Highlight Reel: Class C-D Girls Semifinals

March 17, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

The first day of the MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals at the Breslin Center in East Lansing produced three first-time finalists in the Class C and D fields for Saturday's championship games.

Class C

Detroit Edison PSA 54, Flint Hamady 31

Edison Scores On A Steal - Detroit Edison scored the first 11 points of this Semifinal, with Gabrielle Elliott capping the run on this play. Elliott had 24 points in the game. 

Hawks On A Run - Aryana Naylor led Flint Hamady with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Detroit Edison, including this fastbreak basket in the third quarter. 

Pewamo-Westphalia 64, Maple City Glen Lake 51

Lakers Out to Early Lead - Maple City Glen Lake led throughout the first half in its Class C Semifinal with Pewamo-Westphalia. The Lakers got a three-point play along the way from Allie Bonzelet. 

Spitzley Leads Pirates - Pewamo-Westphalia pulled away in the fourth quarter against Maple City Glen Lake in the second Class C Semifinal. Emily Spitzley had a double-double for the winners with 24 points and 12 rebounds. 

Class D

Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary 64, Engadine 59

Panko Paces Cardinals - Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter against Engadine. Rylee Pankow makes it 62-49 with this jumper. 

Vaughn Goes Coast-To-Coast - Engadine led late in the first half against Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Class D. Olivia Vaughn gives the Eagles the lead driving the length of the floor for a basket.

Pittsford 57, Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart 39

First Class Scout - Scout Nelson scores on a putback for Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart in the second quarter against Pittsford. Nelson led the Irish with 16 points. 

Clark Down The Lane - Maddie Clark led Pittsford with 19 points and eight rebounds against Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, with two points off this power move to the basket in the third quarter. 

PHOTO: Maple City Glen Lake's Kelly Bunek launches a shot during Thursday's Class C Semifinal against Pewamo-Westphalia.

MHSAA.tv Live Postseason Views Approach 1 Million for 2020-21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

July 14, 2021

Live postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv during the 2020-21 school year were viewed nearly 1 million times, with 15 events drawing more than 10,000 live views apiece. 

The final championship weekend of the Spring – featuring Girls Soccer Finals and Baseball and Softball Semifinals & Finals, all across four divisions June 17-19 at Michigan State University – saw nearly 70,000 live views on MHSAA.tv despite record attendance of those events at Old College Field. 

The Division 2 Softball championship game – which ended with Owosso claiming its first Finals title in any sport, drew a weekend-high 5,677 live views on the network. The previous weekend, the Division 1 Girls Lacrosse Final won by Rockford on June 12 led the way with 4,284 live views.

The total number of live postseason views on MHSAA.tv for 2020-21 was 962,371. The most-viewed live tournament events were the Individual and Team Wrestling Finals, which with all rounds over all four divisions combined drew 244,044 live views. Among individual games broadcast solely by MHSAA.tv, the Division 3 Boys Basketball Semifinal matching Iron Mountain and Schoolcraft (15,393 live views) and the Division 1 Volleyball Semifinal featuring Novi and Lowell (13,484) ranked among the most watched.

MHSAA.tv is a partner of the NFHS Network. Postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv included most sports’ Finals, and Semifinals and Quarterfinals for some – especially sports where multiple concluding rounds were hosted by the same tournament site.

MHSAA.tv also ranked second among NFHS Network contributing states with 18,973 live events (postseason and regular-season combined) streamed during the 2020-21 school year. That total of nearly 19,000 live postseason events was an increase from 7,710 events streamed live during 2019-20 and 3,900 during 2018-19, and placed Michigan behind only Illinois.

The School Broadcast Program is responsible for nearly all production of regular-season events. Having now concluded its 13th year, the SBP gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Rockford – one of the state’s largest schools with nearly 2,500 students – broadcast 242 events, drawing an SBP-high 74,437 live views and 89,604 total with on-demand replays included. Much smaller Pewamo-Westphalia, a school of 300 students, received the second-most views of SBP members in 2020-21 with 56,009 including live and on-demand. Marquette, Lake Orion, Cedar Springs, Montrose and McBain also were among top SBP providers.

In addition to bringing local events on air nationally, the School Broadcast Program gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers receive access to all live and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants receive a portion of every subscription sold by a school to benefit its program.

Broadcasts from the majority of Michigan schools – especially those lacking the ability to staff events for production – are streamed using a Pixellot automated camera. Michigan schools have 774 Pixellots in service, third-most in the country behind only Texas and California. Most Michigan schools have one camera at an outdoor stadium and a second at the main indoor gymnasium.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.