host sites are in bold:
DIVISION 1
Coldwater
Kalamazoo Central (20-1) vs. DeWitt (22-2), Holt (20-4) vs. Coldwater (23-1)
Four 20-win teams make any Regional high profile, and this one also includes four league champions. Holt and DeWitt split their regular-season series – Holt winning 55-53 and DeWitt avenging 48-43 – in sharing the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue title. But both face teams Tuesday that have lost only once this season – Coldwater to Jackson Northwest, and Kalamazoo Central in its season opener to Muskegon three months ago. Coldwater did avenge that loss to Northwest on Feb. 7 – and their matchups may have given Holt some ideas after the Rams clinched their District last week with a 63-45 win over the Mounties.
Flushing
Sault St. Marie (20-2) vs. Midland Dow (17-7), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (21-0) vs. Grand Blanc (19-4)
Carman-Ainsworth was first, Grand Blanc second and Dow third in the Saginaw Valley League, and the Cavaliers won single meetings with the other two in building a perfect record. After being eliminated by Grand Blanc in a Regional Semifinal last season, Carman-Ainsworth won the team’s Jan. 20 meeting 45-42 – but the Bobcats haven’t lost since. Dow has won two straight Regional titles, and after graduating some serious star power rebounded this season off an 0-4 start to get back to this position – with its SVL loses to Carman-Ainsworth and Grand Blanc both by 14 points. Sault Ste. Marie may be far less familiar to those three, and that’s an advantage as the Blue Devils are coming off defeating the top two in the Big North Conference last week (Petoskey and Traverse City Central) after avenging one of their two losses by downing Great Northern Conference champion Escanaba two weeks ago.
Royal Oak
Detroit Renaissance (20-1) vs. Bloomfield Hills Marian (10-13), Utica Ford (20-2) vs. Farmington Hills Mercy (21-3)
Renaissance’s work in its entirety this season is one of the strongest in the state, with that lone loss by a point in overtime to Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard two weeks ago. The Phoenix open this week with usual Catholic League Central power Marian – which after a rough first few months has won six straight to reach this point – while co-champion Mercy potentially awaits in the Regional Final. But the Marlins – themselves having lost this season only to Gabriel Richard (twice) and Detroit Edison – must be careful with Ford. The Falcons won the Macomb Area Conference White and reached the Red/White Tournament championship game before falling to Grosse Pointe North, another District champion last week.
DIVISION 2
Flat Rock
Romulus (20-4) vs. Redford Westfield Prep (14-8), Detroit Edison (18-3) vs. Dearborn Divine Child (17-6)
It would be easy to call reigning Division 2 champion Detroit Edison the favorite not only to advance this week, but to win it all again. And with its only in-state loss again this season to 2022 Division 1 champion West Bloomfield, that’s a very possible scenario. But there will be plenty of challenges this week, starting with Divine Child and Miss Basketball Award finalist Kennedy Blair. On the other side of the bracket, Romulus has reached 20 wins for the second-straight season and surely would rev up for a rematch with Edison after falling to the Pioneers in last year’s Regional Final. Westfield has played a schedule much like Edison’s including opponents from along the I-96/I-94/I-75 corridors and some top out-of-state teams as well, with notable wins over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, Riverview and Detroit Country Day among others.
Fowlerville
Lansing Catholic (19-5) vs. Tecumseh (20-4), Ida (15-9) vs. Chelsea (24-1)
Chelsea had arguably the most notable District run in the state with wins over Father Gabriel Richard and Wixom St. Catherine (see above). But if there was a No. 6 on that “Week in Review” list, it would’ve gone to Lansing Catholic for avenging a 10-point regular-season defeat with a 54-42 win over Haslett (22-2). The Cougars have won 17 of their last 18, the lone defeat to the Vikings. But Tecumseh also represents a very real stopper tonight, especially with the possibility of a third game with Chelsea on the line. Tecumseh finished second to Chelsea in the Southeastern Conference White, and its only two losses since December were to the Bulldogs. And all of that said, keep an eye out for Ida. The Bluestreaks emerged from a Lenawee Country Athletic Association that produced five teams (of eight) with at least 15 wins, and three District champions.
Petoskey
Houghton (19-5) vs. Kingsley (15-9), Big Rapids (22-2) vs. Standish-Sterling (21-3)
The Upper Peninsula produced a strong group of contenders who have taken turns challenging each other all season, and Houghton is among those emerging after winning its District Final 63-60 over Escanaba after falling to the Eskymos just two weeks earlier. Seven Gremlins wins have come against opponents with at least 15 victories. Kingsley is similarly tested, having won 11 of its last 15 games and with two of the most recent losses coming to 21-game winners Traverse City St. Francis and Maple City Glen Lake. Big Rapids moved past back-to-back Division 3 runner-up Kent City (20-4) in the Central State Activities Association with league and CSAA Tournament-clinching wins and will be challenged next by a Standish-Sterling team featuring 2,000-point scorer Macey Fegan.
