Lansing Catholic Closes Season With Memorable Victory Close to Home

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

March 18, 2023

EAST LANSING – The Lansing Catholic girls basketball team took a short drive to end a long wait.

Playing just three miles from their high school, the Cougars defeated Frankenmuth 43-29 Saturday at the Breslin Center to win the MHSAA Division 2 Final. It was the first Finals title for the program since 1995.

“It felt like homecourt advantage a little bit,” Lansing Catholic senior guard Hannah Pricco said. “Our bus trip wasn’t super long. It just kind of felt like we were coming to our own court.”

The Cougars treated it that way, dominating from the beginning of the matchup in their first Finals trip since that 1995 title. They scored the game’s first 11 points and never looked back.

The Cougars’ Anna Richards (10) attempts to get a shot up over Frankenmuth’s Lexi Boyke.“This is, as you can imagine, extremely surreal,” Lansing Catholic coach Kacee Reid said. “You’re going through literally every emotion on the bench, especially in a game like that. Frankenmuth is making such a great comeback, and we knew they were going to fight to the end. To go through the anger and sadness and happiness, and now it’s over and we’ve won it. It’s just been a rollercoaster of emotions, and I can’t describe the pride I have in these girls.”

It was the second meeting between the two teams, with Lansing Catholic taking the first 74-42 on Feb. 2. But Reid wasn’t going to let her team come in overconfident.

“They didn’t get here by accident,” Reid said. “They’re in the state championship because they’re playing their best ball of the year. We played them a month and a half ago. … We’re a totally different team, and we knew they were a totally different team. We knew they had been playing some really good basketball, and it didn’t matter at all what that first outcome was. We knew this was going to be a battle.”

Lansing Catholic (24-5) never trailed, and led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. Leah Richards led the Cougars with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Anna Richards had 14 points. Gabby Halliwill added seven.

The Cougars were spurred by their defense throughout, holding Frankenmuth to 9 of 36 shooting from the field and forcing 13 turnovers.

“For us, defensively, we had to switch it up,” Reid said. “We had to keep switching up between man and zone. They were making adjustments and we couldn’t really sit in one thing for too long; they got comfortable. That’s a credit to their coaching staff always making adjustments. We had to continue to switch things up defensively and try to hopefully make their shooters second-guess their shot, or maybe not know where we were coming from.”

Frankenmuth (25-3) didn’t go away, despite trailing by double digits for the majority of the game. 

That was helped by Lansing Catholic shooting 1 of 11 from the field in the third quarter, and going scoreless for the final 5:26 of the frame.

Tessa Roe (12) works to get past Clare Conzelmann and to the basket.The Eagles cut the lead to seven with 2:45 to play on a steal and layup from Clare Conzelmann, but never got closer.

“There was always belief no matter what detriment we got ourselves in,” Frankenmuth senior Lexi Boyke said. “I wouldn’t want to choose any other girls to play with and be in with at that point. I think we fought back and really prided ourselves on, ‘We can still do it.’ We didn’t stop fighting until the end.”

Lansing Catholic always figured Frankenmuth would make a run to get into the game, but was ready when it came.

“We knew they were going to make runs, we knew we weren’t going to hold them to seven points the whole game,” Anna Richards said. “We knew in the third quarter they were going to score, so we just had to stay composed, work the ball around on offense to get the good shots that we wanted.”

Boyke, who scored Frankenmuth’s first 10 points and was its only scorer well into the third quarter, finished with 16. She also reached 1,000 career points in the game, and had six rebounds, while Izzy Bernthal had seven.

Frankenmuth was making its first Finals appearance since winning the Class C title in 1996, one year after Lansing Catholic. 

“That’s a really good Lansing Catholic team, and you’ve seen that from their postseason run and beating an undefeated West Catholic team, and tonight finishing their season off with a state championship. So, congratulations to them,” Frankenmuth coach Joe Jacobs said. “I’m super proud of our kids. They didn’t quit tonight. They could have. … Fun experience, one that we want to treasure forever, but the motivation to come back again is here after tonight’s loss.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Lansing Catholic celebrates its Division 2 championship Saturday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Cougars’ Anna Richards (10) attempts to get a shot up over Frankenmuth’s Lexi Boyke. (Below) Tessa Roe (12) works to get past Clare Conzelmann and to the basket.

Zeinstra Finishing 4-Year Byron Center Run Among School's All-Time Greats

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

February 15, 2024

BYRON CENTER – As an incoming freshman four years ago, Lily Zeinstra was immediately thrust into a starting role on the Byron Center varsity girls basketball team.

West MichiganWhile it was an overwhelming experience, Zeinstra embraced the opportunity, and believes the early demands placed on her helped pave the way for what has become an outstanding high school career – and spot among the best in school history.

