P-W Wins OT to Earn Historic Opportunity

March 21, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

GRAND RAPIDS – Pewamo-Westphalia has played in three MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals. Three more teams have ended seasons in the Semifinals. Four more teams on top of those reached Quarterfinals and were done.

Total, that’s 10 teams that had made the final week of the season before this one. And now the Pirates have earned another opportunity to celebrate for all of them.

P-W will play for its first championship thanks to a 37-33 overtime win over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep on Thursday that also set the record for the lowest-scoring Semifinal in MHSAA girls basketball history.

Despite scoring six or fewer points during the second, third and fourth quarters, the Pirates outscored Arbor Prep 7-3 in the extra period to reach their second Final in three seasons.

“We’ve been here so many times before, and it’s frustrating when you just miss it by such a short amount,” P-W junior guard Ellie Droste said. “So this year being able to make it to the Finals again, and hopefully we can come out with the win … at practice every single day we work for these moments. We work on defense, we work on offense, we work on pressure situations. And that’s what got us here.”

The Pirates (26-1) will take on Flint Hamady in Saturday’s 4 p.m. Division 3 championship game at Calvin College.

Droste and Hannah Spitzley were freshmen on the P-W team that fell 46-44 to Detroit Edison in the 2017 Class C Final. Rachel Huhn was a sophomore sub on that team and then played 20 minutes as a junior in last season’s Semifinal loss to the Pioneers.

But the program’s drive for this opportunity goes back much farther than the last few years. The 1983 and 1984 teams both lost in Class C Finals – the 1983 Pirates to Hamady.

Arbor Prep (19-7) was last season’s Class C runner-up and playing in its fifth straight Semifinal.

“I was a 10-year-old boy back in 1984, 85, watching Carol Bogard Rademacher take teams to Western Michigan back at that time and fall short with great teams and great kids that were extremely well-coached,” Pirates coach Steve Eklund said. “It’s that hurdle we just haven’t been able to get over. So I’m excited for these kids, I’m excited for our community, I’m excited for all of these girls basketball teams we’ve had over the last 30 years that have been there and just not gotten over the hurdle. It just burns inside of me to go get that win Saturday, and we’re going to do everything in our power to go get that win for all of the teams from the past.”

To earn the opportunity, P-W had to hop a few hurdles Thursday. Arbor Prep featured one of the top freshmen in the state in guard Mya Petticord and 2018 all-state honorable mention Mahri Petree. And both teams struggled to get the ball through the hoop – P-W made 33 percent of its shot from the floor and Arbor Prep checked in at 29 percent, and combined they connected on just 7-of-33 3-point shots.

The Pirates ended the first quarter up 14-7. Arbor Prep stormed back to make it 18-18 at the break. For the game, the score was tied five times and the lead changed seven.  

Droste scored to give P-W the first lead of overtime 28 seconds in, and she made two free throws to make the advantage 34-30 with 1:28 to play. Senior Karli Waddell came up with a huge 3-pointer for Arbor Prep to cut the lead to one with 33 seconds left on the clock. But Spitzley made 3-of-4 free-throw tries over the final 12 seconds, and Arbor Prep got off only one shot after Waddell’s 3-pointer.

“I think we lost to the state champion,” Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine said. “(I’m) disappointed we couldn’t score a few more points, questioning whether we should’ve been more aggressive defensively. That’s a coaching call … we’ll look at after today and decide if we should’ve been more aggressive, should’ve pushed the tempo.

“If you’d told me the score would be 34-30, I would’ve said it was 50/50 who would win the game. If you’d told me someone got to 50 points, I’d have said Arbor Prep would’ve won.”

Petticord led Arbor Prep with 14 points, and senior Kashyra Jackson had 10 and eight rebounds. Spitzley scored 16 to lead P-W, while Droste had 15 points and four assists. Junior Addison Bauer didn’t score a point and attempted just one shot, but grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

“My players made adjustments. Defensively after the first quarter, I thought they were extremely solid,” Stine said. “I thought we made things tough on them, just the same way they made things tough on us.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Ellie Droste makes a move toward the basket during Thursday’s second Division 3 Semifinal. (Middle) Arbor Prep’s Alaya Mack seeks an opening.

Edison Ends 2023-24 Winter Season Back at Breslin, Back on Top

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 23, 2024

EAST LANSING – Detroit Edison wanted the opportunity to gain redemption in its return to Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.

The Pioneers needed stout defense during the final quarter Saturday to accomplish that goal.

Edison held Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard to only three fourth-quarter points on its way to a 41-33 win in Saturday’s Division 2 title game.

The Pioneers (23-3) won the program’s fifth Finals championship over the last 10 years and handed the Irish their only loss of the season.

The Pioneers’ Myana Cooksey, left, drives the lane.“We set a goal, and that was to go back here and win,” said Edison coach Monique Brown, whose team lost in a Regional Final last year after winning Division 2 in 2022.

“I gave them a theme this year, and it was leadership. We had six seniors, and they bought into everything we were doing. To see them fight through adversity at the end of the game was great. We made a run, and we fought through. We wanted to be smiling at the end of the year, and we are.”

Edison led 22-17 at the half and still maintained a slight edge going into the fourth quarter when Myana Cooksey dropped in a short baseline jumper to make it 34-30.

The Irish trimmed Edison’s lead to one (34-33) when Cora Williams scored inside and converted the and-one with 4:49 left.

But the Pioneers held the Irish scoreless the rest of the game.

“There was a little squabble that happened, and I think it woke us up and gave us a kickstart,” Brown said. “I told them it wasn’t a boxing match, it was a basketball game and we had to score the ball and play good defense.

“We do so many defensive drills, and we started something the last two weeks where we play defense for a whole minute. If you want to win you have to play defense and make sure they don’t get good shots.”

Senior Isis Johnson-Musah led the Pioneers with 16 points and five rebounds, while Cooksey finished with nine points and six boards.

“To come in here in my first year and help them win their fifth (championship) means a lot,” Johnson-Musah said. “We were just trying to play good defense and not foul (in the fourth quarter). And no 3-pointers because we saw what they did (Friday night). We tried to not let that happen.”

Edison’s Devin Hagemann, left, considers her options with FGR’s Vanessa Rodriguez guarding her. FGR (28-1) was seeking a perfect season and the program’s first Finals win since 1993 in Class D. The Irish advanced to Saturday on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in Friday’s Semifinal against Grand Rapids West Catholic.

However, a tough shooting night this time proved to be the Irish’s downfall as they were 12 of 38 from the field and 1 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc. FGR also was just 8 of 14 from the free throw line.

“Sometimes you don’t have that rhythm, and it was just one of those days,” Irish coach Tim Cain said. “Our shot wasn’t falling, and when they went to four guards it got us out of our comfort zone defensively. We thought we could dominate down low, but we got into foul trouble. They played well, and Isis made a lot of plays.

“The special part of the season is the players and the relationships. We won a lot of games, and I will miss my seniors.”

Junior Charlotte Miller, who made the game-winning shot Friday, led FGR with 12 points and five rebounds.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Edison’s Isis Johnson-Musah gets to the basket Saturday with FGR’s Bethie Benz (12) defending. (Middle) The Pioneers’ Myana Cooksey, left, drives the lane. (Below) Edison’s Devin Hagemann, left, considers her options with FGR’s Vanessa Rodriguez guarding her. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)