Class C Preview: Revved Up For Rematches
March 14, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The most exciting basketball played at Van Noord Arena this weekend could feature a foursome of Class C powerhouses.
All four semifinalists making the trip to Calvin College in Grand Rapids played in Semifinals last season as well. Today’s first game features a rematch of last season’s Class C championship game – which Detroit Edison won 46-44 over Pewamo-Westphalia.
The second game features two more tournament veterans, Maple City Glen Lake and Ypsilanti Arbor Prep. The Gators finished runner-up in Class B last season and are the only team to beat Edison this winter.
Class C Semifinals – Thursday
Detroit Edison (22-1) vs. Pewamo-Westphalia (25-0), noon
Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (20-5) vs. Maple City Glen Lake (23-2), 2 p.m.
Class C Final – Saturday, 4 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 per pair of Semifinals and $10 per two-game Finals session (Class C and Class B). All Semifinals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a pay-per-view basis. All four Finals will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit and streamed live on FoxSportsDetroit.com and the FOX Sports Go! app. Free radio broadcasts of all weekend games will be available on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a glance at all four semifinalists. Click on the name of the school to see that team’s full schedule and results from this season. (Statistics are through teams' Regional Finals.)
DETROIT EDISON PUBLIC SCHOOL ACADEMY
Record/rank: 22-1, No. 7
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Monique Brown, seventh season (101-36)
Championship history: Class C champion 2017.
Best wins: 88-56 over No. 2 (tie) St. Ignace, 57-55 (OT) over Class A No. 3 Saginaw Heritage, 71-69 and 64-50 over Class A No. 10 Wayne Memorial, 66-40 over Class A No. 5 Ann Arbor Huron, 62-46 over Class B No. 2 Detroit Country Day.
Players to watch: Rickea Jackson, 6-3 jr. G (22.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 1.5 bpg); Gabrielle Elliott, 5-10 soph. G (16.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg).
Outlook: Despite its relatively low final regular-season ranking in Class C, Edison is considered by many to be the top team in Michigan regardless of Class. Nearly all of its in-state wins during the regular season were against Class A or B teams, including as well a 70-42 defeat of annual power Detroit Martin Luther King. Jackson likely will be a Miss Basketball candidate next season; Elliott could be the same in 2020. Nine of 12 players are underclassmen, and freshman Damiya Hagemann is another intriguing talent averaging 9.1 points and 8.4 assists per game.
MAPLE CITY GLEN LAKE
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 10
League finish: Second in Northwest Conference.
Coach: Jason Bradford, 10th season (155-54)
Championship history: Class D champion 1978, runner-up 1979.
Best wins: 60-56 over No. 2 (tie) St. Ignace in Quarterfinal, 66-35 over Charlevoix in Regional Final, 52-47 (District Semifinal) and 60-49 over Traverse City St. Francis, 55-48 over Manton in District Final, 53-36 and 48-40 over Benzie Central.
Players to watch: Savannah Peplinski, 5-8 sr. G (15.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, 3.9 spg); Jennifer LaCross, 5-8 sr. F (11.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.1 spg).
Outlook: Glen Lake is back in the Semifinals for the second straight season, its only losses this time to Class B semifinalist and Northwest Conference rival Kingsley. Peplinski, LaCross, junior center Kaitlyn Schaub (9.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and senior forward Allie Bonzelet (10.2 ppg) also started last season. Glen Lake beat league champions in St. Francis (17-4), Manton (18-4) and St. Ignace (23-2) during the tournament, while Charlevoix (19-5) and Houghton Lake (15-8) rounded out a tough postseason slate that should have the team plenty prepared for this weekend.
PEWAMO-WESTPHALIA
Record/rank: 25-0, No. 1
League finish: First in Central Michigan Athletic Conference.
Coach: Steve Eklund, ninth season (180-34)
Championship history: Three runner-up finishes (most recent 2017).
Best wins: 45-30 over Kent City in Quarterfinal, 45-29 over Hemlock in Regional Final, 48-33 (Regional Semifinal), 44-20 and 53-19 over Laingsburg, 59-36 over honorable mention New Lothrop, 64-41 over Detroit Renaissance.
Players to watch: Emily Spitzley, 5-10 sr. G (17 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 65 3-pointers); Hannah Spitzley, 5-10 soph. F (10.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.1 spg).
Outlook: After falling by a basket to Edison in last season’s Final, P-W has been all but unstoppable beating opponents by an average of 40 points and with only Springport (18-5) in the District Final coming closer than 15. Laingsburg’s only losses this season in going 20-3 were to the Pirates. Kent City (22-4), Hemlock (21-4) and New Lothrop (20-3) all were league champions, and Class A Renassiance (16-8) was runner-up in the Detroit Public School League tournament. P-W makes 40 percent of its 3-point attempts; sophomore guard Ellie Droste (9.5 ppg) is another of six players with at least 15 makes from beyond the arc.
