
Young Grass Lake Grows Into Contender
March 2, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
GRASS LAKE – Some coaches go a whole career without ever knocking off a No. 1-ranked team.
The Grass Lake Warriors and head coach Andrea Cabana have done it twice in a month.
“And, we are just babies,” Cabana said of her youthful squad. “I think it really boosts our confidence. It gives us an idea of what we are capable of.”
The Warriors, who have been sneaking higher and higher into The Associated Press Division 3 rankings all season, are capable of just about anything with the MHSAA Tournament beginning this week. They have won 16 consecutive games since a December loss to Division 3 No. 1 Michigan Center. Included in that streak is two wins over a solid 14-5 Manchester squad, a rematch win over Michigan Center on Feb. 1 and a 64-53 win over Division 4’s No. 1 Adrian Lenawee Christian last week.
“It’s exciting,” said Cabana. “We are playing very well right now.”
On Thursday, the Warriors took care of business quickly, racing out to a 31-2 lead over Addison in a game that would clinch the Cascades Conference outright championship. Grass Lake won 64-36 to put the lid on a 19-1 regular season.
Success is certainly nothing new for Grass Lake. But this season’s rise to 19-1 can be considered somewhat of a surprise since the team, coming off an 18-5 season, had just one player returning with a lot of high school basketball experience – sophomore Abrie Cabana. She’s surrounded by two freshmen, a fellow sophomore and a junior.
“We’re not babies at this time of the year,” Coach Cabana said. “We’ve grown up.”
The Warriors have done it with a solid combination of lock-down defense and a high-powered offense. They average 56.4 points a game and allow just 29.6 a contest. The defense has allowed 20 or fewer points in a game seven times this season, and one opponent didn’t reach double figures. On the other end of the court, the Warriors have 11 games scoring above 60 points.
Lenawee Christian won the Class D championship a year ago and has been the No. 1-ranked team in Division 4 most of the season. The Cougars lost to Michigan Center to start the season and Grass Lake last week for their only two losses. Head coach Jamie Salenbien said Grass Lake has all of the pieces to make a long tournament run of its own this year.
“They have a high basketball I.Q.,” Salenbien said. “They are balanced with kids who can shoot it deep, and they get to the basket. They are well-coached and have a lot of weapons.”
Cabana called that win a total team effort.
“Lenawee Christian is a great team,” she said. “They have a handful of great players. We knew it was going to take a great effort. We went in real focused, and things went our way in the end.”
Abrie Cabana, the 5-foot-10 daughter of Coach Cabana, leads the team in scoring and most statistical categories. Although just a sophomore, she verbally committed to play college basketball at Grand Valley State University last fall. She had other offers, including from the Division I level, but chose the Division II Lakers over them all.
“She’s probably our vocal leader,” Cabana said of her daughter. “She’s played a ton of travel ball. She’s the most experienced high school player on the team.”
Her backcourt running mate, Lexus Bargesser, is only a freshman but already plays at a high level.
“She’s almost identical to Abrie,” Cabana said. “She’s a little smaller, but she’s quick and gets to the hole quick. She’s a very sound player. We are very strong at the guard position. They are both strong outside the 3-point line and inside. They are hard to handle.”
Freshman Gabrielle Lutchka (6-0) is also an imposing figure at both ends of the court for Grass Lake.
“She’s been our game changer,” Cabana said. “She handles the other team’s big player. When she is playing well, we play well.”
In the win over Lenawee Christian, Lutchka scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. She also drew the primary responsibility of guarding LCS’s Bree Salebien, the reigning AP Class D Player of the Year.
Other Warriors, such as Amber Boomer, Faith Patania and Lauren Pongracz, play big roles as well.
“They do a real nice job of playing to their roles, playing to their strengths,” Cabana said.
While young, Cabana said, the girls already have played a lot of basketball.
“A lot of our girls play travel ball,” Cabana said. “They are very experienced players. They’ve played a lot of basketball.”
Cabana is from the Jackson area but has lived in the Grass Lake district for about 20 years. She got her start coaching her oldest daughter – now a sophomore on the Spring Arbor University team – when she was in the third grade. The Warriors are 55-13 during her tenure, and the future keeps looking brighter.
“There was an opening in the middle school, and I coached that for three years,” Cabana said. “Then there was an opening as the JV head coach and I did that for two years, and this is my third year with the varsity.”
