Cousino Makes Name in Semifinal Debut
March 18, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – By at least some in the know, little was expected of Warren Cousino and Hudsonville heading into this MHSAA Tournament – both entered unranked.
Both then won Regional titles for the first time last week, and extended dream seasons with a Semifinal matchup Friday that was going to end with one getting to play for the ultimate goal for the first time.
By the end of the first quarter, Cousino – often mispronounced, but reads like a member of a family – left little doubt which team would get that opportunity.
Riding the powerful drives of junior guard Kierra Fletcher – whose 37 points tied for third most in MHSAA Semifinals history – the Patriots carried that early jumpstart to a 60-45 win and a return trip to East Lansing on Saturday.
“We came into this tournament and we knew we were sleepers,” Fletcher said. “We just wanted to prove everyone in the state wrong because half of Michigan calls our school ‘casino’ or ‘coosino,’ so we’re happy getting Cousino on map. I think we’ll go far … next year and years on because of this.”
Cousino will take on No. 4 Detroit Martin Luther King at noon Saturday in the Class A Final, facing a program seeking its sixth title and with much more experience at this late date in the season.
But it was impossible to tell the Patriots (22-4) were newcomers in their Breslin debut.
Fletcher made 14 of 20 shots from the floor as her team connected on 50 percent as a whole. She also grabbed nine rebounds and had five assists, driving and dishing to shooters on the perimeter who took advantage.
Freshman guard Kate McArthur added 13 points and made three 3-pointers, and freshman guard Mackenzie Cook made her only try from beyond the arc.
With Fletcher scoring eight points, Cousino as a team jumped to an 11-0 lead off the tip. Hudsonville sophomore Kasey DeSmit’s 3-pointer with 2:29 to play in the first quarter cut a 10-point lead to seven – but that was the last time the margin was in single digits.
“We set the tone early on as far as defensively, and it helps when you hit your first four shots you take,” Cousino coach Mike Lee said. “Kate set the tone especially from the outside range, and Kierra set the tone from the inside part of it.”
He could tell the afternoon might turn out well after his team brought a focused but light approach to the bus ride to Breslin.
Lee told his players that Hudsonville would be just as nervous. But Cousino seemed to turn any anxiety into intensity.
“We set that aggressive tone because we were faster and we had more athletes,” Fletcher said. “And I think our mindsets were just right at the time.”
The teams played nearly evenly after Cousino finished the first quarter with a 21-8 lead. Hudsonville took advantage of its size in the post, with 5-foot-10 senior forward Shaina DenBesten finishing with 15 points and nine rebounds and 6-0 junior center Chloe Guingrich adding 12 and 10, respectively.
Friday’s end was an incredible one for the Eagles (23-4), who were 2-19 two seasons ago and then 15-9 last winter.
“For us, we’ve been in situations where we’ve had to play from behind, but I don’t know if we’ve ever had a situation where we’ve been that far behind and had to come back,” Hudsonville coach Casey Glass said. “I’m just proud of these kids, because I think at the beginning of the year no one would have ever given us a chance to be right here.”
Probably not Cousino either. But Friday showed the Patriots have the ability to achieve more.
“For a little school like Warren Cousino to finally get over that hurdle,” Lee said, “I’m pretty proud today.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren Cousino players celebrate at the end of their Class A Semifinal win Friday. (Middle) Cousino’s Kierra Fletcher (3) bursts into the lane while a Hudsonville player defends.
Miss Basketball Answers Call as Rockford Makes Good on Season-Long Goal
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2025
EAST LANSING – Rockford’s Anna Wypych showed during Friday’s Division 1 Semifinal why she was more than deserving of winning this season’s Miss Basketball Award.
The senior standout put the Rams on her back and carried them to a 61-32 victory over Wayne Memorial at the Breslin Center.
Wypych scored a game-high 30 points to propel Rockford (27-1) into Saturday’s 12:15 p.m. Division 1 Final against Belleville.
“A great player, an absolutely great player,” Wayne Memorial coach Jarvis Mitchell said. “We had a gameplan, but she had a gameplan as well and her gameplan was just a little better than ours. She’s a tough-minded kid with a refuse-to-lose attitude and just the way she bounced around out there. She’s been here before.”
Wypych, a 6-foot point guard who has signed with Butler, connected on her first eight shots of the game and made 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point line.
She was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
“She’s just a winner and such a competitor, and you saw that tonight in the game,” Rams coach Brad Wilson said. “She has a big target on her back, and everyone wants to go at her and give her their best shot. But Anna never flinched the whole game.
“She’s confident when she’s open, and she does what’s best for the team. She’s the best player I ever coached, and I’m so proud of her, but the job is not done. We know we are going to need her tomorrow.”
Wypych, the school’s all-time leading scorer, tweaked an ankle during the first quarter, but it didn’t slow her down as she had 16 first-half points and was perfect from the field.
“I just kind of fell on my ankle, but I knew if I tightened up my shoes a little tighter then I would be good,” Wypych said. “Our team is so deep, and it was my teammates that gave me good looks so I credit them a lot. You can try to stop one of us, but you can’t stop all of us, and that’s why we are a very special team.”
The Rams held a slim 12-10 lead after the first quarter, and it swelled to 27-14 during the second quarter after another Wypych 3-pointer. But Wayne Memorial ended the half with an 8-0 surge to trim the deficit to 27-22.
“That’s who we are,” Mitchell said. “We play fast, our shooters make shots and we attack. I was very happy at the end of the second quarter, but Rockford is a very tough team and a very experienced team, and you have to play next-to-perfect to beat them.”
The third quarter was all Rockford as it outscored the Zebras 20-10 to pull away. The Rams built a 47-30 lead over the final minute of the period after a lay-in by Audrey Muterspaugh.
Rockford will play in its second Final over the last three years.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to make it over here four years in a row, and our theme this year was ‘the return’ and the goal was to get back here – and everything we did was with that in mind,” Wilson said.
Muterspaugh, a junior, added 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Rockford.
“She’s been our energy bug all season long, and she goes in and does the little things that don’t show up in the stat book,” Wilson said. “Every year we have different players that step up in March, and she’s one of those. She picked up big rebounds and helped us win the game.”
Colleena Bryant, a Miss Basketball finalist, led Wayne Memorial with 15 points.
It was the Zebras’ fourth appearance in the Semifinals over the last seven years and first since 2021.
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford’s Anna Wypych works to get past Wayne Memorial’s Zoe Hightower during their Semifinal on Friday. (Middle) Addison Wypych (14) brings the ball upcourt for the Rams. (Photos by Keionna Banks/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)