Highlight Reel: Girls Basketball Finals
March 21, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
The 2014-15 girls basketball season came to an end Saturday with four MHSAA Finals at the Breslin Center at Michigan State University.
Below are highlight clips from every game plus links to watch them in full.
Class A
Bloomfield Hills Marian 51, DeWitt 37
PANTHERS OVERCOME EARLY DEFICIT - After a slow start, DeWitt pulled even with Bloomfield Hills Marian in the second quarter of the Class A Final. In transition, Lilly George takes a nice pass from Claudia Reid to give their team the lead.
SISTER-SISTER - Bloomfield Hills Marian broke the Class A Final with DeWitt open in the third quarter. Sisters Bailey and Samantha Thomas team up in transition for a layup.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Class B
Detroit Country Day 49, Haslett 41
WEBB ON THE TRIPLE - Kaela Webb led Detroit Country Day with 20 points in the Class B Final against Haslett. Here's a 3-pointer from the side in the third quarter.
DeCOOK KEEPS HASLETT CLOSE - Haslett closed to within two points late in the game when Kenzie DeCook scored on a fastbreak off a nice defensive play.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Class C
Calumet 57, Flint Hamady 49
HAMADY HAWKS PRESSURE - Defensive pressure by Flint Hamady results in a couple of steals and baskets for Jalisha Terry early in the third quarter.
KINGS GET THE BLOCK & THE BASKET - Calumet turns a defensive play into points. First, the block by Abby Bjorn, and then the fastbreak basket by Alexis Loukus.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Class D
St. Ignace 64, Pittsford 60 (OT)
BURGER DOWN THE LANE - Pittsford built a 20-point lead in the third quarter in the Class D Final against St. Ignace. Here Jaycie Burger drives the lane for two.
SAINTS COME ALL THE WAY BACK - St. Ignace came back from that 20-point deficit, the largest in Girls Finals history, to defeat Pittsford for the Class D title. In the first minute of overtime, the Saints finally took the lead with two baskets from Abbey Ostman. Here's the second of those scores on a fastbreak.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
PHOTO: St. Ignace’s Margo Smith drives for two points against Pittsford during the Class D Final.
Ewen-Trout Creek Right on Time in Advancing to 1st Final Since 1985
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 20, 2025
EAST LANSING — Conventional wisdom might say having a roster with no seniors, four freshman and two eighth graders indicates a team is years away from state title contention.
But Ewen-Trout Creek head coach Jacky Besonen didn’t need to abide by that conventional wisdom at the beginning of this season, and Thursday’s Division 4 Semifinal against Concord showed why.
For the first time in 40 years, Ewen-Trout Creek will play for an MHSAA Finals championship in girls basketball following a 34-24 win over Concord.
Advancing to their first championship game since the Class D Final in 1985, the Panthers will go for their first title since winning the inaugural Class D crown in 1973.
Not bad at all for such a young roster that seems to be way ahead of schedule.
“Last year we lost in the Regional Final to (eventual Division 4 champion) Ishpeming,” Besonen said. “We knew we could get to this point. As the year went on, the girls did a really good job of staying focused every game. We didn’t talk about it, but we knew it was a possibility to get to this point.”
Coming off a 47-37 win over St. Ignace in the Quarterfinals, Ewen-Trout Creek was able to draw some inspiration from the boys team that made it to the Division 4 Final in 2022.
“When our boys team went in 2022, I think that helped us a lot to be familiar with the atmosphere,” junior Emma Besonen said. “Seeing that they could do it like it was normal, we figured we could do it to.”
The Panthers survived a close, defensive grind of a game until pulling away late. A layup by junior Hannah Ferguson gave them a 27-24 lead with 5:18 remaining, and then a basket by freshman McKayla Basel with 1:24 left gave Ewen-Trout Creek a 30-24 lead.
A couple of defensive stops and four free throws by freshman Bree Besonen over the final minute wrapped it up for the Panthers.
Besonen scored 15 points, junior center Irelynd McGeshick had eight and 15 rebounds, and Basel added eight points for Ewen-Trout Creek (27-1).
Each team went 1 of 8 from 3-point range. The difference was that Ewen-Trout Creek got to the foul line more regularly. The Panthers made 9 of 13 free-throw attempts, while Concord connected on 1 of 5.
“That was definitely a grind,” Jacky Besonen said. “Concord was really tough to score against and tough to stop. We were able to grind it out at the end and take care of the ball enough to get some points.”
Junior Cieara Barrett scored nine points to lead the way for Concord (22-5), which like Ewen-Trout Creek is also a young team.
The Yellowjackets will graduate just two players – Lauren Trader and Grace Thorrez. The roster featured four freshmen and four sophomores.
“I told the girls before the game that no matter what the result is, as long as they play hard and leave everything out there, then I’m proud of them,” Concord head coach ArShawn Parker said. “That’s what they did tonight. They left everything out there and played extremely hard. That’s all I can ask.”
PHOTOS (Top) Ewen-Trout Creek’s Emma Besonen (22) directs the offense while Concord’s Cieara Barrett (12) defends Thursday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Panthers’ Bree Besonen, right, walls off Bradie Lehman.