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.
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.
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.)
Performance of the Week: Fowler's Katie Spicer
March 27, 2025
Katie Spicer ♦ Fowler
Senior ♦ Basketball
After leading Fowler in scoring all season, Katie Spicer capped off her senior year with a game-high 17 points in a commanding 53-29 win over Ewen-Trout Creek in the MHSAA Division 4 Final. She also added three rebounds and three assists in the championship victory. Just two days earlier, Spicer helped lift the Eagles past Genesee Christian in the Semifinals, contributing 12 points and seven rebounds.
Spicer averaged 12.5 points per game this season, helping Fowler to a 27-2 record. After falling in the Semifinals in both 2023 and 2024, the Eagles broke through to claim their third Division 4 title over the past five years – and their fourth overall. In addition to her basketball success, Spicer played a key role on the 2024 Fowler girls track & field team that captured the LPD4 Finals championship. She finished second in the 100-meter dash, third in the 200, sixth in the 400, and second in the long jump. Spicer will continue her athletic career at Saginaw Valley State University, competing in track & field.
@mhsaasports 🏀POW: Katie Spicer #basketball #fowler #eagles #finalschampions #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports 🏀POW: Katie Spicer #cadburyeggs #larrybird #criminalminds #chickenbaconbbq #oliviarodrigo #part2 #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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