D3 Preview: Contenders Earn Another Championship Chance
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 16, 2022
Three contenders who surely felt just a few steps away from claiming last season’s Division 3 championship are making the trip to Breslin Center this weekend to decide this year’s title, joined by a fourth set to make history when Thursday’s second Semifinal tips off.
Kent City was last season’s runner-up, losing 52-50 to Grass Lake in last year’s Final. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, the overall top seed in Division 3 this winter, had lost to Grass Lake two games earlier in a Regional Final. And Maple City Glen Lake is back following its second-straight undefeated regular season and after suffering its lone defeat last year in the Quarterfinals.
They’re joined by Madison Heights Bishop Foley, which will play in its first Semifinal after also seeing last year’s run end a game shy of East Lansing.
DIVISON 3 Semifinals – Thursday
Maple City Glen Lake (25-0) vs. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (23-2), noon
Kent City (25-0) vs. Madison Heights Bishop Foley (20-3), 2 p.m.
FINAL – Saturday – 4 p.m.
Tickets for this weekend’s games are $12 for both Semifinals and Finals and are available via the Breslin Center ticket office. All Semifinals will be broadcast and viewable with subscription to MHSAA.tv, and all four Finals will air live Saturday on Bally Sports Detroit’s primary channel as well as on the BSD website and app. Audio broadcasts of all Semifinals and Finals will be available free of charge from the MHSAA Network.
Here’s a look at the four Division 3 semifinals (with rankings by MPR and statistics through Regional Finals):
KENT CITY
Record/rank: 25-0, No. 5
League finish: First in Central State Activities Association Silver
Coach: Aleah Holcomb, first season (25-0)
Championship history: Division 3 runner-up 2021.
Best wins: 34-33 over No. 6 Schoolcraft in Quarterfinal, 42-39 over No. 11 Hart, 43-23 over Division 2 No. 13 Sparta, 33-27 over Grand Rapids Christian.
Players to watch: Lexie Bowers, 5-7 jr. G (17 ppg, 71 3-pointers, 3.8 apg, 3.3 spg); Madelyn Geers, 5-9 soph. G (14.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.0 bpg); Taryn Preston (7.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg).
Outlook: The Eagles will return this weekend with four of the six players who saw minutes in that championship game, with 5-11 senior forward Emmalyn Geers (4.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg) joining Preston and Madelyn Geers as returning starters. Holcomb is a former Kent City standout as well and served five seasons as junior varsity coach before taking over the program this season. Preston and Emmalyn Geers are the only seniors.
MADISON HEIGHTS BISHOP FOLEY
Record/rank: 20-3, No. 7
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic League Intersectional #1
Coach: Ray Joseph, third season (50-15)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 55-48 over No. 14 Reese in Quarterfinal, 51-46 over Division 2 No. 18 Wixom St. Catherine, 60-23 over Clawson, 52-50 over Detroit Country Day.
Players to watch: Melanie Moore, 6-0 sr. C (17.1 ppg, 9.4 rpg); Alyssa Samartino, 5-7 jr. G (6.0 ppg, 3.0 apg); Ryan Moorer, 5-7 soph. G/F (10.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg).
Outlook: Bishop Foley has added its first Semifinal trip to its first Regional title won last week. The Ventures have won 16 games by double digits., with all three losses to teams with at least 15 wins including Division 3 overall top seed Arbor Prep by only five (66-61) in the regular-season finale. Moore and Samartino earned all-state honorable mentions last season, and Moore is the only senior starter and one of only two on the team.
MAPLE CITY GLEN LAKE
Record/rank: 25-0, No. 8
League finish: First in Northwest Conference
Coach: Jason Bradford, 14th season (254-69)
Championship history: Class D champion 1978, runner-up 1979.
Best wins: 50-29 over Lake City in Quarterfinal, 53-39 over No. 3 Calumet in Regional Final, 53-34 over No. 2 St. Ignace in Regional Semifinal, 57-47 (District Final) and 59-40 over Traverse City St. Francis, 48-41 over No. 10 Elk Rapids, 63-41 and 60-23 over Kingsley.
Players to watch: Grace Bradford, 5-11 sr. G (22.9 ppg, 40 3-pointers, 10.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 4.1 spg); Jessica Robbins, 5-8 sr. F (9.3 ppg, 4.3 spg, 1.4 bpg); Ruby Hogan, 5-7 jr. G (11.3 ppg, 3.2 spg).
Outlook: Glen Lake’s only loss over the last two seasons was last year’s to Calumet in a Quarterfinal, and the Lakers avenged it last week. This will be their third trip to the Semifinals over the last six seasons and first since 2018. The seven-point win over Elk Rapids on Dec. 7 was the only one by single digits this season. Grace Bradford made the all-state first team last season, and junior 6-foot center Maddie Bradford is another top contributor at 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
YPSILANTI ARBOR PREP
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Scott Stine, fifth season (96-24)
Championship history: Class C champion 2016, two runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 66-61 over No. 7 Madison Heights Bishop Foley, 65-38 over No. 4 Grass Lake, 66-38 over No. 16 Jonesville, 67-41 over Division 1 No. 16 Wayne Memorial, 63-48 over Division 1 No. 19 South Lyon East, 54-51 over Division 2 No. 2 Redford Westfield Prep, 65-39 over Division 2 No. 7 Lansing Catholic, 75-45 over Division 2 No. 5 Frankenmuth, 89-57 over Division 2 No. 12 Imlay City, 57-47 over Division 2 No. 16 Lake Fenton.
