Arbor Prep's Defense Reigns Again in Repeat Low-Scoring Title Clincher
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 22, 2025
EAST LANSING — There is just something about Ypsilanti Arbor Prep and its comfort with playing low-scoring games in the MHSAA Tournament.
After winning the 2024 Division 3 championship game while scoring just 33 points, Arbor Prep didn’t score more than 32 in its final four postseason games this winter.
But that mattered not, as the Gators still managed to win all of them and capture their second-straight Division 3 title and third in four years.
The latest and final triumph of the 2024-25 season was a 32-21 win over Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest on Saturday at Breslin Center.
“We’re not a great offensive team, and part of that is we are playing five to six girls,” Arbor Prep head coach Scott Stine said. “We slow the ball down. We take time off the clock and when you do that, you’re not going to score a lot of points.”
Arbor Prep (17-12) entered the MHSAA Tournament unranked and with a losing record, but that was more a byproduct of playing a schedule filled with Division 1 and 2 opponents during the regular season.
“I knew this group was capable of doing what they just did,” Stine said. “I just didn’t know if it was ever going to click. The last week of the regular season, it did, and they continued this magical run.”
The Final against Lutheran Northwest was an offensive struggle for both teams.
Arbor Prep shot 35.5 percent from the field overall (11 of 31), 26.7 percent from 3-point range (4 of 15) and committed 17 turnovers.
Lutheran Northwest (21-7) shot 17.5 percent from the field overall (7 of 40) and went 1 for 14 from 3-point range, with the only made shot from beyond the 3-point line coming with 36.7 seconds remaining.
“We struggled getting into what we like to do,” Lutheran Northwest head coach Jimmy Mehlberg said. “We like to get into a quicker tempo. Credit to Arbor Prep. They did very well slowing it down on us.”
Arbor Prep held a 13-10 lead at halftime but started to gain a little separation in the third quarter when senior Eliza Bush hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Gators a 19-12 lead.
Arbor Prep took a 22-13 lead into the fourth quarter. Lutheran Northwest managed to cut its deficit to 24-18 with 4:31 remaining on a basket by junior Addie Troska. But a driving layup by Angela Meggisson with 1:51 remaining gave the Gators a 28-18 lead and all but wrapped up the game.
Meggisson finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Bush scored 10 points for Arbor Prep.
Troska scored eight points to lead Lutheran Northwest (21-7).
The Crusaders took solace in advancing to their first state championship game, and the fact that only three seniors will graduate from a program that has reached Breslin the last two seasons.
Lutheran Northwest lost to Arbor Prep in the Semifinals last year.
“It’s a great thing for our program to take this bigger step,” Lutheran Northwest senior Molly Griswold said, “and do something nobody else in school history has done.”
PHOTOS (Top) Arbor Prep’s Angela Meggisson makes a move toward the paint during her team’s Division 3 title-clinching win Saturday. (Middle) Lutheran Northwest’s Morgan Griswold (22) works to get up a shot over the Gators’ defense. (Below) Kylie Calabria (1) prepares to defend. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Heritage Girls Pushing for Breslin Return
January 6, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Saginaw Heritage girls basketball coach Vonnie DeLong doesn’t start a senior this season and has three freshmen playing prominent roles.
But she also has three starters back from the lineup that made the Class A Semifinals a year ago – and the Hawks' sights are set on contending again this March.
Heritage is the Applebee’s Team of the Month for December thanks to a 6-0 start that included a key Saginaw Valley League North win over Midland and ended with a 39-29 victory over reigning Class B champion Detroit Country Day in the marquee game of the Motor City Roundball Classic.
The Hawks finished 22-4 last season and 16-5 in 2013-14, their first under DeLong, who was part of three MHSAA championship teams as a player at Carrollton from 1979-1982 and coached Saginaw Arthur Hill’s Class A runner-up team in 1998. Heritage improved to 7-0 on Tuesday with a 38-10 win over Mount Pleasant and has won 13 of its last 14 games dating to last season.
“The expectations from the kids’ perspective are very high,” DeLong said. “They want to win. They want to get back to the Breslin. With as many kids as we had coming back, and with what we added, it’s a realistic goal for them – but they know it's going to be hard to do.”
Heritage has beaten all of its opponents but one by at least 10 points, downing Flushing by only nine, 36-27, on opening night. Five of seven players who saw the floor in the Semifinal loss to DeWitt last season are back, including returning starters Jaela Richardson, Haley Brefka and Courtney McInerney. Richardson is a sophomore; Brefka and McInerney are juniors. Senior center Jenna Falkenberg and sophomore guard Jessi Bicknell both also played at Breslin last March.
But the lineup, while experienced, is paced in scoring by a pair of freshmen. Mallory McCartney and Moira Joiner lead the balanced offensive effort averaging 9.6 and 8.3 points per game, respectively, with Joiner adding 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and three steals per game and McCartney grabbing 2.5 steals per contest.
Richardson grabs 7.2 rebounds to go with 7.3 points per game, while Bicknell averages 6.4 points and 2.5 steals and McInerney grabs six rebounds per game.
The Hawks also are giving up only 23 points on average. No opponent has scored 30. Country Day's 29 points were their fewest since scoring 30 in a Quarterfinal loss to Flint Powers Catholic in 2013.
“Country Day is so good, and every year; they’ve just been phenomenal,” said DeLong, who also coached at Saginaw Valley State University and played at Notre Dame and Michigan. “For our kids to get a win like that, against such a good team, it’s huge. Especially for the young kids.”
Past Teams of the Month:
November: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard volleyball – Report
October: Benton Harbor football – Report
September: Mason and Okemos boys soccer – Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Heritage's Jessi Bicknell pushes the ball upcourt with Jaela Richardson calling for the pass. (Middle) Heritage got past Country Day, 39-29, to cap December. (Photos courtesy of Chris Bicknell.)