Teams of the Month: Hart Girls & Boys Basketball
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 23, 2023
Few communities in Michigan this winter celebrated as many sizable basketball achievements as small-town Hart.
The 2,000-resident Oceana County seat, about seven miles off the Lake Michigan shore and sitting about 20 miles south of Ludington and 30 north of Muskegon, celebrated accomplishments by both its girls and boys basketball teams that carried statewide significance – and made choosing either over the other’s impossible.
The Hart girls and boys basketball teams are the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Teams of the Month” for February, and this announcement is coming toward the end of March as both just kept winning and adding to their season-long lists of feats.
The Pirates girls made the first major headline when they defeated second-place Mason County Central 51-32 on Feb. 10 to clinch the outright West Michigan Conference Rivers championship. The Hart girls had also won the formerly one-division WMC in 2021-22, and this year’s run ran their league winning streak to 31 games.
Then the boys took their turn, clinching a share of the Rivers championship Feb. 17 with a 67-51 win over North Muskegon and then the title outright by defeating Mason County Central 63-45 on Feb. 23. This league title received some statewide buzz as it was the Hart boys’ first since 1963.
A week later, Hart’s boys finished a 22-0 regular season – becoming the only boys team, and joined by only three girls teams – to go 22-0 this first season that MHSAA member schools were allowed to play 22 games instead of the previous longtime maximum of 20.
The Hart boys then drew into one of the strongest Districts in the state in any division, with the Division 2 group at Big Rapids including four league champions. The Pirates opened with a win over the host Cardinals – winners of the Central State Activities Association – before ending their season at 23-1 with a loss to Big North Conference co-champ Cadillac in the District Final.
The Pirates girls, meanwhile, had clinched their Division 3 District with a third win over Mason County Central, and then won a Regional by edging two-time reigning Finals runner-up Kent City 37-34 – in the process also avenging Hart’s first loss of this season, from Dec. 20. The Regional title was the Hart girls' first since 1992.
Next up was 23-1 Buchanan – and Hart made its biggest statewide splash by handing the Bucks a 45-41 Quarterfinal defeat that sent the Pirates to the MHSAA Girls Basketball Semifinals for the first time.
Hart would end up falling to eventual champion Hemlock 57-26 at Breslin Center, finishing the season 24-4.
“I said it the other day: We’re kinda overlooked. Last year we had a really good team, probably one injury away from another run like this,” said Hart girls basketball coach Travis Rosema during the press conference after the Semifinal. “It started with people investing into the girls. Now that players like Aspen (Boutell) and Abbey (Hicks) have made this run, I saw so many young faces. … We left this morning, the elementary school was packed, and every kid had a sign. It’s a positive impact (and) it’s going to be a lot moving forward.”
The Pirates girls were keyed by Hicks, a junior, sophomore Addi Hovey and Boutell, one of three senior starters.
The boys were paced by senior Parker Hovey, who went over 1,000 points for his career and will continue at Hope College.
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
January: Taylor Trillium Academy bowling - Report
December: Byron Center hockey - Report
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report
(PHOTOS by Kara Raeth/CatchMark SportsNet.)
Breslin Bound: 2024-25 Girls Report Week 12
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 24, 2025
The calendar has played out well this girls basketball season, as last week saw several league championship deciders and this one will see a few more as teams also prep for the start of District play.
Brackets for that first round of the MHSAA Tournament were announced Sunday, with all teams seeded based on Michigan Power Ratings (MPR). We'll dive into those soon. But for now, there are still plenty of stories to tell as teams finish up the regular season.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 63, Detroit Renaissance 39 The Fighting Irish (20-1) have not played a single-digit game since suffering their lone loss in December to Belleville by a point, and this Operation Friendship win over the Phoenix (18-2) might be their most impressive of a 13-game winning streak.
2. Belleville 54, Detroit Edison 40 The Tigers are hoping to finish next month as Division 1 champions and continued their impressive surge into the postseason by downing the reigning Division 2 champ Pioneers (13-5).
3. Utica Ford 60, Utica Eisenhower 45 The Macomb Area Conference Red finished with these two sharing the title as Ford (19-1) avenged its 64-49 loss to Eisenhower (19-2) from Jan. 28.
4. Armada 56, Yale 45 With one league game left for both, these two could share the Blue Water Area Conference title after Armada (16-2) avenged its 69-62 loss to Yale (18-2) from Jan. 28.
5. Dexter 51, Temperance Bedford 41 The Dreadnaughts (15-6) pulled even with Bedford (18-2) in the Southeastern Conference Red with one league game left for both, avenging a 51-42 loss in their first meeting.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Farmington Hills Mercy (15-4) The Marlins have bounced back from a rare down (relatively speaking) season. Mercy finished 12-12 a year ago but rebounded to share the Catholic High School League Central West championship. The Marlins defeated Detroit Mumford 56-40 in an Operation Friendship game last week and can count wins over Howell (16-5) and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (16-3) – the second in a rematch after losing the first meeting – among their most impressive. Mercy finishes the regular season with a few more tests against Detroit Edison (13-5) and Detroit University Prep (15-3).