DIVISION 3
Centreville
Watervliet (20-4) vs. Kalamazoo Christian (21-3), Bronson (20-3) vs. Buchanan (21-1)
This list of contenders is as impressive as it comes, with four league champions all with 20 wins. The Bucks – led by Miss Basketball finalist Faith Carson – already own victories over Bronson (42-29) and Watervliet (44-32) from back-to-back games in late January, and defeated 21-game winner Niles Brandywine for the third time, 67-57, to advance. Bronson emerged from a Big 8 Conference with two 20-game winners and no doubt would love to also avenge last season’s 45-37 Regional Semifinal loss to Buchanan, and Kalamazoo Christian avenged its 2022 season-ending loss in downing Schoolcraft for the third time, 38-34, in their District Final last week. Christian also owns a 52-35 win over Watervliet from Jan. 10 – but the Panthers have won 11 straight since falling to Buchanan and were especially impressive doubling up 16 and 17-game winners during their District run.
Dansville
Grass Lake (16-7) vs. Ovid-Elsie (20-4), Dansville (20-2) vs. Springport (20-3)
The Regional includes three more league champions, and Springport the runner-up to Bronson (see above) in the Big 8. Grass Lake is tested, with three wins and also three defeats to teams still playing including an especially impressive victory over Division 1 Saline. Ovid-Elsie is 19-2 since losing to Dansville on Dec. 5, and the two could get a chance to see how much has changed; the Marauders already clinched their District title by defeating Pewamo-Westphalia after losing to the Pirates previously back on Dec. 2. The Aggies have done nothing but impress all season with eight victories total over opponents with at least 15 wins and those losses only to 15-win Portland St. Patrick and Divine Child (see above). And that brings us back to Springport, which certainly could emerge having lost this season only to Bronson twice and Division 2 Olivet (see above) in its season opener.
Houghton Lake
Beaverton (11-13) vs. Lake City (23-1), Traverse City St. Francis (21-2) vs. Hemlock (21-3)
Lake City is a returning Regional champion and perhaps even more impressive this season having won the strong Highland Conference and then defeating third-place McBain and second-place Evart in last week’s District. The challenges will continue starting with Beaverton, which is 8-4 over its last 12 games after a rough start. On the other side of the bracket are two more league champions and 20-game winners, Hemlock from a Tri-Valley Conference West 10-1 that included Standish-Sterling (see above) and St. Francis from the Lake Michigan Conference with its only losses to Maple City Glen Lake (21-2) and Harbor Springs (18-5). Hemlock’s defeats were all to Division 2 teams, including two still playing.
DIVISION 4
Marquette
Ewen-Trout Creek (18-6) vs. Baraga (19-5), Norway (21-3) vs. Munising (16-5)
Everyone here has seen plenty of good opponents, with the two Semifinals rematches from the regular season. Baraga was a six-point loss to eventual repeat champion Fowler from making the Division 4 championship game last winter, and the Vikings are back on the rush. All five losses were to teams that have won at least 16 games – although the most recent was in the regular-season finale, 64-62 in overtime, to E-TC. That win avenged a 50-38 loss to Baraga for the Panthers, and E-TC is similarly tested with all of its defeats to opponents with at least 14 wins. Norway is the winningest of this group and has only one in-state loss – to Division 3 Bark River-Harris on Feb. 13 – plus a 37-20 win over Munising from Jan. 6. The Mustangs similarly have seen many of the U.P.’s small-school best with four of five losses to teams with at least 16 wins.
Pellston
Brimley (12-11) vs. Mackinaw City (23-1), Indian River Inland Lakes (19-5) vs. Johannesburg-Lewiston (19-6)
Mackinaw City has been in this mix for a while, but this might be its most impressive run of the recent bunch with its only loss 59-55 to Ovid-Elsie (see above) on a neutral court Feb. 4. The Comets defeated Inland Lakes 62-43 to win their home tournament Dec. 21, which might have been their most impressive win before clinching the District title with a 59-46 victory over Cedarville (16-5). Inland Lakes’ only defeats since Mackinaw City came to Gaylord St. Mary (21-3), the one team to finish ahead of the Bulldogs in the Ski Valley Conference. Johannesburg-Lewiston finish third in the Ski Valley and won the first meeting with Inland Lakes 49-33 on Dec. 7 before Inland Lakes took the rematch 55-51 on Jan. 24. Brimley has won five of its last six games, with the lone loss during that time by just a point, solidifying a notable rise from three wins two seasons ago to seven last year and now 12 with a District title.
Traverse City West
Gaylord St. Mary (21-3) vs. Onekama (8-16), McBain Northern Michigan Christian (11-10) vs. Maple City Glen Lake (21-2)
This Regional features a pair of powers on opposite sides of the bracket. Gaylord St. Mary won a Ski Valley that has had five teams post 13 or more victories, and the Snowbirds have only one loss (to Division 3 Harbor Springs) since an opening-weekend tournament sweep by Division 2 Escanaba and Division 3 New Lothrop. On the other side is Glen Lake, on a 13-game winning streak with losses to only Division 1 Traverse City Central and Division 2 Cadillac and plenty of idea of what it takes to advance having made the Quarterfinals two years ago and the Semifinals last season. Hoping to play spoiler are NMC – another team from the Division 3-heavy Highland Conference that defeated Manistee Catholic Central (18-6) in their District Final – and Onekama, which plays with Glen Lake and Kingsley in the Northwest Conference and won its three District games all by 13 points or more.
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PHOTOS (Top) Chelsea's Leila Wells was among stars last week as her team went from unseeded to District champion. (Middle) Dearborn Divine Child and Farmington Hills Mercy face off during the regular season; both will play in Regionals this week. (Photos courtesy of the Chelsea athletic department and by Douglas Bargerstock, respectively.)