“My freshman year was scary,” she said. “Just coming in and starting on varsity. And in our first game, I had to guard Jillian Brown from East Grand Rapids, who was a really good player. I feel I was pushed into a big role on our team at a really early age, but I think that has helped me over the last four years to develop into the player I am today.”

Now a senior standout, the 5-foot-11 Zeinstra has been a mainstay in the Bulldogs’ starting line-up throughout while helping lead the program to four years of success.

She recently became the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing 1,500 points for her career.

“I have to give credit to my teammates,” Zeinstra said. “Through the years I've been in different scoring positions, but I've always been on a team that has trusted me with the ball in tight game scenarios.

“I’ve been told by my coaches since I was younger that I'm a scorer and they need me to score, and that's been my role so I feel like scoring all those points is what I needed to do to help our team win. That’s the most important part.”

Zeinstra, who committed to Division I Butler University last spring, has been the focal point every season and has enjoyed her role as a team leader. Byron Center (14-4) is a combined 68-14 over her four seasons.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot about being a leader and having different roles that I can have on teams,” she said. “Coming in freshman year, my job was to work hard and I was one of the top defenders, so I was guarding the other teams’ best players.

“As years went on, our team lacked numbers so I became more of a scorer, especially last year. I worked on posting up down low and scoring all around the basket, and this year even more trying to further my game and score better. I'm playing college basketball next year, and that’s what they need me to do.”

Zeinstra also had the opportunity to play two years at Byron Center with her older sister, Avery, who plays now at Grand Valley State.

Zienstra, left, puts up a shot against Muskegon.“I feel like I didn’t enjoy it enough when I was in it with her,” Zeinstra said. “But I loved her class so much. There were two other seniors who she played with all four years, and they were big leaders and taught me about the culture here at Byron Center. I really enjoyed playing with them.”

Zeinstra is averaging 25 points per game this season and had a career-high 39 points against Grandville in late December.

First-year Byron Center coach Cam Burns, who replaced longtime program leader Jen Slot, knew all about Zeinstra before being hired.

“I saw her on the AAU circuit and I watched her play for a couple years, and I have friends who spoke highly of her,” Burns said. “When I got the job I wanted to check her out, and I saw her pace and how she plays the game was very special.”

Burns said Zeinstra possesses unwavering confidence and the ability to score several ways.

That mentality has come from countless hours in the gym and a strong work ethic.

“She’s one of the hardest working kids in practice, and she just wants it,” he said. “And she’s a sponge, always looking at different skills and movements to try and get a better look at the rim.

“And it’s about the time and effort she puts into the little details. She makes plays, and I’m not surprised when I see something from her on the court when others are taken back by it. She continues to show why she is so good.”

The adjustment period for Zeinstra was difficult at the onset of this season.

She was getting accustomed to a new coach, as well as a new group of varsity players after the loss of several seniors.

“It was hard at the beginning because I had been running Coach Slot’s plays and offense for three years, and I knew what to expect going into every game and every practice,” Zeinstra said. “When Coach Burns came in, he brought a different vibe and a different culture, and it was the first year I had to get used to playing with new players and a new coach. I was learning things all over again.”

Zeinstra has adapted well to her new surroundings.

“It’s been going pretty good, and we had a couple big wins last week and we are in first place in our conference,” she said. “We should be able to pull another conference championship out – fingers crossed.”

The Bulldogs are chasing their fourth straight conference championship and have a one-game lead entering Friday’s Ottawa-Kent Conference White game against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. Their only conference loss was against Forest Hills Northern.

“It would be such a great accomplishment to win another one,” Zeinstra said. “We have had this winning culture in our program for so long, and with getting a new coach I was worried we were going to lose some of that. But I really feel like this team is buying into everything that Coach is saying and we are finally putting the pieces together and starting to win some big games.”

After a rocky start, Byron Center has adjusted well to its new coach and made giant strides. The Bulldogs dropped their first two games of the season to East Kentwood and reigning Division 1 champion Rockford, but since have won 13 of their last 15 games.

“We started out 0-2 against two of the top teams in the state, and it was just learning a new system and a new process and feeling each other out,” Burns said. “As weeks have gone by, they are starting to trust in each other and trust me. They’ve started to trust in the process.

“After that first win we got to celebrate that, and it was special. From then on we started rolling, and we’re getting better day by day, continuing to trust in one another.”

The Bulldogs also will seek a third consecutive District crown when the postseason begins in a few weeks. Zeinstra is looking forward to a potential rematch with East Kentwood.

“I want another stab at them, and we like challenges,” Zeinstra said. “We feed off that, so I feel like we have a shot to win (Districts) again.”

Dean HolzwarthDean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties. 

PHOTOS (Top) Byron Center’s Lily Zienstra considers her options during a game against Rockford. (Middle) Zienstra, left, puts up a shot against Muskegon. (Photos courtesy of the Byron Center girls basketball program.)