Week in review of Blue Water Area sports
In case you’re like me and you missed out on all of the happenings in Blue Water Area athletics last week, here’s a rundown of some of the major highlights:
Basketball
The Marysville girls basketball team won the MAC-Blue/Gold tournament Saturday. The Vikings topped L’Anse Creuse 56-38 on Feb. 9, followed by a 42-24 victory over St. Clair on Feb. 14.
Against L’Anse Creuse, Avery Wolters led with 19 points and Kara Miller had 14, including four 3-pointers. Wolters led again against St. Clair with 17 points and Addison Mynsberge chipped in with nine. Erin Seros and Allie Komarowski each posted six for the Saints.
The pair of wins sent Marysville to the championship against Marine City, which defeated Roseville 48-25 and Cousino 55-48 en route Saturday’s matchup.
Jade Blanchard led against Roseville with 23 points and posted 22 more against Cousino, including three 3-pointers and a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the free-throw line. Olivia Volkman had six threes in the pair of games.
The Mariners were stifled by the Vikings, however, in the championship when Marysville won 41-22. Blanchard had eight points in the loss while Wolters led with 11 points and Miller had three triples.
In BWAC girls basketball, North Branch clinched the league title Friday night with a 44-18 victory over Imlay City. The Broncos are now 12-1 in the league while the Spartans fell to 10-3. This snapped the Spartans’ three-year reign of BWAC championships.
Bailey Gormley led North Branch with a double-double performance (13 points and 11 rebounds) and Cate Welch added eight points. Makayla Bruman had six for the Spartans.
In boys basketball, last week’s big game was that between Croswell-Lexington and Richmond. The Pioneers had lost to Richmond on the road on Jan. 19, but on Thursday, they corrected the loss with an overtime victory: 54-45.
Donovan McDonald led the Pioneers (16-3, 10-1) with 14 points while D’Quan Haskins led the Blue Devils (15-2, 9-1) with 15. The two teams are now tied for first in the league standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Cheerleading
Four area teams advanced out of their respective districts to the regional last Saturday.
Coming off of their league championship, the Marysville Vikings won the Division 2 District 10 title with 749.08 points. While this marks their third consecutive season of qualifying for the regional, it was their first time advancing as the champion.
And in Division 3, District 15 had three of last year’s top eight teams in the state–Richmond, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, and Cros-Lex–making it one of the toughest districts around.
These three teams, along with Armada will advance to this year’s regional. Notre Dame Prep won with 786.08 points and Cros-Lex finished runner-up with a season-high 783.38. Richmond took third with 777.28 and Armada finished fourth with 774.36.
Marysville will compete in the Division 2 Region 4 championship hosted by Holly on Feb. 25, beginning at 10 a.m., while the Division 3 qualifiers will compete at the Region 6 championship, hosted by Novi.
Wrestling
Three area teams had advanced out of their respective districts to last Wednesday’s regional tournaments.
Cros-Lex had defeated North Branch 61-15, sending the Pioneers to the Region 109 tournament where they would face sixth-ranked Bay City John Glenn. They would fall 53-24, but James Gumtow (138-lbs), Jaxon Gonzalez (157-lbs), Braylon Day (190-lbs), and Joey Scaramuzzino (215-lbs) all picked up wins via pin.
In Division 3, an exciting rematch unfolded as Algonac and Richmond each won in the semifinal. The Muskrats had just officially won their first-ever conference title on Feb. 4, and in order to qualify for the State Finals for the first time, they would have to defeat the Blue Devils again–and this time would prove to be even harder.
Midway through the dual, Algonac had taken a 27-12 lead, but Richmond would win the next three matches to narrow the deficit 27-25 with three matches remaining.
Algonac’s Alex Bright (138-lbs) defeated Brian Nichol by a 9-0 major decision to give his team four points, and David Clemons (144-lbs) defeated Gavin Frick by a 7-1 decision to secure the team’s victory–which also happened to be his 100th career victory. The Muskrats forfeited the final match, winning 34-31 overall.
They will enter the Division 3 State Quarterfinal against No. 7 Portland as the No. 2 seed. The competition is set for Friday, Feb. 24, at 4:30 in the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.
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