Did you see that?

June 4, 2012

Saturday annually is the busiest high school sports day on the MHSAA calendar.

The Spring Finals match began with Girls and Boys Track and Field and Girls Tennis Finals at sites all over both peninsulas. There were Regionals for both boys and girls lacrosse, which finish up this weekend. And, of course, there were Districts galore for softball, baseball and girls soccer.

Here's our sampling of some of the highlights:

Girls Track and Field

19 records fall: It was quite day across the seven MHSAA Girls Track and Field Finals, with 19 records broken, and two athletes – Reed City’s Sami Michell and Norway’s Dani Gagne – winning four individual events apiece. (Second Half)

Coast to coast: The Grosse Pointe South 3,200 relay was responsible for one of two all-Finals records, and ran a time of 8:48.29 that also surpassed the national record for that event (but may or may not stand as the national record, depending on what other times were run and will be submitted after this spring.)  (Detroit Free Press)

Boys Track and Field

LP filled with first-time champs: Lake Orion in Division 1, Auburn Hills Avondale in Division 2 and Lansing Catholic in Division 3 won their first MHSAA team championships. Also, nine records fell across the state. (Second Half)

Quite a comeback: Marquette trailed Gladstone by 27 points at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final with four events to run. But the Redmen outscored Gladstone 42-0 over those events to win their third straight championship. (Marquette Mining Journal)

Girls Tennis

Southeast sweep: Detroit suburban schools claimed all four MHSAA Lower Peninsula team championships – Grosse Pointe South in Division 1, Birmingham Seaholm in Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in Division 3 and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in Division 4. (Second Half)

Freshman reigns: Utica freshman Davina Nguyen beat both the first and second seeds on her way to claiming the individual championship at No. 1 singles in Division 1. Nguyen was seeded fifth. (Macomb Daily)

Boys lacrosse

Cranbrook comes out on top: Cranbrook-Kingswood, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, emerged from a Regional that also included No. 4 Haslett/Williamston and No. 5 East Grand Rapids, beating the latter 8-4 in the Final. (Bloomfield Patch)

Girls lacrosse

EGR plays to top ranking, again: Rivals East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central met in one of the multiple close Regional Finals, with the top-ranked Pioneers downing No. 2 GRCC one more time, 11-9. (Grand Rapids Press)

Baseball

It’s Holt, again: The Rams claimed their second championship in a week over rival Grand Ledge – both have been ranked in Division 1 this season. Two weeks ago, Holt split with the Comets to win the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. Standout Justin Alleman gave up two hits and struck out 18 as Holt also won Saturday to claim a District title. (Lansing State Journal)

Softball

In the end, it’s Mattawan: The season-long battle for statewide Division 1 and Kalamazoo-area supremacy was decided in part at Saturday’s District at Portage Central. Reigning MHSAA champion Mattawan emerged as the winner from a field that included top-ranked Portage Central – which was upset by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in a semifinal. (Kalamazoo Gazette)

Soccer

AAGR moves on: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, No. 8 in Division 3, shut out No. 7 Jackson Lumen Christi 3-0 in the Division 3 District final at Brooklyn Columbia Central (AnnArbor.com)

Many Gators Chip In As Arbor Prep Earns Championship Game Return

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 17, 2022

EAST LANSING – Mya Petticord finished as the leading scorer for top-ranked Ypsilanti Arbor Prep in Thursday's Division 3 Semifinal at the Breslin Center.

But key contributions from her teammates also helped pave the way in a 57-44 victory over Maple City Glen Lake.

Arbor Prep (24-2) handed the Lakers (25-1) their lone loss of the season, and will play Kent City in Saturday’s Division 2 Final at 4 p.m.

“One of the TV reporters asked me before the game what one player did I need to score for us to win the game, and I didn’t have an answer,” Gators coach Scott Stine said. “Mya can score 12 and we can still win this game, because every night somebody steps up. We’re really tough to guard because any of the girls in the rotation can score.”

Petticord, a Miss Basketball Award finalist who will play next season at Texas A&M, scored a game-high 20 points, only three below her average, despite shooting an uncharacteristic 5-of-18 from the field – entering this week she was connecting on 52 percent of her shots. 

Senior Karianne Woods, a Bethune-Cookman commit, added 10 points and six assists.

Arbor Prep/Glen Lake basketball“I didn’t feel like I had to score for us to win, not at all,” Petticord said. “I feel like all my teammates have scoring abilities.”

Stephanie and Stacy Utomi combined for 14 points and 17 rebounds, while sophomore Taylor Wallace pitched in with eight points and two steals.

“Stacy from the tip rebounded for us and brought energy,” said Stine, whose team was making its first appearance in the Semifinals since 2019. “Her and her sister are tough, and they live in the gym.”

The Gators’ defense forced 11 first-half turnovers as they led 26-21 at the half before pulling away in the third quarter with an inspired 12-0 run sparked by defense and 3-point shooting.

Wallace drained a pair of 3-pointers from the corner to make it 34-24. Ensuing layups by Jazmin Chupp and Woods pushed the lead to 38-24.

“We were a little bit nervous and rattled to begin the game,” Stine said. “We were fumbling the ball and missing defensive assignments, and our shooting was uncharacteristically terrible in the first half. But we weathered through it and played a little more like Arbor Prep is supposed to play.”  

Glen Lake cut the deficit to 51-41 with less than three minutes remaining, but Petticord went 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal it.

This was Glen Lake’s third trip to the Semifinals over the last six years, but first since 2018. 

Senior all-state guard Grace Bradford led the Lakers with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Ruby Hogan added 10 points.

“We knew it was going to be physical coming out, and the biggest thing was if we could get past that trap then we would be fine, but we had a hiccup there not being able to get through and take care of the ball,” Glen Lake coach Jason Bradford said. “We struggled setting up our offense due to their pressure.”

The loss was only the second for Glen Lake over the last two seasons.

“Every one of these girls have been together since the third grade, and that’s a special thing,” Bradford said. “They step on the floor and they know what the meaning of winning is, and this team leaned on each other.”

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PHOTOS (Top) Arbor Prep's Mya Petticord (1) makes a move toward the basket with Glen Lake's Jessica Robbins defending. (Middle) The Lakers' Maddie Bradford (10) gets up a shot over Petticord's outstretched arm. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)