YPSILANTI ARBOR PREP
Record/rank: 20-5, honorable mention
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Scott Stine, first season (20-5)
Championship history: Class C champion 2016, Class B runner-up 2017.
Best wins: 61-55 over No. 2 Schoolcraft in Quarterfinal, 54-49 over No. 1 Detroit Edison, 66-65 over Class B No. 2 Detroit Country Day, 48-45 over Clarkston, 60-39 over Goodrich.
Players to watch: Lasha Petree, 6-0 sr. G (20.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.4 spg, 42 3-pointers, Mahri Petree, 5-11 jr. G (10.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg).
Outlook: In addition to being the only team to hand Edison a loss this season, the Gators faced a schedule of nearly all Class A and B opponents. Class A Clarkston (18-5) and Class B Goodrich (20-5) were league champs, and Arbor Prep also avenged an earlier loss to another Class B league champ in Harper Woods Chandler Park (17-7). Lasha Petree was a Miss Basketball finalist this season and scores more than 40 percent of her team’s points, on average. Junior forward Kashyra Jackson is another contributor, averaging 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game with a team second-best 16 3-pointers.
PHOTO: Detroit Edison's Rickea Jackson works for an open shot surrounded by Pewamo-Westphalia defenders during last season's Class C Final.
Newaygo Finds Way Past Country Day, Back to Finals
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 7, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS – To make a long story short, the Newaygo girls basketball team is headed to the MHSAA Finals for the first time in almost 40 years.
The Lions leaned on the Long sisters to earn their spot after pulling away in the fourth quarter to knock off Detroit Country Day 55-39 in Wednesday’s first Division 2 Semifinal at Van Andel Arena.
Senior Jaylee Long and junior Jaxi Long combined for 23 points, eight assists, seven steals and six rebounds to help lift Newaygo to the victory. The Lions were led by junior Emmerson Goodin, who had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Newaygo (21-1) will play Portland in Friday’s 5:30 p.m. Final at Breslin Center.
“I love playing with my sister, especially because this is my last year, and so playing with her and going to the state championship game is pretty amazing,” said Jaylee Long, who recorded 11 points, five assists and four steals.
“I’m going to miss playing with her, and I will try to convince her to go to Cornerstone with me, but it is definitely going to be fun for our last game.”
Jaylee Long said a majority of the players on the team have played together since third and fourth grade.
“We’ve all played together since we were younger.” she said. “We played together on AYBT teams and just all the way up. It’s been fun.”
Newaygo hasn’t been to the Finals since 1985, when it won the second of back-to-back Class C championships.
“It’s really a cool experience, and it is really a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Jaxi Long, who added 12 points. “It’s not like you get to come here every year, and I really love this team. This is a great team, and we love to hang out with each other.”
Jaylee Long is one of three seniors along with Anna Brummel and Lily Ruehmeier, who both hit shots in the second half.
“This is definitely the way to go out,” Jaylee Long said. “I’m really happy about this opportunity since last year we weren’t able to finish. It’s been kind of crazy, but to see our community come out to support us has been pretty amazing. They love us and want us to do well, and hopefully we can finish it off and get it.”
The Lions needed a fourth-quarter surge to stave off the youthful Yellowjackets (15-3), whose roster was primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores.
Detroit Country Day scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to pull within one (39-38); however, Newaygo went on a 16-0 run and held the Yellowjackets scoreless for more than six minutes.
“It was just a championship moment,” Lions coach Nate Thomasma said. “Someone makes a run on you, and how are you going to respond? They responded, and they tightened up defensively and we hit some big shots.
“That’s what you have to do in this tournament, because there’s always highs and lows. You have to keep playing hard, and we got the job done. Hopefully we can do that one more game, and I’m just really proud of these girls.”
Detroit Country Day was unable to withstand the Lions’ run and struggled to score throughout the fourth quarter.
The Yellowjackets were 0 for 7 from 3-point range in the final quarter and a dismal 4-22 (18 percent) from beyond the arc for the game.
“They took us out of what we wanted to do,” first-year Country Day coach Jerica Williams said. “We are a three-point shooting team and we didn’t get off that many in the first half, and they took us out of our identity. They are a tough team top to bottom.”
Freshman Emma Arico led Country Day with a team-high 18 points. Chelsea Abulu, the Yellowjackets’ lone senior, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and finished with 18 total. She also had four blocked shots.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day's Victoria Miller (0) works to wall off Newaygo's attack during Thursday's Division 2 Semifinal at Van Andel Arena. (Middle) Newaygo's Jaylee Long pushes the pace during Thursday's win. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)