Muskegon-Area Girls Hoops Builds Prestige
December 7, 2016
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Artrese Williams noticed something new at her basketball games last winter:
Big crowds.
Williams, now a senior leader and defensive stopper for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team, was blown away by the student sections, noise and just overall increased interest in girls basketball last season as the evenly-matched trio of Reeths-Puffer, Muskegon High and Muskegon Mona Shores battled for supremacy in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green.
“I love it when there’s a big crowd and the students are getting crazy,” said Williams. “That’s all the motivation I need.”
The Meijer Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Classic took notice of the growing buzz surrounding the girls games along the lakeshore – driven by a spike in talent, particularly at the area’s larger schools – and this year for the first time will feature a girls varsity opening game at its one-day, three-game event Dec. 28 at Reeths-Puffer High School.
Reeths-Puffer will tip off at 5:30 p.m. against perennial power Muskegon Oakridge in a showcase that has become a Muskegon-area tradition over Christmas break. The event is in its 15th year.
“Our committee has noticed much more interest in girls hoops, no question about it,” said Mack, a longtime boys and girls basketball coach at Mona Shores, who has served as the Hall of Fame Classic director since its inception in 2002. “They have earned the right to be part of this event.”
Mack expects an outstanding girls game leading into a clash of Top 10 boys teams in Grand Rapids Christian and Holland West Ottawa, followed by the traditional boys finale of Muskegon against East Kentwood.
Williams can’t wait to get the crowd going as a senior on her home floor, where she leads a veteran team that includes fellow seniors Elysia Mattos (guard) and 6-foot twin towers Brooke Larabee and Delaney Bolles.
As juniors, those four helped the Rockets knock off Muskegon and Miss Basketball runner-up Mardrekia Cook (now at Michigan State) during the regular season but came up just short in three tough losses to OK Green champion Mona Shores, including a season-ending 47-38 defeat in the Class A District title game. Reeths-Puffer finished the season 15-6.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone is really talking about us this year, but we have experience and I think our conditioning has been a lot better, plus we have the motivation,” said Williams, a speedy, 5-4 guard whose older sister Camaryia Williams and cousin Kalisa Williams also were standout players for the Rockets and now play at Muskegon Community College.
Mona Shores is the league favorite again with the return of Miss Basketball candidate Jordan Walker and junior Alyza Winston, while Muskegon also boasts a deep, experienced team. The sleeper along the lakeshore could be the O-K Red’s Grand Haven, which is only four years removed from back-to-back Class A championships.
“There’s just a really special group of girls players in the Muskegon area right now,” said ninth-year Reeths-Puffer coach Brandon Barry. “I think it’s great that was recognized.”
Reeths-Puffer’s matchup with Oakridge, which boasts a stellar backcourt in senior sharpshooter Hannah Reinhold and sophomore point guard Sophia Wiard, has special meaning for the veteran coach. Barry has taught at Oakridge since 1989 and in July was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame after his 25th year as the Oakridge baseball coach.
“I’ll cheer for them every other night,” Barry said of the Eagles, who have won 50 consecutive games in the West Michigan Conference under coach Terry DeJonge. “We have had some great games with them the past few years, and this should be another one.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Coach Brandon Barry and his Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team get ready for introductions before an O-K Black conference game last year at Muskegon High School. (Middle) Artrese Williams (5) is one of four senior starters for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team, which will play Muskegon Oakridge on Dec. 28 in the opening game of the 15th annual Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Classic at Reeths-Puffer. (Photos by Tim Reilly.)
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.)