Grass Lake will open District play with Lenawee County Athletic Association champion Brooklyn Columbia Central. Looming on the other side of the Napoleon bracket is the likes of Michigan Center and Manchester.
“This time of the year,” Cabana said, “nothing is easy.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grass Lake’s Abrie Cabana pushes the ball upcourt against Manchester this season. (Middle) Teammate Lexus Bargesser looks for an opening. (Photos courtesy of the Grass Lake girls basketball program.)

Breslin Bound: 2024-25 Girls Report Week 9
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 3, 2025
Several girls basketball leagues across Michigan are being paced this season not just by a couple of top teams locally, but by top local teams that also have worthwhile statewide aspirations.
We saw several of that caliber of matchup this past week, with many more on the way, and we’ve highlighted some of the most intriguing below in our looks back and forward as we continue to push toward March.
“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. Wayne Memorial 57, Belleville 52 Wayne (10-5) took over first place alone in the Kensington Lakes Activities Associate East with this stunner, handing Belleville (14-1) its only defeat.
2. Negaunee 45, Gladstone 28 Negaunee (15-0) remains undefeated after handing Gladstone (12-1) its only loss, and they meet again Feb. 27.
3. Rockford 45, Grand Haven 34 The Rams (15-1) strengthened their spot atop the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red by finishing a season sweep of Grand Haven (12-2) – no other opponent has defeated the Buccaneers this winter.
4. Tecumseh 56, Chelsea 39 Tecumseh (12-1) also finished a season sweep of a league rival, in the Southeastern Conference White, and remains the only team to defeat Chelsea (11-2).
5. Yale 69, Armada 62 Yale (13-1) moved into first alone in the Blue Water Area Conference by handing Armada (12-1) its only defeat in league play and overall. They meet again Feb. 20.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Northville (10-5) The Mustangs have moved to the top of a competitive KLAA West that has six of eight teams playing above .500 overall. Northville took over the top spot alone with a week that saw a 49-43 win over Howell and then a 51-44 victory over Hartland; Howell is now third and Hartland second, and Hartland had won the first meeting with the Mustangs 47-24. Northville has won seven straight, with notable early losses to Clarkston (11-5), South Lyon (13-1) and Midland (12-1) and another impressive win to start this month over Farmington Hills Mercy (11-3).
Wayne Memorial (10-5) The Zebras had lost last year’s matchups with Belleville by 28 and 11 points, but Saturday’s 57-52 win over the Tigers was their eighth in nine games this winter and boosted them up to No. 8 in statewide Division 1 MPR. A 2-4 start this season was filed with valuable losses to Rockford, Detroit Edison (48-46 in overtime) and a pair of Indiana teams, and the only loss since was to an Ohio opponent. Wayne’s rematch with Belleville (14-1) is Feb. 14, and the Zebras also have a key KLAA East win over third-place Livonia Stevenson, 60-53, and will see the Spartans (12-4) again Feb. 18.
DIVISION 2
Detroit Edison (11-3) The reigning Division 2 champion has put together another run to set up a potential playoff push, with its only losses in double overtime to Tecumseh (12-1), by two to Detroit Renaissance (15-1), and to another Division 2 contender Parma Western (13-1). Balance that out with wins over Wayne, Clarkston, Utica Eisenhower (14-1), Detroit Cass Tech (10-5) and most recently annual Illinois contender Bolingbrook. Five of the Pioneers’ six nonleague opponents remaining are 11-3 or better, and the sixth is reigning Division 1 champion West Bloomfield. Circle Feb. 21 at Belleville and Feb. 22 home against Frankenmuth as arguably the best weekend of basketball in the state before the MHSAA Finals.
Frankenmuth (13-2) The Eagles also are gearing up for another potential tournament run, riding an 11-game winning streak with those early losses by a combed five points against Portland (12-3) and Midland Dow over the first two weeks of December. Frankenmuth clinched a share of another Tri-Valley Conference Red title last week against Saginaw Swan Valley and can finish the championship outright by closing out a season sweep this week against Freeland (11-2). The Eagles also have notable wins over Flint Powers Catholic (10-3), Detroit Country Day (12-3) and Saginaw Heritage (12-3), and will head toward March with a string of seven opponents that have all won at last nine games and includes matchups with Goodrich, Rockford, Edison and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
DIVISION 3
Cass City (12-1) The Red Hawks moved up five spots to No. 6 in statewide Division 3 MPR this week as they pulled within two more wins of clinching the inaugural Big Thumb Conference White championship. They’ve jumped from 14-11 a year ago and won eight straight since suffering their lone loss, 53-46 to Division 4 contender Kingston (9-1). Cass City also had a solid early win over Deckerville (10-4) and cleared Caro and Unionville-Sebewaing by impressive margins in the first meetings against their closest league challengers. Cass City closes against undefeated Sandusky, a rematch of last season’s Regional Semifinal that ended the Red Hawks’ season.
