West Bloomfield Makes Good on Preseason Goal with 1st Finals Win

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

March 19, 2022

EAST LANSING – Apparently Sydney Hendrix holds a grudge.

The West Bloomfield junior has held onto the hurt from her team’s Regional Semifinal loss to Hartland in 2020, and on Saturday, she let it all out on the court.

Hendrix had 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a 51-42 victory over the Eagles in the Division 1 Girls Basketball Final at the Breslin Center. 

“We lost to Hartland my freshman year, and I think I was crying for like three days straight,” Hendrix said. “I wanted it so bad, but we couldn’t pull out the win. I’ve been wanting my get-back for a minute now. I’m just so glad we got it.”

West Bloomfield/Hartland basketballThe title win was the first in program history for the Lakers, who last played in a Final in 1989. This year’s team set the goal of winning it all at the first practice, and after losing its opening game against Dexter, won 25 straight to accomplish that.

“I remember November 12, everybody coming together and saying they wanted the state championship,” West Bloomfield coach Darrin McAllister said. “So I knew at that time, our coaching staff, we had to do everything in our power to get us to this point. We bought into the ‘I believe’ mindset. We worked our tails off, and we got here to the Breslin and we did what we had to do.”

West Bloomfield never trailed in the game, and held Hartland at arm’s length throughout most of it. 

Indya Davis led the Lakers (25-1) with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Summer Davis and Myonna Hooper each scored nine points for the Lakers.

“This game was very personal,” said Hooper, who was also on that 2020 team. “We took it upon ourselves to make sure everybody was in the position they needed to be, everybody was playing their role, everybody was executing, everybody was picking each other’s heads up when somebody was down. From Day 1, we’ve been talking about this, and we never let up.”

Amanda Roach scored 21 points for Hartland to lead all scorers. Emerson Sargeant had six points and nine rebounds for the Eagles (25-2).

Roach had half of Hartland’s field-goal makes in the game, as the Eagles struggled to make shots, finishing 16 of 64 from the field.

West Bloomfield/Hartland basketball“I think West Bloomfield had a lot to do with that, but on the other hand, we did have some good looks,” Hartland coach Don Palmer said. “Shots that we normally make, they didn’t go today. Sometimes, that just kind of feeds.”

West Bloomfield led by as many as 14 points in the second half. Roach tried to pull the Eagles back into the game, and nearly did in the fourth quarter. She hit a long 3-pointer to bring her team to within seven with four minutes to play and put some belief in the Hartland fans. 

The Eagles wouldn’t get any closer, though, until she hit another long 3 with 25 seconds to play that brought her team within six of the lead. But West Bloomfield was able to close the game out at the free throw line. 

“I personally thought we still had a chance with 30 seconds left,” Roach said. “We fight back every single game. I’m just proud of everybody.”

Each Hartland push was met with a response from the Lakers, and often it was the result of an offensive rebound, or two. Hendrix had seven on her own.

“She’s a beast,” Palmer said. “She is strong, she can finish, she’s got a little bit of a mid-range jumpshot. A lot of times when you have teams with ‘superstars’ those other kids get lost in the coverage, but I certainly picked (Hendrix) up on tape.”

Hartland also came into Saturday in search of its first Finals title after advancing beyond the Quarterfinal for the first time.

“Obviously, it feels great to be up here and play with all these girls that I started with,” Hartland senior Leah Lappin said. “Obviously, disappointing because we didn’t play our best. But it was good to play with these girls.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) West Bloomfield’s Indya Davis (24) turns toward the lane Saturday as Hartland’s Lauren Sollon (25) walls off the baseline. (Middle) The Lakers’ Myonna Hooper (4) prepares to make her move toward the hoop. (Below) Sydney Hendrix (5) pulls up for a shot over Sollon’s reach. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)

Unranked Eaton Rapids Ends on Top in B

March 15, 2014

By Tom Kendra
Special to Second Half

EAST LANSING - Dittmer was the difference.

Grand Rapids South Christian came into Saturday's MHSAA Class B championship game ranked No. 1 and with a 26-game winning streak. But the Sailors had never faced an inside force like 6-foot-1 senior post player Allie Dittmer of Eaton Rapids.

"We tried our best to stop her," said South Christian coach Jim De Bruyn, "but she was just a horse in there."

Dittmer dominated the interior, scoring 26 points on 9 of 15 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead unheralded Eaton Rapids to its first-ever MHSAA girls basketball title in a convincing 51-38 upset of South Christian in Saturday's finale at the Breslin Center.

