Highlight Reel: Class D Semifinals
March 19, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
Pittsford and St. Ignace advanced to Saturday's MHSAA Class D Final with Semifinal wins Thursday at the Breslin Center.
Click below for highlights from both games and all four teams that took the floor.
Pittsford 57, Waterford Our Lady 26
Clark On The Break - Maddie Clark posted double-double for Pittsford in its Class D Semifinal win over Waterford Our Lady. Here she gets a basket on a fast break. Pittsford won as Clark got 26 points and 15 rebounds.
Tiffany Tops For Lakers - Tiffany Senerius led Waterford Our Lady in scoring against Pittsford in a Class D Semifinal with 10 points, three coming on this long bomb.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
St. Ignace 59, Frankfort 50
Kelly Fronts Frankfort - Frankfort jumped out to an early first-half lead against St. Ignace. Here's Mackenna Kelly, who led the Panthers with 18 points, scoring on a fast break. St. Ignace rallied in the second half to advance to the Class D Final.
Brown Downtown 7X - St. Ignace came all the way back in the second half against Frankfort, with Margo Brown hitting 6 of her 7 3-point shots in the last two periods, including this one to tie the game at the end of the third quarter.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
PHOTO: St. Ignace's Jade Edelman looks for an open teammate with Frankfort's Anna Hunt (22) defending.
Early Jitters Fade Away as Glen Lake Makes Way to Championship Day
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2023
EAST LANSING — As far as a good sign despite futility goes, this couldn’t have been any better for Maple City Glen Lake in its Division 4 Semifinal against Adrian Lenawee Christian on Thursday.
Glen Lake had shot 3 of 20 from the field in the first quarter, despite many of those opportunities coming from close range near the basket.
But the Lakers still led 10-4.
From there, the shooting picked up and so did the lead throughout the next three quarters for Glen Lake, which ended up surging to a 49-31 win.
The Lakers will attempt to win their first Finals championship since claiming the Class D title in 1978 when they meet Baraga at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“You felt their nerves,” Glen Lake head coach Jason Bradford said. “I just told them at halftime to slow it down. Slow it down, face up, see that hoop and put it in. I think the nerves got a little bit better in the second half, and they had better composure.”
Glen Lake started to find the basket more in the second quarter, scoring 15 points in the frame to take a 25-11 lead into halftime.
The Lakers built their lead to 18 points at 31-13 with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter and held a 37-20 lead going into the fourth.
Glen Lake took a 45-24 lead with 4:50 left and was never threatened.
Senior Maddie Bradford had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and senior Ruby Hogan nearly had a triple-double registering 13 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to lead the way for Glen Lake (25-2).
The Lakers dominated the boards, outrebounding Lenawee Christian by a 47-30 margin and collecting 20 offensive rebounds.
“I think that was huge,” Jason Bradford said. “Rebound, rebound. We preach it in practice, and we’re always working on that. You have to be aggressive. Rebounds are kind of like extra (possessions) and free points.”
Isabelle Kirkendall scored 11 points and Avery Sluss added eight for the Cougars (18-11).
Lenawee Christian returned to the Semifinals despite losing four starters from last year’s team, this time guided by first-year head coach Emilie Beach.
“Big picture, this is so special,” Beach said. “At our school, it seems like the norm to win your District, win your Regional and get to the Final Four. This is so special.”
Glen Lake was making its second-straight Semifinal trip as well after losing in Division 3 a year ago, and seemed to overall benefit from that experience despite the slow start offensively.
“Nerves are going to come,” Hogan said. “You know it’s going to be there, and you’re going to have slip-ups because you are getting used to the big crowd at this stage. Just being able to bounce back from that in the second quarter and second half and making those shots you missed in the first quarter (was nice).”
PHOTOS (Top) Glen Lake’s Jessie Pugh (14) gets through the lane and to the basket during Thursday’s second Division 4 Semifinal at Breslin Center. (Middle) Players scramble for a loose ball during the Lakers’ eventual 49-31 victory.