Schoolcraft Ace Could Score & Much More
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 10, 2021
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Gabi Saxman’s Schoolcraft career will be remembered in part because she scored more than 1,000 points over four seasons.
But 5-foot-6 point guard made the MHSAA record book in two other categories, with 477 assists and 436 steals over those 96 games before graduating last spring.
She is continuing her career at Western Michigan University this winter, as her former teammates and high school basketball teams all over Michigan kick off their seasons this week.
Below is a look at recent additions to MHSAA record books in girls basketball, hockey and girls soccer. Click on the headings to view those record books in full.
Girls Basketball
Last Feb. 20 was unforgettable for Grass Lake and especially Gabrielle Lutchka. She set an MHSAA record for 3-pointers with 16 to finish the evening with 56 points, which ranks eighth all-time for single-game scoring. As a team, Grass Lake made the record book with 17 3-pointers that night against Manchester. Teammates Abrie Cabana also was added for an achievement last winter, finishing with a .880 free-throw percentage. Lutchka is a junior and Cabana a senior this school year.
Genesee senior Hayle March tied for 12th-most assists in a game Jan 23, 2020, when she dished 14 during her team’s 61-35 win over Mayville. She also had 12 points, five rebounds and five steals in the victory.
Kasey DeSmit played a significant part in Hudsonville’s 73-28 record from 2015-18, making the career record book in two categories. She sank 187 3-pointers and tallied 474 assists over those 101 games. She now plays at Hope College.
Gracie Nowak filled her senior season at Morrice last winter with a number of highlights, perhaps the biggest individually the 18 steals she totaled in a Jan. 17, 2020, win over Webberville. That total ranks as the fourth-highest for single-game steals in MHSAA history.
Kent City continued to dominate the 3-point shooting lists in 2019-20, with the team connecting on 16 in multiple games and a season-high 17 against Ravenna on March 2. Junior Jenna Harrison finished the season with 86 3-pointers over 24 games, and junior Kenzie Bowers had nine of her team’s 16 in a game against Hesperia. Bowers has signed with Illinois State.
Kelynn Kujat completed her Frankenmuth career last season among top 3-point shooters all-time, drilling 187 over four seasons and 89 games. She previously had made the record book with 66 3-pointers as a sophomore.
Nearly 40 years later, Teresa Hudak’s rebounding excellence has reached the record book. The Rogers City standout three times grabbed 26 or more rebounds in a game – with a high twice of 29. She had 342 rebounds as a junior in 1981 and then 385 as a senior the following fall, with the latter total ranking 11th all-time.
Hockey
Sean Hogan enjoyed an exciting start to calendar year 1995, making the MHSAA record book twice. He scored four goals in the first period of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes’ 7-5 win over White Lake Lakeland on Jan. 14, and seven for the game in Our Lady’s 15-4 win over Algonac that Feb. 5. Hogan went on to play at Iona College and has coached multiple American Collegiate Hockey Association programs.
Girls Soccer
Nearly 25 years later, Marie Spaccarotella has made it into the record book for her 102 career goals over four seasons for Livonia Churchill from 1993-96. She went on to play forward at University of Michigan, starting 32 games and scoring 21 goals over four seasons.
PHOTO: Gabi Saxman brings the ball upcourt for Schoolcraft during a game last season. (Photo courtesy of JoeInsider.com.)
Powell Sets, Reitsma Hits Lowell Into Back-to-Back Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 18, 2021
Lowell’s runs to back-to-back Division 1 runner-up finishes the last two seasons were anchored in part by a hitter and a setter who both finished among the all-time stat leaders at their respective positions on the court.
Jenna Reitsma earned 18 record book entries for kills, with a high of 41 in a Division 1 Semifinal against Novi on Jan. 15. Her 897 kills total this season rank 11th on the single-season list, her 873 as a junior are 15th, and her career kills total of 2,316 over 446 games and four seasons ranks 13th all-time.
Setter Sophie Powell earned nine record book entries, including for 52 assists in a 2019 match against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 1,571 over 146 games as a junior in 2019 (ranking 10th) and 2,902 assists over 287 games and four seasons (but most over the last two). Additionally, senior Emma Hall made the single-match aces list with 15 against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills in 2019, and Emily Stump made that list with 11 against Ottawa Hills in 2018.