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (19-2) The Huskies have improved from eight to 11 to 16 and now 19 victories over the last four seasons, respectively, and this time also clinched the Ottawa-Kent Conference White championship outright thanks to Friday’s 51-38 win over runner-up Grand Rapids Catholic Central (14-6). The Cougars had handed FHN its only league loss; Grand Haven (17-3) is the only other team to down the Huskies this winter. Northern meanwhile has wins over Muskegon Mona Shores (15-6), Hudsonville (14-6) and Portland (17-3) as well.
DIVISION 2
Grand Rapids South Christian (19-2) The Sailors have won 11 straight games and with Friday’s 53-42 win over Wayland (13-7) guaranteed a shared O-K Gold title with Grand Rapids West Catholic. South Christian lost its first meeting with West Catholic (18-2) by 13 and won the rematch Feb. 7 by seven; the Sailors also trended the right away with Wayland after winning that first meeting by just two points. South Christian also has defeated Holland Christian (17-3) and Grand Rapids Catholic Central, with the other loss to Hudsonville. Holland Christian and Wayland are part of the same District at Hopkins.
Sault Ste. Marie (14-5) With the dissolution of the Straits Area Conference after last season, two-time reigning champion Sault Ste. Marie has played as an independent this winter and capitalized by loading the schedule with several strong opponents. The Blue Devils have lost to Chelsea (16-3), St. Ignace (19-1), Freeland (17-3), Traverse City Central (13-5) and DeWitt (19-1) – but those losses no doubt have helped prep them for the postseason, along with wins over Harbor Springs (18-2) and Petoskey (11-8) among others. After falling to eventual Division 2 semifinalist Negaunee in District play last year, the Sault will head into an otherwise downstate bracket next week.
DIVISION 3
Kalamazoo Christian (16-4) While the Comets saw their league winning streak end at 27 games this season, they’ve run their Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley title streak to three. That one league loss came to rival Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (18-3) in the second game of a split. Christian’s only other loses were to Paw Paw (16-4), Edison and Saugatuck (19-1) – and the Comets have swept first-round District opponent Lawton (14-5) and are coming off a win over Muskegon Western Michigan Christian (10-5) with Grandville Calvin Christian (16-4) up next. They could see Hacket one more time in the District Final.
McBain (14-4) The Ramblers are tied for second in the Highland Conference and one game behind Evart with one league game to play. Gaining a share of the league title is possible, but even without it McBain’s improvement has been notable after finishing 12-11 overall and tied for fourth in the league a year ago. The Ramblers did split with Evart (19-2), winning the first game and losing the second, and also split with Manton (16-4) and Beal City (12-10) in league play. Evart will host next week’s District, and a third matchup between the two could play out in the championship decider.
DIVISION 4
Frankfort (13-5) After opening this season with three losses, Frankfort is 13-2 and has clinched a share of the Northwest Conference championship despite losing to third-place Onekama (16-4) on Friday. Tuesday’s game against second-place Leland (16-4) will determine if the Panthers claim the title outright. Success wasn’t unexpected after Frankfort made the Division 4 Semifinals last season and brought back key pieces from that team. But the Panthers certainly have impressed, avenging a one-point opening loss to Buckley (14-6) with a 13-point win and also losing only to the Portagers, Roscommon, Evart and St. Ignace.
Indian River Inland Lakes (17-3) The Ski Valley Conference is one of the only undecided leagues left, and as noted below reigning champion Inland Lakes can secure at least a share of it with a win over Gaylord St. Mary tonight. The Bulldogs lost their first meeting with the Snowbirds 51-47 in overtime, and their only other losses were by two to Harbor Springs (18-2) and by one to Pickford (11-9). A sweep of East Jordan (16-5) finished off last week has kept Inland Lakes in the title hunt, and the Bulldogs are favorites next week at Rogers City as they look to claim a third-straight District title.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Gaylord St. Mary (17-2) at Indian River Inland Lakes (17-3) – The winner will take over first place alone in the Ski Valley Conference – with St. Mary either clinching the league title outright, or Inland Lakes claiming a share with a Thursday game to play against Johannesburg-Lewiston.
Thursday – Gladstone (19-1) at Negaunee (19-0) – Arguably the top two teams in the Upper Peninsula will cap the regular season with a rematch after Negaunee won their first meeting 45-28 on Jan. 28.
Thursday – Belleville (20-1) at Northville (14-7) – The champions of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East and West, respectively, will meet for the overall league title.
Thursday – Sandusky (19-1) at Cass City (18-1) – These are the champions from the Big Thumb Conference Black and White, respectively, and they could meet a second time in two weeks in a Division 3 Regional Semifinal.
Thursday – Haslett (18-2) at Parma Western (19-1) – These two league champions – Western from the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference and Haslett from the Capital Area Activities Conference Red – also might be meeting for a preview with a possible Division 2 Regional Semifinal rematch possible.
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PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Alexis Curran defends Negaunee's Aubrey Johnson as she drives toward the basket during the Miners' 48-22 win Feb. 14. (Middle) Williamston's Jaiden Griffith (3) works to get upcourt during an early-season game at Okemos. (Marquette/Negaunee photo by Cara Kamps. Williamston/Okemos photo by John Johnson.)