Seniors Come Up Big Again as Arbor Prep Clinches 1st Title since 2016
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 19, 2022
EAST LANSING – Kent City never lost hope Saturday that it could come back and knock off Ypsilanti Arbor Prep in the Division 3 Girls Basketball Final.
With less than a minute to play, the Eagles’ hope turned into a legitimate chance to do just that, as they had the ball and trailed by just four.
But Kari Woods took it all away.
The Arbor Prep senior guard stole a pass near midcourt and raced for a layup to extend her team’s lead to six points with 30 seconds to play, ending Kent City’s last, best chance, and sealing what ended up a 54-50 win for the Gators.
“I knew the game was tight, and we had been practicing up the line, all day, every day, every practice,” Woods said. “I knew I was there. I saw it and went for it.”
It was the second title for Arbor Prep, which also won in 2016 before finishing as runner-up each of the next two years.
This was the Gators’ first trip back to the season’s final day since 2018, and they made sure to make the most of it.
“It’s difficult to get here,” Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine said. “Six years ago, we won on March 19, 2016, the same day. Six years ago, you would have never told me it was going to take six years to get another one. It is difficult. COVID has played a part in that. For our kids coming back, we just have to keep getting better. They know what it takes.”
That group learned from a small but vital senior class that included Woods, Texas A&M-bound Mya Petticord and forward Jazmin Chupp.
“(Kent City) is a great program,” Stine said. “They’re going to be back here again next year. Our goal for the rest of the girls in that locker room is to get good enough to improve enough that we can play them again next year. But I’m just happy. The seniors, all three of these girls at some point made plays to put us where we’re at. Mya, offensively, did what we know she’s capable of. Jazmin made some plays on both ends of the court. Kari Woods made arguably the most important defensive play of the game when she blew up that handoff and took it for a layup. That was a huge play. That’s what she does. Proud of all three of these girls.”
Petticord led the Gators (25-2) with 27 points. She had 20 points at halftime after connecting on seven of her first nine shots, and each of her first three 3-point attempts.
“It was really all about my focus,” Petticord said. “My nerves didn’t get the best of me today. Knowing this was my last high school basketball game, I just had to end it off with a lot of focus. Knowing it was my state championship game for the team – yeah, I was just focused.”
Woods added nine points and four steals, including the big one at the end. She played airtight defense all game against dangerous Kent City guard Lexie Bowers, who finished with nine points and nine rebounds. Bowers came into the Final averaging 17 points per game. Stine credited Woods, calling her the best perimeter defender in the state.
“I think they play really tight, so (Bowers) had a hard time getting herself open off of that,” Kent City coach Aleah Holcomb said.
Arbor Prep’s tight defense frustrated Kent City (26-1) throughout the game, and the team that averages 26 3-point attempts per game could get off only 11 on Saturday. The Gators also forced 15 turnovers.
“I thought we had a difficult time handling their pressure,” Holcomb said. “They really made it difficult for us to get into our offense.”
Arbor Prep led by as many as 11 points late in the second quarter, and held at least a two-possession lead for nearly the entire second half.
But the Eagles never let the Gators fully get away, and cut the lead to as few as three when Madelyn Geers, who totaled a team-high 27 points, scored with 2:15 to play.
They never got the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, however.
It was the second-straight runner-up finish for Kent City, which lost 52-50 against Grass Lake in last year’s Final.
“It’s frustrating, but I think we worked our butts off this season,” Kent City senior Taryn Preston said. “Obviously God got us here for a reason. I think he’s gifted every single person on the team, and we worked hard to get the best that we can out of our abilities. That’s just something that’s really, really cool to see as a member of the team. So, yeah, it’s frustrating at times, but I know that we worked our butts off to get here.”
PHOTOS (Top) Arbor Prep’s Karianna Woods (3) drives with Kent City’s Lexie Bowers defending. (Middle) The Gators’ Mya Petticord (1) prepares to make her next move. (Below) Stacy Utomi (24) defends against Bowers. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Stine Bringing Championship Formula to Lumen Christi After Marvelous Arbor Prep Run
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 25, 2025
One of the first things Scott Stine noticed when he started his new gig as girls basketball head coach at Jackson Lumen Christi wasn’t the historic dome where the Titans play or the trophy cases just inside the entrance to the school.