Reitsma will continue her career at Marquette University.
See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball, 11-player football and boys tennis.
11-player Football
Braden Mussat capped a three-year career quarterbacking Madison Heights Bishop Foley with a sensational 2019 season that helped him secure entries all over the record book. He finished with senior-season entries for 171 past completions, 293 attempts, 2,792 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air, helping him also make lists with 312 completions, 550 attempts, 4,992 yards and 53 touchdowns over his 25-game career. He also was added for 28 completions, 56 attempts and 430 passing yards in an Oct. 4, 2019 game against Detroit Edison, and for throwing five touchdown passes in a half the following week against Marine City Cardinal Mooney. Mussat is playing baseball at Kalamazoo College.
Three quarters of a century later, the 1945 Greenville football team can celebrate an eternal place in the MHSAA record book as one of 21 teams to not give up a point. Greenville went 7-0-1 that season, outscoring its opponents by a combined 155-0.
Boys Tennis
Griffin Beers finished his four-season varsity tennis career in 2018 on the record book list for most double wins. He finished 71-27 for Rochester Hills Stoney Creek playing with four partners over those four seasons, just missing the single-season list with 26 wins as a junior with teammate Jack Beglin.
Volleyball
Unionville-Sebewaing reached at least the Quarterfinals five times last decade, with a trio of stars contributing heavily to that effort. Rylee Zimmer was added five times to the records including for 808 kills as a junior, 828 as a senior, and 2,332 over her four-year, 532-game career. Those career kills rank 11th all-time. She was the top hitter on the 2018 team that finished Division 3 runner-up and was set by also-senior Nichole Schember, who tied for second for single-match assists with 70 during a four-game win over Cass City, ranks sixth with 1,702 assists for that season and also made the career list with 2,543 assists despite playing only two varsity seasons. Erica Treiber also made the record book five times, with 754 kills as a senior in 2014, 1,759 kills over her 533-game, four-season career; 258 blocks as a senior and 238 as a junior, and 684 blocks for her career. Her senior-year and career blocks both rank second on those respective lists. Treiber went on to earn All-America honors at Tennessee, and Zimmer plays at Saginaw Valley State.
Portage Central senior Jordan MacDonald earned a record book entry with a big hitting performance in a 3-2 win over DeWitt this fall. She had 31 kills in the victory Nov. 12, and her entry is the first for her school in this sport. She will continue next season at Long Island University in New York.
Birch Run’s Emma McIlhargie capped a three-season varsity career this fall among the most accomplished hitters in MHSAA history, making the record book for single-match kills with 32, single-season kills with 593 as a junior and 654 in the fall and career kills with 1,752. Teammate Kalliann Cook, a sophomore this school year, was added for 121 aces during the 2019 season, and senior setter Sydney Pagel was added for 53 assists in a match this season against Essexville Garber – the same match during which McIlhargie earned her kills record entry.
White Cloud four-year varsity senior Alexis Strait finished this fall on the career aces list. She totaled 311 over 393 games, and also finished with more than 2,000 assists during her high school career.
Hopkins’ Brianna Miller closed her high school career by moving up the career lists in kills and aces, finishing her four-season varsity run with 1,916 and 352, respectively, over 502 games. Miller is listed six times total including for a match-high 35 kills this past Oct. 6 and 675 kills over 142 games as a junior, and also 11 aces in a match that season. Then-senior teammate Ashley Bultema also was added for 11 aces in a match in 2019, and additionally, coach Terrie Wisser was added to the winningest coaches list with a 682-471-101 record since taking over at the start of the 1992-93 season.
Keilyn Carpenter finished her career this fall with 10 entries in the volleyball record book from her four varsity seasons and 439 games for Vermontville Maple Valley. She made the career kills list with 2,200, and her 344 career aces rank sixth on that list. Carpenter has signed with Wayne State.
PHOTO: Lowell’s Jenna Reitsma readies to serve during the 2019 Division 1 Final against Farmington Hills Mercy at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.