P-W Earns Shot to Add to Title Collection
March 16, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Pewamo-Westphalia is enjoying a championship-caliber school year.
And now the Pirates girls basketball team wants its piece of MHSAA title success.
P-W can claim its third Finals title of 2016-17 on Saturday, thanks to the hoops team's 64-51 win over Maple City Glen Lake in Thursday’s second Class C Semifinal.
The Pirates girls can join the football and boys cross country teams as champions when they take on Detroit Edison Public School Academy in the 4 p.m. championship game. The Semifinal was P-W’s first since 2002, and the title game appearance will be the program’s first since finishing Class C runners-up in 1983 and 1984 – making it seem like all of this recent winning might be contagious.
“I think it’s just the community. Our community is so supportive, as you can see at any game and any championships – our community is there,” said P-W senior guard Brenna Wirth, herself a main cog on the school’s girls track & field Division 3 title winner in 2015. “I think we feed off that, and it keeps us going.
“I’ve been playing basketball for several years now, longer than I’ve been running, and basketball is really important to me and the community.”
How much it means to Wirth and her teammates came out especially over Thursday’s final 19 minutes.
Glen Lake (23-4) entered the regular season unranked but had already eliminated No. 2 Traverse City St. Francis and No. 7 St. Ignace before taking the floor against the No. 6 Pirates. The Lakers didn’t waste time going after another giant, taking as much as a nine-point lead into the final three minutes of the first half.
“Throughout the season, we tend to say the same thing over and over – you never win the game in the first four minutes,” P-W coach Steve Eklund said. “They were outhustling us; I’d say for the first 8 to 10 minutes they were outhustling us. Sometimes you have to adjust to your opponent. I think it took us a little time tonight to settle into the environment.”
“Obviously we had to fight back every little run they had,” junior forward Emily Spitzley added. “We just had in our minds to keep fighting. It’s just about confidence.”
If the all-state second-teamer was lacking any, she found it as the comeback began.
Spitzley scored 20 of her game-high 24 points and grabbed eight of her 12 rebounds – and also blocked three shots – as the Pirates forced a 22-point swing.
P-W (24-2) closed the second quarter on an 8-0 run to get within 25-24 of Glen Lake by halftime. The Pirates then opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead.
Glen Lake got the advantage back twice with just under four minutes left in the third quarter, and after the Pirates rebuilt an eight-point lead got the deficit down to one again with 6:33 to play. But another P-W 8-0 run over the next three minutes finally put the game out of reach.
“We’ve had a lot of games where we had slow starts, but we’ve worked hard on coming out (strong) in the third quarter,” Glen Lake coach Jason Bradford said. “We just came out kinda slow on our heels and got away from what we usually do – pushing the ball, kicking it out. We were spinning our heels a little bit, and we got a little shell-shocked when the score started going the other way.”
Wirth added 13 points, and junior forward Kate Hengesbach added nine points, 12 rebounds and six steals off the bench in 20 minutes of play.
Junior guard Allie Bonzelet led three Lakers scoring in double figures with 14 points, and junior forward Jennifer LaCross had 13 and seven rebounds. Senior guard Kelly Bunek added 11 points and senior forward Sarah Carney finished her career grabbing nine rebounds.
P-W fans had about a 30-minute drive to fill their side of the Breslin stands Thursday, but Glen Lake had nearly as many fans – including three spectator bus loads – make a nearly four-hour trek.
“It’s just great to be able to put our name out there and show people all the hard work we’ve been putting in,” Carney said. “To just see the community come out and support us … it’s very rewarding to see the support we have.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) P-W’s Emily Spitzley drives to the basket during Thursday’s Class C Semifinal win. (Middle) Glen Lake’s Savannah Peplinski (24) works to get past the Pirates’ Ellie Droste.
Zion Christian Earns 1st District Title, Celebrates Much More During History-Making Run
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2025
BYRON CENTER – An elusive District title was always the main goal for the Zion Christian girls basketball team.
The Mountaineers accomplished that first-time feat this season, and didn’t stop there.
They made even more school history by following with a Regional title and advancing to Tuesday’s Division 4 Quarterfinals for the first time before closing their season at 20-7.
“We had it as a goal to win Districts the last several years, so it was hard to look at the beginning of the season beyond all that,” Zion Christian coach Derek Foltice said. “But I think we knew with this group of girls and the potential we had that we could have a pretty special season if they committed to playing defense and all those little things they progressively have done.”
This postseason provided plenty of firsts for Zion Christian, a tiny school located in Byron Center which plays in the Alliance League.
The Mountaineers knocked off Wyoming Tri-unity Christian to claim the District crown, and then routed St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran, 63-40, for their first Regional win.
“This has been insane,” Zion Christian senior Sam Deutschmann said last week. “If you were to tell me at the beginning of the season that I would be in this moment right now with my team, I wouldn't believe it.
“This has been such a roller coaster year and all of our hard work is just paying off right now.”
In the Regional Final against Climax-Scotts – which finished 19-6 – the Mountaineers’ magical run continued when junior Jayda Steenbergen dropped in a game-tying 3-pointer during the final seconds to send the game to overtime. She then drained another 3-pointer to propel her team to a 38-37 victory.
“Nothing was planned on that play and Audra (Kaptein) made a great pass, and I was wide open,” Steenbergen said. “The thrill of that was great.”
Added Foltice: “We didn’t have any timeouts, and the girls just made a play. Jada made a huge shot, and then in overtime we had to get some big stops on defense. It was hanging on for dear life after that.”
Foltice enjoyed watching the girls celebrate with family and friends after another historic win.
“This is new for us, and the girls are just going out and not overthinking and enjoying the moment,” Foltice said. “It was fun to see the reaction from the girls and the rest of the students.”
After dealing with a bout of sickness in February, the Mountaineers regrouped and entered the MHSAA Tournament on a six-game winning streak.
They opened with Muskegon Catholic Central, which had defeated them earlier in the season, and avenged that loss to move on.
“You just have to take it one game at a time,” Foltice said. “It was such an accomplishment to win our District playing two good teams, and it’s been fun to continue to play.”
Steenbergen said the team was hopeful to finally make it out of Districts this season.
“We’ve always been in a District that we didn’t have a chance (of winning) so it was fun to get into a District that we knew we could win,” she said. “And then we won Regionals, and it provided us with so much confidence and brought our team closer.
“We are so blessed to be in the spot we’re in, and the wins have been so crazy and so close. It’s just been so much fun, and it’s brought our school and community together.”
Despite a 54-26 loss to Concord in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, the postseason journey allowed Foltice and his team extended time together.
“One of the most exciting things is just the fact that we get to keep on playing and keep on building on what we’ve been working toward,” Foltice said. “It’s been fun to see them click more and more as the season has gone on. I’m thankful that I get to coach them, and it’s a special group of unselfish and hard-working girls. To be able to spend a couple more weeks with them has been icing on the cake for the season.”
While the end was disappointing, the Mountaineers reflected on the success of the program’s first 20-win season.
“It’s been amazing and just a blessing to get as far as we did,” Deutschmann said. “I love these girls, and I love this team. I couldn’t think of a better year.”
Audra Kaptein, a junior guard and the team’s leading scorer, joined Steenbergen and Deutschmann on the all-conference first team. Sophomore Kenley Doezema was the team’s leading rebounder and an all-conference honorable mention pick, while junior Sadie Knott had a solid postseason.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Zion Christian celebrates winning its first District title earlier this month. (Middle) Jayda Steenbergen directs her team’s offense. (Below) The Mountaineers take a team photo after claiming the program’s first Regional title. (Photos courtesy of the Zion Christian girls basketball program.)