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Pewamo-Westphalia’s Alonna Thelen (40) moves the ball up court Thursday while defended by Roscommon’s Mara Williams.

Bengel Seizes Big-Play Moment, Takes Over Final Quarter to Send P-W to Saturday

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 19, 2026

EAST LANSING – Pewamo-Westphalia senior guard Elly Bengel wasn’t afraid of the big moment.

Bengel took charge when the Pirates were in the midst of a scoring drought while hanging on to a slim lead over Roscommon in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s first Division 3 Semifinal.

She scored seven of her game-high 20 points during the final period as P-W secured a 46-33 win over the resilient Bucks at Breslin Center. 

“She’s not afraid of the moment, and that’s what big-time players do” P-W coach Steve Eklund said. “They can feel it, and they can sense that the team was a little bit shell-shocked and she decided to step up and went and got a bucket.”

It was the team’s 24th win of the season by 10 points or more and sent the Pirates (26-2) to their first Final since 2019, tipping off at 4 p.m. Saturday. They will attempt to finish a P-W Division 3 sweep, as the boys team won last weekend’s championship at Breslin.

After watching a double-digit lead dwindle to six (33-27) with six minutes remaining, Bengel took matters into her own hands and sliced through the defense for a three-point play to push the advantage back to nine.

The Bucks’ Nemiah Carper (24) and Cami Hamina defend the lane as P-W’s Adrianna Eklund (10) looks to the perimeter.Roscommon would get no closer.

“We moved the ball better and got her into a catch-and-rip opportunity, and she did a good job of drawing contact,” Eklund said.

Bengel scored seven consecutive points during the final quarter and made 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a perfect 2-of-2 from behind the 3-point arc.

“This is my fourth year on the team, so I knew I had to step up and do it for my team,” Bengel said.

P-W’s defense held the Bucks to 29 percent (9-31) shooting from the field, while forcing 19 turnovers.

“A of credit goes to Roscommon because that was one of the finer defensive teams we've played all season, and they made us work for everything,” Eklund said. “But we love to play defense, and that’s what we base our program around and it stood up. We got some big stops late.”  

P-W led 26-15 at the half after back-to-back triples by Adrianna Eklund and Bengel, but the Pirates scored only seven points during the third quarter.

Adrianna Eklund, a sophomore, finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Roscommon was making its first trip to the Semifinals since 1996 and finished 21-4.  

“That’s just a really good basketball team,” Bucks coach Greg Kauffman said. “I’m proud of the kids, they played hard, but they were just a little bit better. Sometimes it comes down to that.

“We returned 90 percent of our team so we felt like we could get here this year. We felt we deserved to be here, and we just ran into a team that was a little bit better than us.”  

Senior guard Zoey Kauffman led Roscommon with 14 points and five rebounds, while junior guard Mara Williams added 11 points.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Alonna Thelen (40) moves the ball up court Thursday while defended by Roscommon’s Mara Williams. (Middle) The Bucks’ Nemiah Carper (24) and Cami Hamina defend the lane as P-W’s Adrianna Eklund (10) looks to the perimeter. (Photos by Lilanie Karunanayake/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)

Tony Coggins serves as PA announcer during a 2022 Division 3 volleyball match at Kellogg Arena.

In Memoriam: Tony Coggins (1971-2023)

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

October 24, 2023

The MHSAA and Holly school communities are grieving this week after the sudden loss of Tony Coggins, a shining light in his educational community and an enthusiastic supporter of school sports as a public address announcer for several of our largest championship events.

But while that cheerful tone has been quieted, it surely will not be forgotten by the many fortunate to enjoy an event in the presence of that voice and the joyfulness he brought into every arena, press box and classroom.

Coggins, 51, died Saturday. He is survived by his wife Kristy and children Emma and Bradlee, among several family and friends from his local and greater sports communities.

Tony CogginsHis career as a PA announcer began during his freshman year of high school in 1985, when his father Dale Coggins – Flushing’s athletic director at the time – couldn’t find anyone else to announce middle school football games. That was 39 years ago, and this fall Tony Coggins was in his 24th announcing at Holly, where he taught and served as an administrator in addition to his role as “Voice of the Holly Bronchos” for football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, competitive cheer and swimming & diving over the years.

Coggins has been a mainstay among MHSAA Finals PA announcers over the last decade in football, basketball, softball and most recently volleyball. He lent his voice to college sports at University of Michigan as well. “Tony was a huge part of our Finals events. It’s hard to imagine it being the same without him,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said.

As part of the run-up to the MHSAA public address announcers clinic in 2018, Coggins said this about what drew him to the microphone:

“I have zero athletic ability whatsoever, which is interesting because my father was an all-state running back. But I enjoy being involved, and I've always been the one for history and statistics and knowing what's going on,” Coggins said. “This is a way for me to be involved. It's a way for me to use a talent I've been given; public speaking has always come pretty naturally for me.

“So I worked at my craft to get better. I got better from watching the people around me, from studying the people I like, and the people – if I saw someone I didn’t care for – I'd make a note and say to myself, ‘Don't do that.’ I take feedback from people very personally, and I mean that in a good way. If somebody takes the time to come up and say, ‘You did this well; I think you should change this,’ that means they care about the program also. We all have the same goal in mind, and that's to make the experience good for the high school student and the parents, the fans, that come there.”

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at St. John Vianney, 2415 Bagley Street in Flint. There will be visitation from 2-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at the Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 West Hill Road, and at the church from 10 a.m. Saturday until the time of the Mass.