'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.
Simply 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.
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 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.)
Stine Bringing Championship Formula to Lumen Christi After Marvelous Arbor Prep Run
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 25, 2025
One of the first things Scott Stine noticed when he started his new gig as girls basketball head coach at Jackson Lumen Christi wasn’t the historic dome where the Titans play or the trophy cases just inside the entrance to the school.
It was the fellow coaches on staff at Lumen Christi.
“Everybody knows who (football coach) Herb (Brogan) is, but he is not only one of the greatest coaches ever, but probably the nicest guy you will ever meet,” Stine said. “He’s so humble. I very much enjoy getting to know him better.”
There’s more.
“Here, you are just surrounded by so many great coaches. I think the cross country coach (Mike Woolsey) has 12 state championships. The golf coach (Dave Swarthout) has 18 or something like that. We have coaches who are complete Hall of Famers who are around here every day.
“Everybody has been welcoming. It’s gone as good as I could hope for.”
Stine was a highly-successful girls basketball coach at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep for the past eight seasons, winning eight District, five Regional and three Finals titles during his tenure. Last season was perhaps the biggest surprise of all when he led an Arbor Prep team that was 10-12 during the regular season to seven straight wins in the MHSAA Tournament and the Division 3 championship.
“For my last year there, it couldn’t have worked out any better,” Stine said. “I think even I didn’t expect that one.”
Stine, however, turned some heads across the state when he decided in May to leave Arbor Prep and a program he has been around since the launch of the school 14 years ago to coach girls basketball at Lumen Christi. He left the job of athletic director and assistant principal as well and is now teaching world history and economics in Jackson.
He said those close to him probably weren’t surprised by the move – although he loved coaching at Arbor Prep.
“It will always have a huge, special place in my heart,” he said. “Leaving the basketball program was one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my life.”
He takes over the Lumen Christi team that was 19-7 last winter with one of the most celebrated freshmen in the state in Kenna Hunt. Athletic director Jesse Brown coached the team but helped lure Stine and his 157-47 record to Jackson. The Titans actually ended their season with a 31-28 Quarterfinal loss to Stine’s Gators.
“The transition here has been everything I hoped it would be,” Stine said. “You have a community that definitely care about excellence. Faith comes first, then academics. Sports are a big priority. At this point, there’s no reason not to be successful here.”
He noted the positive environment at Lumen Christi.
“There is just an excitement at the school in general,” he said. “I have a lot of football kids in class. They’ve been excited since day one to see what can happen with the girls program. It’s a great community.”
Stine graduated from Muskegon Oakridge in 1996 and Grand Valley State University in 2002. He was on the Arbor Prep staff under Rod Wells when the Gators won their first Finals title in 2016.
At Lumen Christi, he will build around four returning starters, including Hunt, Lucy Wrozek, Lily Ganton and Ruby Boyce. He also has a talented group of freshmen and sophomores and a host of multi-sport athletes.
“Our fall workouts were pretty much all freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “The seniors will help us. They have things to offer. I’m really excited about our freshmen.”
Freshman Tristin Johnson will be on varsity from day one. She’s a point guard who plays on the Lumen Christi football team.
“She’s tough,” Stine said.
One of his first tasks at Lumen Christi was to upgrade the schedule.
“Our schedule has to be one top five toughest in the state,” Stine said. “In the Catholic League we play (Toledo) Notre Dame twice, (Toledo) Central Catholic is going to be pretty good. We play Ann Arbor (Father Gabriel) Richard twice. Those are six games that are pretty tough.
“We play Michigan Center in our opener and they are solid. We are playing Salem. Rod (Wells) and I get to go against each other. That will be tough because he’s one of my best friends.”
Also on the schedule is Detroit Country Day, Anthony Wayne from Ohio – which won 25 games last year – and Rockford.
“Maybe it didn’t need to be quite as tough as it ended up,” Stine said. “I had to tell our parents, ‘Listen, we want to win every game. There’s no one who wants to win every game more than I do. But we’re going to lose some games, probably. That’s just the way it is. The key is, once we get to March, we’ll be ready. We’ll be challenged. We’ll have seen every type of team, every style.
“That recipe proved to work at Arbor Prep. We’re sticking to that.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Then-Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine pulls out his clipboard while monitoring his team’s play during last season’s Division 3 Semifinal against Niles Brandywine. (Middle) Stine talks things over with his Arbor Prep players during a break in the championship victory.