The Greyhounds (23-5) came into the MHSAA tournament as an honorable mention in the final Associated Press regular-season poll, but relied on five senior starters to knock off No. 6 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep in the Quarterfinals, No. 8 Flint Powers in Friday's Semifinal and then top-ranked South Christian in Saturday's Final.

"I told the girls before the game that we don't need to be perfect, we just need to be us," said 15th-year Eaton Rapids coach Willis Whitmyer. "I'm not the smartest guy here, but I'm smart enough to know when I have a good inside player. Everyone on this team has heard it 1,000 times from me: 'Get the ball inside to Allie.'"

Dittmer, who will play next year at Hillsdale College, scored two points in the first quarter as both teams struggled out of the gate. The quarter ended in a 7-7 tie.

But Dittmer came alive with nine points in the second quarter as the Greyhounds inched ahead to a 19-16 halftime lead, and it appeared that the second half would be a down-to-the-wire fight.

However, buoyed by a raucous, maroon-clad crowd chanting "We are, E.R.!," Eaton Rapids used its zone defense to stymie the Sailors' comeback attempt.

While the defense was doing its part, Dittmer got back to work on the block, scoring five points in the third quarter and then tallying 10 in the fourth (despite picking up her fourth foul with 4:35 remaining and having to sit for stretches) as the Greyhounds pulled away.

"I’ve got to give credit to my teammates; they worked it around and made it easy on me," said Dittmer, who garnered honorable mention status on the Associated Press Class B all-state team announced this week. "This win means so much to all of us.”

As Dittmer began to demand more and more attention from the Sailors, it began to open up shooting opportunities and driving lanes for the Eaton Rapids guards.

The Greyhounds were 18 of 26 from the free-throw line, compared to just 3 of 6 for South Christian. Senior guard Kathryn Mills was the only other Eaton Rapids player in double figures scoring with 11 points, including a game-clinching 3-pointer right in front of her school's delirious student section with 1:35 remaining that gave the Greyhounds an insurmountable 48-37 lead.

"It was about time, was the way I looked at it," said Mills, one of those five senior starters. "I had a rough start, but that's the way a lot of our games went this year. We got more open looks at the end because the other team is focused on stopping Allie."

South Christian 5-11 senior Renee Broekhuizen, who battled Dittmer inside all night, was the lone Sailors player in double figures, with 13 points. Broekhuizen buried back-to-back 3-pointers to pull her team to within 37-33 with 5:15 remaining in the game, but the Sailors were outscored 14-5 the rest of the way.

Dittmer scored four points during the final run, and senior guard Meghan Dassance scored five of her six during that stretch.

"She's a great player, and she has a strong body," Broekhuizen said of Dittmer. "We never gave up, we were relentless and we refused to lose. But it just wasn't our night."

South Christian (26-1) lost for the first time since last year's Semifinals at the Breslin. It was the Sailors' third appearance in a girls basketball title game, as they won the 1988 Class B championship and finished as the 1980 Class C runners-up.

Cassidy Vredevoogd blocked five shots and added six points and five rebounds for South Christian. Morgan Torres had a team-high six rebounds, and Broekhuizen added three steals.

"It's not what we planned on, but here we are," said De Bruyn, who has won 441 games in 25 years as South Christian's coach. "We struggled against their zone and couldn't seem to get many good, open shots."

The Sailors connected on just 15 of 46 shots (32.6 percent), were not able to get to the free-throw line much and were out rebounded 34-24.

Five points from Emily Reinecke and six rebounds and five assists from Bailey Baker also boosted Eaton Rapids, which placed second in the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold.

But Whitmyer felt another force during Saturday's game, especially in the second half, which he felt made a big difference in turning things in his team's favor.

"I thought our fans were unbelievable," said Whitmyer, whose team won all eight of its tournament games by at least 10 points. "I looked out there, and I thought we owned the Breslin. Our support system throughout the school and the community was really something else, and that makes this even more special."

Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.

PHOTOS: (Top) Eaton Rapids' Meghan Dassance works to get past South Christian's Renee Broekhuizen in the Class B Final. (Middle) Greyhounds guard Kathryn Mills launches a shot in front of her team's bench Saturday.

HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Allie Dittmer led all scorers with 26 points and all rebounders with 13. Here she scores on a putback just before halftime to give Eaton Rapids a 19-16 lead. (2) Renee Broekhuizen led South Christian in scoring with 13. Here's a 3-pointer she hit early in the game.