It was the fellow coaches on staff at Lumen Christi.
“Everybody knows who (football coach) Herb (Brogan) is, but he is not only one of the greatest coaches ever, but probably the nicest guy you will ever meet,” Stine said. “He’s so humble. I very much enjoy getting to know him better.”
There’s more.
“Here, you are just surrounded by so many great coaches. I think the cross country coach (Mike Woolsey) has 12 state championships. The golf coach (Dave Swarthout) has 18 or something like that. We have coaches who are complete Hall of Famers who are around here every day.
“Everybody has been welcoming. It’s gone as good as I could hope for.”
Stine was a highly-successful girls basketball coach at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep for the past eight seasons, winning eight District, five Regional and three Finals titles during his tenure. Last season was perhaps the biggest surprise of all when he led an Arbor Prep team that was 10-12 during the regular season to seven straight wins in the MHSAA Tournament and the Division 3 championship.
“For my last year there, it couldn’t have worked out any better,” Stine said. “I think even I didn’t expect that one.”
Stine, however, turned some heads across the state when he decided in May to leave Arbor Prep and a program he has been around since the launch of the school 14 years ago to coach girls basketball at Lumen Christi. He left the job of athletic director and assistant principal as well and is now teaching world history and economics in Jackson.
He said those close to him probably weren’t surprised by the move – although he loved coaching at Arbor Prep.
“It will always have a huge, special place in my heart,” he said. “Leaving the basketball program was one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my life.”
He takes over the Lumen Christi team that was 19-7 last winter with one of the most celebrated freshmen in the state in Kenna Hunt. Athletic director Jesse Brown coached the team but helped lure Stine and his 157-47 record to Jackson. The Titans actually ended their season with a 31-28 Quarterfinal loss to Stine’s Gators.
“The transition here has been everything I hoped it would be,” Stine said. “You have a community that definitely care about excellence. Faith comes first, then academics. Sports are a big priority. At this point, there’s no reason not to be successful here.”
He noted the positive environment at Lumen Christi.
“There is just an excitement at the school in general,” he said. “I have a lot of football kids in class. They’ve been excited since day one to see what can happen with the girls program. It’s a great community.”
Stine graduated from Muskegon Oakridge in 1996 and Grand Valley State University in 2002. He was on the Arbor Prep staff under Rod Wells when the Gators won their first Finals title in 2016.
At Lumen Christi, he will build around four returning starters, including Hunt, Lucy Wrozek, Lily Ganton and Ruby Boyce. He also has a talented group of freshmen and sophomores and a host of multi-sport athletes.
“Our fall workouts were pretty much all freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “The seniors will help us. They have things to offer. I’m really excited about our freshmen.”
Freshman Tristin Johnson will be on varsity from day one. She’s a point guard who plays on the Lumen Christi football team.
“She’s tough,” Stine said.
One of his first tasks at Lumen Christi was to upgrade the schedule.
“Our schedule has to be one top five toughest in the state,” Stine said. “In the Catholic League we play (Toledo) Notre Dame twice, (Toledo) Central Catholic is going to be pretty good. We play Ann Arbor (Father Gabriel) Richard twice. Those are six games that are pretty tough.
“We play Michigan Center in our opener and they are solid. We are playing Salem. Rod (Wells) and I get to go against each other. That will be tough because he’s one of my best friends.”
Also on the schedule is Detroit Country Day, Anthony Wayne from Ohio – which won 25 games last year – and Rockford.
“Maybe it didn’t need to be quite as tough as it ended up,” Stine said. “I had to tell our parents, ‘Listen, we want to win every game. There’s no one who wants to win every game more than I do. But we’re going to lose some games, probably. That’s just the way it is. The key is, once we get to March, we’ll be ready. We’ll be challenged. We’ll have seen every type of team, every style.
“That recipe proved to work at Arbor Prep. We’re sticking to that.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Then-Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine pulls out his clipboard while monitoring his team’s play during last season’s Division 3 Semifinal against Niles Brandywine. (Middle) Stine talks things over with his Arbor Prep players during a break in the championship victory.