Girls Singles Finals: Four Strikes

March 4, 2012

BATTLE CREEK – Ann Arbor Huron freshman Allison Morris has been in pressure situations before.  

She’s an accomplished youth bowler, and she’s bowled in matches with the Huron boys team. But not much could prepare her for the deficit she found herself in during the MHSAA Division 1 Girls Singles championship match Saturday at M-66 Bowl.

Morris trailed Clinton Township Chippewa Valley junior Kristen Young by 50 pins heading into the second game of the two-game singles match, and was rattled.

“I was kind of out of it.  I didn’t know what to do, but my coaches just said don’t worry about it; bowl like you know how to do. Throw strikes. You can do it.”

Fans were scoreboard watching as Morris mounted her comeback. But she was unaware of the ground she made up in game two.

Morris ended with four straight strikes to finish with 224 and the first bowling title for Huron High School.

“I wasn’t looking at the score. I had no clue, I thought I was down. It was really nerve-wracking,” she said.

“It feels really good. I’m just really happy that I came back and won it.”

Division 2 at Century Lanes

WATEFORD – Tecumseh’s girls now have three Singles champions in nine years of bowling being an MHSAA-sponsored sport.

But even after reaching the Semifinals last season as a freshman, Jordan Richard never expected to become that third winner from her school – or second from her family.

With sister and 2010 champion Kara Richard cheering her on, Jordan finished first in qualifying and then edged reigning champion Lindsay Ploof of Flint Kearsley 425-413 in the Semifinal. Richard defeated Flint Northwestern’s Alonna Tipton 469-382 in the championship match – winning their first game by 15 and second by just two pins.

“Going into today, I never imagined winning. There are a lot of girls out there that are just as good as I am,” Richard said. “Everyone always says I’m following in (Kara’s) footsteps. But it’s really good to have Kara there behind me."

Tecumseh also finished runner-up to Ploof’s Kearsley team in Friday’s Team Final.

"Going into yesterday’s finals, we weren't expecting to win,” Richard said. “Flint Kearsley is a great team. We're all sophomores. So yesterday was just a learning experience, and I learned from it and took it to today."

Division 3 at Airport Lanes

JACKSON – Wyoming Kelloggsville was not going to leave Airport Lanes without an MHSAA championship. After Saturday’s Singles Semifinals, that became guaranteed.

The Rockets fell in Friday’s team Semifinals, ending their 2011 title defense. But on Saturday, seniors Chelsey Purdum and Jessica Lubbers faced off in the Singles Final.

Purdum, last season’s runner-up, edged Lubbers – the 2010 Singles champion – with a two-game score of 370-353.

“While this is my last year of high school bowling, I have been blessed at Kelloggsville High School to have talented bowlers year after year,” Purdum said. “And to go out with a state championship and runner-up is unbelievable.”

Purdum will continue her bowling career next season at Grand View University in Iowa.

Division 4 at Century Lanes

WATERFORD – Unionville Sebewaing's Kyleigh McCarthy was the only freshman to make the Division 4 match play Sunday.

She had to wait an extra day to compete -- a power outage at Sunnybrook Lanes pushed the Singles Final back a day -- line up to bowl at a different center, and then take on the favorite in the championship match.

None of that seemed to bother her.

McCarthy scored her first MHSAA title in her first high school season, defeating Sandusky senior Lillie Miller 342-332 in the Final. Miller, a senior, also was runner-up in 2011.

PHOTO of final eight match players at the Division 1 Final. Click for detailed results from all MHSAA Singles Finals.

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February 27, 2012

Check out our must-know scores and news from Feb. 20-25.

(Click on links for coverage.)

Wrestling

We are the Champions: MHSAA powerhouses in all four divisions continued their recent successes at Saturday’s Team Finals at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena. Hudson became the third program to win four straight MHSAA team titles by outlasting Shelby in Division 4. Richmond in Division 3 and St. Johns in Division 2 both won third-straight championships. Detroit Catholic Central avenged last season’s Division 1 Final loss to Oxford by beating the Wildcats 47-9 – the Shamrocks' second championship in three seasons. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2) (Second Half D3) (Second Half D4)

Competitive Cheer

Stoney Creek goes 10 to 1: Rochester Hills Stoney made the biggest move up among teams that qualified Saturday for this weekend’s Finals at the Grand Rapids Delta Plex. Stoney Creek entered the postseason ranked No. 10 in Division 1 – but won its Regional by just more than a point, and in doing so finished ahead of No. 3 Rochester, No. 5 Southgate Anderson and No. 9 Lake Orion. Stoney Creek, the 2010 Division 1 Final champion, will try to make it two titles in three seasons beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.(Rochester.Patch.com)

Girls Bowling

Oxford stuns: The Wildcats won the closest and arguably most competitive girls or boys Regional on Friday, finishing 14 pins ahead of Fair Haven Anchor Bay and Macomb Dakota at Sterling Heights’ Star Lanes. Oxford rolled four Baker games of 180 or more, and a 918 team game to tie for the highest of those three rounds. The kicker: Oxford entered the postseason unranked; Dakota was No. 10, and No. 9-ranked Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, No. 2 Sterling Heights Stevenson and No. 7 Macomb L’Anse Creuse North all finished outside the top three and failed to qualify for this week’s Division 1 Final. (MHSAA.com)

Boys Basketball

No. 1 in Lansing: Occasionally, the No. 1-ranked teams in Class A and B play each other. Rarely does that happen with both from the same city and located only a few miles apart. Top-ranked Class B team Lansing Sexton’s only loss this season was by a point last month to Detroit Pershing – No. 1 in Class A until losing to Detroit Martin Luther King two weeks ago and falling from the top spot. The Doughboys were replaced by Lansing Eastern, which like Sexton is in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. They met Friday – with the Big Reds winning 75-58 to finish a season sweep of the Quakers. (Lansing State Journal)

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