EAST LANSING – Rockford’s Anna Wypych showed during Friday’s Division 1 Semifinal why she was more than deserving of winning this season’s Miss Basketball Award.

The senior standout put the Rams on her back and carried them to a 61-32 victory over Wayne Memorial at the Breslin Center.

Wypych scored a game-high 30 points to propel Rockford (27-1) into Saturday’s 12:15 p.m. Division 1 Final against Belleville.

“A great player, an absolutely great player,” Wayne Memorial coach Jarvis Mitchell said. “We had a gameplan, but she had a gameplan as well and her gameplan was just a little better than ours. She’s a tough-minded kid with a refuse-to-lose attitude and just the way she bounced around out there. She’s been here before.”

Wypych, a 6-foot point guard who has signed with Butler, connected on her first eight shots of the game and made 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point line.

She was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. 

“She’s just a winner and such a competitor, and you saw that tonight in the game,” Rams coach Brad Wilson said. “She has a big target on her back, and everyone wants to go at her and give her their best shot. But Anna never flinched the whole game.

“She’s confident when she’s open, and she does what’s best for the team. She’s the best player I ever coached, and I’m so proud of her, but the job is not done. We know we are going to need her tomorrow.”

Wypych, the school’s all-time leading scorer, tweaked an ankle during the first quarter, but it didn’t slow her down as she had 16 first-half points and was perfect from the field.

“I just kind of fell on my ankle, but I knew if I tightened up my shoes a little tighter then I would be good,” Wypych said. “Our team is so deep, and it was my teammates that gave me good looks so I credit them a lot. You can try to stop one of us, but you can’t stop all of us, and that’s why we are a very special team.”

The Rams held a slim 12-10 lead after the first quarter, and it swelled to 27-14 during the second quarter after another Wypych 3-pointer. But Wayne Memorial ended the half with an 8-0 surge to trim the deficit to 27-22.

“That’s who we are,” Mitchell said. “We play fast, our shooters make shots and we attack. I was very happy at the end of the second quarter, but Rockford is a very tough team and a very experienced team, and you have to play next-to-perfect to beat them.” 

The third quarter was all Rockford as it outscored the Zebras 20-10 to pull away. The Rams built a 47-30 lead over the final minute of the period after a lay-in by Audrey Muterspaugh. 

Rockford will play in its second Final over the last three years.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to make it over here four years in a row, and our theme this year was ‘the return’ and the goal was to get back here – and everything we did was with that in mind,” Wilson said.

Muterspaugh, a junior, added 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Rockford. 

“She’s been our energy bug all season long, and she goes in and does the little things that don’t show up in the stat book,” Wilson said. “Every year we have different players that step up in March, and she’s one of those. She picked up big rebounds and helped us win the game.” 

Colleena Bryant, a Miss Basketball finalist, led Wayne Memorial with 15 points.  

It was the Zebras’ fourth appearance in the Semifinals over the last seven years and first since 2021. 

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Rockford’s Anna Wypych works to get past Wayne Memorial’s Zoe Hightower during their Semifinal on Friday. (Middle) Addison Wypych (14) brings the ball upcourt for the Rams. (Photos by Keionna Banks/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)