Players to watch: Mya Petticord, 5-9 sr. G (22.9 ppg, 43 3-pointers, 5.0 apg, 4.3 spg); Karianna Woods, 5-8 sr. G (12.1 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3.6 spg); Stacy Utomi, 5-11 soph. F (11.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
Outlook: Arbor Prep will play its first Semifinal since 2019, when a freshman Petticord was the high scorer and Woods played 12 minutes in an overtime loss to eventual champion Pewamo-Westphalia. Three seasons later, Petticord was a Miss Basketball Award finalist and will continue her career at Texas A&M, and Woods will continue at Bethune-Cookman. The Gators have played one of the state’s strongest schedules in any division with their only losses to Division 1 No. 11 Parma Western and Division 2 No. 1 Detroit Edison. Sophomore Stephanie Utomi adds another 9.5 points and nearly a block per game.
PHOTO Kent City’s Lexie Bowers (23) and her teammates defend during Tuesday’s Quarterfinal win over Schoolcraft. (Photo courtesy of the Kent City athletic department.)
'Underdog' Sailors Sink Reigning Champ
March 18, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Grand Rapids South Christian rarely plays a girls basketball game it’s not expected to win.
So labeling the Sailors "underdogs" probably was an exaggerated assessment heading into Friday’s Class B Semifinal again reigning champion Detroit Country Day.
True, the Yellowjackets were ranked No. 1 heading into the postseason and had lost only once this winter. But South Christian was No. 3, had lost only twice, and brought back three seniors who had come 17 minutes from an MHSAA championship only two seasons ago.
And now they’ll have the chance to bring back the Sailors’ first title since 1988. South Christian dominated nearly from start to finish to down Country Day 57-46.
“Being the underdog, it was kinda fun, because no one really expected us to come out how we did, especially in the first half when I think we were up by 10 at halftime,” South Christian senior guard Jenn DeBoer said. “But we knew they were going to keep pushing and keep coming back, and we had to keep our poise and keep our control. But being the underdog and getting this win, it’s such an amazing feeling because no one really knew that we had it in us.”
The Sailors (25-2) will face Marshall at 6 p.m. in Saturday’s final championship game.
DeBoer, forward Markayla Vander and guard Sydney DeYoung were sophomores two seasons ago when South Christian reached the Final but fell 51-38 to Eaton Rapids. Coach Kim Legge – in her first season as head coach – was on the bench and has been part of the program for two decades.
All of that experience no doubt has led to people outside the program to notice and tell Legge how even-keel her team seems to play – a trait that pays off at this time of year when one swing can end a season.
“People have said, ‘Wow, you look so poised all the time,’” Legge said. “Even when teams make runs at us, we stay even-keeled and keep our heads above water and keep pushing. And that’s just how we’ve operated all season long.”
South Christian led by as many as 16 during the second quarter and 10 at halftime, but did have to hold strong after Destiny Pitts’ 3-pointer with 4:42 left pulled Country Day within 41-37. The Sailors came back with a 16-9 run to finish, with DeBoer scoring six of her game-high 18 points down the stretch.
“They played very good defense; give them credit for that. We, just for some unknown reason, we were hurrying,” Country Day coach Frank Orlando said. “We shot 17 percent from the field in the first half, and that wasn’t us all year. I kept telling the girls that in these kind of games you have to be better, have to be much better, and you have to understand you can’t take away what you’ve done all year.
“We’ve come back against the best teams in the state. … (We) played hard. (We) almost came back. It was that breaking line we just couldn’t get across.”
Staying with the unexpected, South Christian maintained its lead without making a 3-pointer. The Sailors averaged nearly six per game entering the week, but missed all 10 of their attempts Friday.
But in addition to DeBoer’s 18 points, Vander had 14 on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor, and DeYoung had six but 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Mariel Bruxvoort came off the bench to score 10 points while making half her shots and all four of her free-throw attempts.
Pitts – one of the state’s top juniors – had 14 points, only two below her average but while putting up with tight defense by Vander and getting only four shots off from 3-point range (and making one). Sophomore forward Maxine Moore had 13 points and guard Kaela Webb added 11 points and six rebounds for the Yellowjackets (24-2).
“I never second-guessed our team’s ability. I knew that coming into it, if we played our game, we could do it,” DeBoer said. “We could shut them down defensively, and if we worked the ball on offense we could get open looks because that’s what we’ve been doing against good defensive teams all season.
So I never really second-guessed them during the game and thought they’re not as good. I just knew we had to keep pushing and we had to stay in control, because we definitely had control most of the game.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids South Christian players celebrate Friday’s Class B Semifinal win. (Middle) Country Day’s Kaela Webb drives to the hoop.