Today in the MHSAA: 11/30/16

November 30, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Although a handful of teams kicked off girls basketball season Monday, the majority took the court for the first time Tuesday – and wasted little time delivering dramatic finishes and a look at some of what we can expect this winter.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Girls Basketball

Otsego, which won 20 games last season, opened with a nail-biting 33-31 victory over Portage Northern – Kalamazoo Gazette

Jordan Walker scored 33 points as Muskegon Mona Shores downed Grand Rapids Catholic Central 59-52 in a matchup of expected state contenders – Grand Rapids Press

Beecher came back in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but Flint Southwestern emerged with a 42-41 victory – Flint Journal

Reigning Class B runner-up Grand Rapids South Christian also started with a close win, 38-35 over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern – Grand Rapids Press

In another low-scoring opener, Bay City Central just edged Traverse City West 32-31 – Bay City Times

Frankenmuth came back from an 11-point deficit to edge Bullock Creek 40-38 – Saginaw News

Lansing Catholic trailed Perry by six points at halftime but came on to win by 28, 56-28 – Lansing State Journal

Charlevoix freshman Elise Stuck had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead her team to a 43-39 win over Petoskey – Petoskey News Review

Belding’s Hallee Breimayer put up 32 points in her team’s 57-52 win over reigning Greater Lansing Activities Conference champion Lake Odessa Lakewood – Ionia Sentinel-Standard

Edwardsburg, coming off a District title last season, survived a 37-32 opener against Niles – South Bend Tribune

Southfield Arts & Technology won its first game since the merger of Southfield and Southfield-Lathrup this fall, 64-43 over Birmingham Groves – Oakland Press

Ice Hockey

Hancock continued another strong start with a 5-0 defeat of rival Houghton – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Softball

Gladstone coach Ashley Hughes, who led the Braves to the Division 3 championship in her first season in 2014 and the Semifinals this spring, has resigned amid sad circumstances – Escanaba Daily Press

Today in the MHSAA: 11/10/15

November 10, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

This is a transition week for many schools in Michigan, as some winter sports either started practice or started their second week, while volleyball teams and divers are prepping for MHSAA Regionals. Check out some of the headlines we uncovered during our daily drive around statewide media sites.

Cross Country

Farmington’s Maddy Trevisan and Rockford’s Isaac Harding were named Miss Cross Country and Mr. Cross Country, respectively, by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association – MITCA.org

Girls Swimming and Diving

Bay City John Glenn continued its reign in the Independent Swim Conference over the weekend as four seniors finished their league careers with four championships – Bay City Times

Volleyball

The last two seasons, Holland Christian has won District titles after beating teams that had beaten them twice earlier those seasons – and will follow setter Kenedy Schoonveld into its Regional Semifinal against another team it lost to earlier this fall – Holland Sentinel

The coaches at Utica and Utica Eisenhower high schools are rivals by virtue of the programs they lead. They’re also married to each other, which obviously makes the fall interesting at the LaPratt home – Macomb Daily

Girls Basketball

Practice started Monday – and here’s the first story we’ve run across. Port Huron Northern is starting out with a little less experience after graduating three key seniors from a year ago – Port Huron Times-Herald