Performance: Oakridge's Sophia Wiard
February 9, 2018
Sophia Wiard
Muskegon Oakridge junior – Basketball
Wiard, a 5-foot-9 guard and three-year varsity player, went over 1,000 points scored for her career with 27 against rival Shelby on Feb. 1, earning the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” as he team extended what is now a 76-game winning streak in West Michigan Conference play. Oakridge has clinched a share of the league title – its ninth over the last decade – with two league games to play.
Wiard also has been part of two of the team’s six District titles over the last eight seasons, and she has a career record of 54-9 entering tonight’s game against Ravenna. This winter, she’s averaging 22.3 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals per game – and by going over 1,000 career points, joined her sister Keyara in achieving that milestone. Keyara Wiard graduated from Oakridge in 2013 with the program record of 1,353 points and last winter finished her career at Grand Valley State University. That record has since been broken, and Sophia Wiard is chasing 2017 graduate Hannah Reinbold's milestone of more than 1,500 points, which she hopes to eclipse next season.
Oakridge fell to Hamilton in a Regional Semifinal last season and to Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the Regional Final in 2015-16. If Wiard can lead her team to a Regional title, it would be the program’s first since her mom Renee (Burns) Wiard was a senior on the team in 1991. Sophia also will join her sister as a college athlete, already having committed to sign with University of Toledo this fall. A strong student, she is interested in studying chemical engineering or pharmacy. Wiard also joined Oakridge's softball varsity as a freshman and helped the team make last season's Division 2 Regional Finals.
Coach Terry DeJonge said: "Sophie is the epitome of being a student-athlete. Her 3.965 grade-point average and her Division I basketball skills make her a role model for all young females to follow. She has been not only our floor leader, but also the locker room and classroom leader. Pursuing and landing Sophie makes Toledo one of the smartest colleges in the country, as far as I am concerned."
Performance Point: “(The 1,000th point) is one step, one part of the process. It’s one goal that’s been met. It’s one of the first that I’ve been focusing on. Now it’s time to look even farther past that. … What’s next hopefully this season is to win the District, Regional and state championship.”
Born scorers: “I think (my sister and I) both put in the time, and I think in girls basketball if you put in the time, you will find success. We were raised playing basketball, so it was natural instinct to play basketball – and that’s what we did. I think that really just helped lead to scoring and stuff like that, when we’ve both just always been surrounded by good players to help us do that.”
Thanks Mom, thanks Sis: “My mom’s always been a kind-hearted person, which (taught me) be kind to everyone. And on the basketball court, it’s work hard, but make sure you’re having fun – stuff like that. It’s not just the game of basketball, it’s life. Just the simple things. She’s never been one to force me to do anything. She’s just been riding the roller coaster with me. … (From Keyara, I learned) work hard. Do the dirty things, like she was very scrappy. She did all the little things. (She was the) most athletic player to come through Oakridge, for sure. She just was the go-to player to make the shot but you could trust her to make the stop her team needed. She was always capable of doing the things others wouldn’t do.”
This can be the team: “Over the years we’ve always been really close. I’ve always been really close with my teammates. This year, the group of girls, everybody clicks really well. We all mesh really well. We’re all very close. We count on each other in school, out of school, on the basketball court, anywhere really. Our bench helps support us. Just little things like that. We’re all in it together. … Since I was watching my sister, when I was the manager, and they were always so close to winning Regionals, I was just getting hungry for that. I wanted to live that. I wanted to get that trophy at the end of the game. … I’m really hungry, and I really want to win.”
Finding the formula: “Science and mathematics, those are my two favorite subjects, and if I follow the path of chemical engineering I can do both. … I just think finding new ways to do things, (like) if it’s more environmentally-friendly, just being able to solve the little things to make it better – to improve things is what interests me the most.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
February 2: Brenden Tulpa, Hartland hockey - Read
January 25: Brandon Whitman, Dundee wrestling - Read
January 18: Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa swimming - Read
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Oakridge's Sophia Wiard works to get up a shot against Shelby last week. (Middle) Wiard breaks between two Muskegon defenders earlier this season. (Photos by Sherry Wahr.)
'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.)