Bethany Christian pulls upset of Carson City Fellowship in MACS semifinals
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
LAKE ORION — When the game is on the line, there’s no question that Tom Hagspihl wants the ball in the hands of Sarah Bishop, even though she is just a freshman.
Bishop came through with the biggest shot of her young career Friday evening. The 5-foot-7 guard calmly sank a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left, in leading youthful Troy Bethany Christian to a 38-37 victory over favored Carson City Fellowship Baptist in the state semifinals of the Michigan Association of Christian Schools Division I tournament.
“I tell you what, she’s definitely the one I want to have the ball. Look what she just did tonight,” admitted Hagspihl, veteran coach as Troy Bethany whose team lost several key players to graduation and transfer the past two seasons. “She came through in the clutch for us.”
Bishop finished the night with 12 points, followed by sophomore Lianna Sprankle (11 points) and Jordan Walraven (seven points).
It was an improbably comeback for a team that started just one senior with three sophomores and a freshman. The Falcons (16-3) led 19-9 at the half and looked to run away from the Bruins.
Bethany Christian went on an 11-4 run in the third quarter to close to within 23-20 at the end of three quarters. In the final frame, Bethany Christian outscored the Falcons 18-14 and stormed back from a five-point hole in the final four minutes.
Bethany Christian (14-3) is making its sixth straight appearance in the MACS title game, although this trip is somewhat expected. The Bruins graduated three players, including forward Amanda Bucklin, plus 5-11 center Shea Hilliard transferred out at the beginning of the school year.
Hagspihl molded together a team, mostly of guards to produce another winner.
“I am pleasantly surprised,” offered Hagspihl. “As young as we are, we have been getting better all season. We’ve been in a lot of close games. We’ve only been blown out once but we haven’t blown anybody out like we have the past few years. We’ve had a ton of close games that went down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. I think that helped us in this game. We’ve been in this situation before.”
Charley McAlvey and Anna McAlvey both scored 10 points for Fellowship Baptist, which fell in the state semifinals for the second straight season. A year ago the Falcons lost at the buzzer to Midland Calvary Baptist.
Alyssa Rogers added six points for the Fellowship Baptist.
While in past years Bethany Christian was favored to win with college-bound players on its team, this year’s team was full of players adapting to new roles. The Bruins finished second in their league this season.
“I still thought we might have a chance, but we are a different type of team this year,” said Hagspihl. “We don’t have the size we’ve had the past several years and we aren’t quite there defensively. We do have some seniors that have been in the system for a few years now, but we’ve had to look to some different players to score. It’s been mainly the younger girls, Bishop and Sprankle, that have led us in scoring.”
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