Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 6

January 14, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

By the end of this week, we'll have reached the midpoint of this girls basketball regular season.

But plenty of teams are showing they might just be warming up for a much longer run this winter.

Below are 10 that impressed last week, including a handful which have made it through the season's first month and a half without a loss. (Records are based on results reported to the MHSAA Score Center.)

1. Hemlock (8-0, Class C) – After winning a respectable 12 games last season, Hemlock has dominated this winter and already beaten reigning Tri-Valley Conference Central champion Freeland.

2. Holt (8-0, Class A) – The Rams have consistently piled up wins for more than a decade, but often in the shadow of rival East Lansing; a 12-point win over the Trojans last week has helped Holt look like another Lansing-area contender. 

3. Charlotte (6-0, Class B) – The Orioles, who finished a game over .500 in 2012-13, proved their perfect start is for real with a two-point win over rival and mid-Michigan power Eaton Rapids on Friday.

4. St. Louis (8-0, Class C) – Volleyball usually is the Sharks’ best game, but they finished tied for third in TVC West hoops last season and have a one-game lead this time thanks to an 18-point win over second-place Carrollton last month. 

5. Haslett (6-1, Class A) – Quietly the Vikings also are looking like a team to watch in Class A, although an 11-point win over rival DeWitt on Friday rang loudly.

6. Cadillac (7-1, Class B) – Only a four-point loss to Manistee on the season’s second Friday has kept the Big North Conference-leading Vikings from a perfect start. 

7. Midland Dow (8-1, Class A) – Since a four-point loss to Saginaw Heritage before holiday break, Dow has won five straight by an average of 17 points per.

8. Gaylord St. Mary (6-1, Class D) – The Snowbirds are returning to their former roost as a Class D power, with their lone flaw this winter a loss to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart. 

9. Negaunee (5-3, Class C) – After a 1-3 start, the Miners have won four straight to rise to the top of the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference.

10. Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (7-2, Class C) – A 1-2 start is a distant memory thanks to six straight wins including handing the first defeat to league foe Kentwood Grand River Prep.

PHOTO: Hemlock defeated league foe Alma last week to improve to 8-0 overall this season. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

'Double-Double Machine' Bowman Leading as Alanson Begins To See Success

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

December 6, 2024

Times are changing for Alanson’s girls basketball opponents.

Northern Lower PeninsulaSimply put, the Vikings are no longer an easy win.

And by the way, they are undefeated at this early-season junction. 

Mother nature’s snow machine caused a postponement of Wednesday’s scheduled game against Traverse City Christian. Alanson’s  “machine” is Gretchyn Bowman, the leading reason the Vikings are no longer an easy “W.” Bowman, a 5-foot-7 senior center making a move to shooting guard, is a threat to score double digits and grab as many rebounds every game.

Such a threat, she was labeled a double-double machine by a local newspaper as the Vikings entered the season.

“I think it is really cool that I am being called that – like I am a machine?” Bowman humbly asked with a little laugh. “That actually makes me real happy.”

It makes her team and her coach even happier. The results Bowman gets have led to many more victories than the Vikings have been accustomed. In fact, at one point early in Bowman’s career, the Vikings played through a 28-game losing streak. That ended with a win over Pellston in early December of the 2021-22 campaign.

It’s not the personal stats motivating Bowman, who will sign next week to play basketball for North Central Michigan Community College.

“I work really hard to try to put up as much stats as possible for the team for a win,” Bowman said. “I usually get double-doubles in points and rebounds, and I’ve been working toward my triple-double.”

Bowman would like to add double-digits in blocked shots to her game stats. She will leave steals to her younger sister, sophomore Hazel, the Vikings’ point guard.

“They are the dynamic duo,” said Alanson coach Nikki Leech. “It is really special when they get out there.”

The Vikings are 1-0 with the season tipping off this week. They were 5-22 last year. They won’t play again until Dec. 13 at Northern Lakes Conference rival Mackinaw City.

Bowman shoots a free throw during the season opener.Alanson will go into the game with aspirations of winning a league title. The other conference foes are Wolverine, Boyne Falls, Ellsworth, Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian, Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian and Alba. Boyne Falls, Northern Michigan Christian and Harbor Light could be District opponents as well, along with Harbor Springs and Pellston.

“Even though we are small, we are definitely mighty and we are building momentum,” Leach said. “People used to think, ‘We are just playing Alanson. No big deal. We’re going to win.’”

Leech took over the Vikings’ girls basketball program a few weeks before the end of the 2021-22 season. Alanson’s tiny enrollment had led to eighth graders regularly starting for the varsity, and Bowman herself played as an eighth grader on the team. Leech’s focus has been on fundamentals, sportsmanship and confidence-building.  

Her work has really paid off for the Vikings. Things are moving so far forward, Alanson now has a junior varsity girls team.

“That year we scored 200 points the whole season,” Leech recalled of her first season. “So going into the next year it was fundamentals, and we were really starting from the ground up.”

The focus on fundamentals were welcomed by all, especially Gretchyn Bowman.

“Gretchen did a really good job of embracing the fact we had to start with a foundation of the house before we built the team,” Leach said. “The best thing is all of these girls have been working together for the past four years. This year is finally the first year everything has clicked, and Gretchyn is a big part of it.”

The Vikings opened the season with a 28-27 win over Atlanta. Bowman had six points, six rebounds and five blocks. Her career stats to date are now 402 points, 376 rebounds, 134 blocks and 55 steals. She’s racked up the points despite scoring just 35 as a freshman as the Vikings struggled.

Bowman’s tenacious play has also led to foul struggles. It’s no secret the Vikings play better with her on the court. Her desire to block shots led to her fouling out in almost half of her freshman and sophomore games.

“There is no question that when Gretchyn is off the floor, we miss her because she just has the presence that kind of pulls the team together and she has the magnetism that just makes us successful,” Leach said. “The last two years it’s been a lot better, but the first couple of years it was like every other game she founded out.”

The coach and captain developed a foul-tolerance strategy.

“We’ve been working really hard on you can have four,” the coach said with a laugh. “We try to push like two (fouls) per half.”

Bowman, an all-conference selection last year, has been almost as much an assistant coach as she has a captain and player.

“She goes over if someone is struggling in practice and gives them tips on how she does it or how to move or how to dribble back and do a fade,” noted Leech, who also serves as Alanson’s athletic director. “She is good at reaching out and helping people but not making them feel bad about not knowing how to do it. She is a natural leader, and her presence on the court is definitely going to be missed next year.”

Tom SpencerTom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Gretchyn Bowman, here against Atlanta this week, is expected to lead a much-improved Alanson girls varsity team this season. (Middle) Bowman shoots a free throw during the season opener. (Photos by Danielle Plastino.)