Harbor Springs (12-2) As 2,000-point scorer Olivia Flynn surges toward the conclusion of her high school career, Harbor Springs is looking like a great possibility to surpass its longest tournament run of her career so far, to the Regional Semifinals a year ago. The Rams shared the Lake Michigan Conference title last season and lead the Northern Shores Conference by two games, with their only losses overall to Division 2 Sault Ste. Marie and Division 4 contender St. Ignace. Harbor Springs also has downed Indian River Inland Lakes (10-3) and East Jordan (10-4), and has an intriguing matchup with Gaylord St. Mary (11-1) to finish the regular season.
DIVISION 4
Baraga (10-4) Although the Vikings will need help to catch Ewen-Trout Creek in the Copper Mountain Conference, they also put L’Anse a game back in the standings with a 52-49 overtime win over the Purple Hornets (11-2) last week. That victory avenged a 68-50 loss to L’Anse from mid-December and came after Baraga opened last week with a 49-46 revenge win over Lake Linden-Hubbell (11-4) – which had won their first meeting 49-37. Baraga will hope to keep that rebound streak going if they see E-TC in a Regional Semifinal – E-TC won the regular-season matchup 61-34 – but in the meantime the Vikings will face last season’s champion Ishpeming on Feb. 10 in what should be their toughest regular-season game the rest of the way.
Gaylord St. Mary (11-1) A mid-December loss to Division 1 Muskegon Mona Shores has been the only flaw in an otherwise perfect run for the Snowbirds, who own a one-game lead in the Ski Valley Conference thanks to a 51-47 victory over Indian River Inland Lakes (10-3) two weeks ago. Those two will meet again Feb. 25, and St. Mary also has a rematch coming up with East Jordan (10-4) after winning their first game impressively. As noted above, The Snowbirds will test themselves against Harbor Springs on Feb. 27, which could provide a nice momentum boost as they pursue a potential fifth-straight District title and possible first Regional championship since 2022.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Monday – New Lothrop (13-1) at Ovid-Elsie (13-2) – A third meeting might be ahead in Division 3 District play, but for now these two are likely the decide the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference title with New Lothrop leading thanks to a 46-37 win in their first meeting Dec. 20.
Tuesday – Shelby (12-2) at Hart (12-1) – Hart has a slim lead in the West Michigan Conference Rivers thanks to a 37-34 win over second-place Shelby from Dec. 10, and these two also could meet again in Division 3 District action.
Wednesday – Pewamo-Westphalia (14-0) at Fowler (12-1) – The Central Michigan Athletic Conference has at least two Finals contenders again this season, and the Division 3 Pirates defeated the Division 4 Eagles 46-43 in their first meeting Dec. 17 to earn their current one-game lead in the league.
Friday – Grand Rapids South Christian (13-2) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (13-1) – The O-K Gold title is almost assuredly coming down to these two, and West Catholic has a one-game lead after winning their Jan. 10 matchup 62-49.
Friday – Michigan Center (13-1) at Grass Lake (12-3) – The Cascades Conference East has two intriguing playoff contenders as well, and Division 3 Grass Lake tops the standings after downing Division 2 Michigan Center 56-46 on Jan. 9.
MHSAA.com's weekly “Breslin Bound” previews and reviews are powered by MI Student Aid, a division within the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP). MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming's Jenessa Eagle brings the ball into the paint against Gwinn during Wednesday’s 54-30 Hematites win. Eagle scored her 1,000th career point in the victory. (Middle) Flint Powers’ Kendyl Smith (23) powers to the basket during her team’s 71-41 win over Davison on Tuesday. (Ishpeming/Gwinn photo by Cara Kamps. Powers/Davison photo by Terry Lyons.)