Kent City Finds Shooting Touch to Reach 1st Final
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
April 7, 2021
EAST LANSING – Kent City has overcome every obstacle this season, and Friday the undefeated Eagles will play Grass Lake for the Division 3 girls basketball championship after defeating Calumet 59-53 in a Semifinal on Wednesday at the Breslin Center.
Grass Lake (19-1) advanced to Friday’s championship game when Hemlock opted out of the tournament Wednesday morning. Both Kent City and Grass Lake will be playing in a Final for the first time.
The Eagles (21-0) opened up an 11-point lead to start the fourth quarter Wednesday and held on despite the Copper Kings getting to within 54-50.
Kent City had a balanced offensive attack with Jenna Harrison scoring 15 points, Madelyn Geers 14, Kenzie Bowers 13, and sister Lexie Bowers 10.
“We just had to take a deep breath and relax,’’ said Harrison. “We knew eventually the shots would start falling.’’
Elli Djerf led the Copper Kings (20-1) with 22 points.
“She kept us in the game; she played her heart out,’’ said Calumet coach Matt Laho. “We needed to have a couple more players go with her, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“We had some defensive breakdowns in the third quarter, some bad rotations. It’s easy to make shots when you’re wide open.’’
Kent City pressured Calumet from the start as both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter. Both teams were under 25-percent shooting over those first eight minutes as the teams managed just 14 points for a 7-7 tie.
Geers, who scored four points in the first quarter, picked up her second foul with 9.8 seconds left in the period. Calumet then went on an 8-3 run to start the second quarter, using a triple from Djerf to take a 15-10 lead and force Kent City coach Scott Carlson to call a timeout.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Lexie Bowers got the Eagles back to within two of the lead, 17-15, as the offenses heated up.
A 10-0 run including consecutive threes from Bowers gave the Eagles a 24-19 advantage. But Djerf scored the last three points of the quarter to get the Copper Kings to within 24-22 at halftime.
“We knew eventually we’d make shots,’’ said Carlson.
Strom and Djerf scored the first six points of the third quarter to give Calumet a 28-24 lead, but Kent City’s offense, led by Geers, responded with a 20-9 run to take a 44-37 lead on a triple and floater by Kenzie Bowers.
Harrison finished the frantic quarter with a triple to give Kent City a 49-41 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
When Geers scored to start the fourth quarter, the Eagles had their largest lead of the game, 51-41.
Up 11, 52-41, Kent City went to its delay game, forcing the Copper Kings to foul.
“We have enough ball-handlers to run clock for five minutes.’’ said Carlson. “They were tired, and playing defense that long wears you out.’’
Lexie Bowers led Kent City with 10 points while Marybeth Halonen had seven for the Copper Kings.
“We’re living the dream right now on the big stage,” Carlson said. “I think it’s a huge advantage for us having played today (while Grass Lake didn’t).’’
PHOTOS: (Top) Kent City's Jenna Harrison (4) makes her way around a Calumet defender Wednesday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Madelyn Geers (24) defends as Calumet's Jana Loukus looks for an opening. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Hemlock Arrives at Breslin, Makes Itself at Home in Reaching 1st Final
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2023
EAST LANSING — Hemlock certainly made up for a lost opportunity in its Division 3 Semifinal against Hart on Thursday.
In 2021, after advancing to the Semifinals for the first time, Hemlock had to withdraw from the tournament after a positive COVID-19 test was discovered before its scheduled game at Breslin Center against Grass Lake.
Earning its way back to the Division 3 final four this year, Hemlock played for that 2021 squad and this year’s team with intensity from the opening tip.
Instead of playing nervous in its first Semifinal game, Hemlock came out like it was playing in the comforts of home during a December practice, storming out to a 21-1 lead after the first quarter en route to a 57-26 win over the Pirates.
The Huskies will meet Blissfield at 4 p.m. Saturday for the Division 3 title in a matchup of two teams both looking to win a Finals championship for the first time.
“I’ve received so many well wishes and texts from players who didn’t get that opportunity who were on that team and were encouraging these girls,” Hemlock head coach Scott Neumeyer said. “I told them that they should’ve had that opportunity. I hope they felt they were a big part of this.”
Senior Regan Finkbeiner led all scorers with 24 points, and junior Lauren Borsenik had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Hemlock (25-3).
Finkbeiner went 9 of 13 from the field overall and 4 of 7 from 3-point range, while Borsenik went 8 of 10 from the field.
Senior Aspen Boutell scored seven points to lead the way for Hart (24-4), which was making its first trip to the Semifinals.
“They came out and really executed the game plan,” Hart head coach Travis Rosema said of Hemlock. “We had some nerves and had some shots that didn’t fall. But they executed better than us.”
The first quarter was all Hemlock, which made 9 of 14 shots from the field, held Hart to 0 of 9 shooting and forced eight turnovers.
The quarter was perfectly punctuated when Chloe Watson hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded to end the first.
“Our first quarter has been our best quarter,” Neumeyer said. “We’ve jumped on several teams this year. I’m not going to say I was surprised. I know what these girls are capable of.”
Hart played Hemlock close to even in the second quarter, but the Huskies still took a 29-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The third quarter was also fairly even, with Hemlock holding a 43-19 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
Hart had a flurry to cut its deficit to 19 halfway through the fourth quarter, but couldn’t put a further dent in Hemlock’s lead the rest of the way.
“What happened two years ago was obviously really devastating and sad,” Finkbeiner said. “The year after, we were like ‘We will make it to Breslin this year. This is our year.’ We lost in Districts. This year, we really focused on the next game. Not Districts, not Regionals and not the Breslin. Just one game at a time. Being here and playing here is unbelievable.”
Now, Hemlock will try and make its season more unbelievable with a win over Blissfield.
“We know we’ve got a tough opponent ahead of us in Blissfield,” Neumeyer said. “They’ve got size, they’ve got speed and they’ve got guards. But (my team) came here to play two games, not one.”
PHOTOS (Top) Hemlock’s Hannah Borsenik (24) works to get a shot up over Hart’s Chloe Coker during Thursday’s Semifinal. (Middle) Kylee Miller (1) is defended by Marianna VanAgtmael (23).