Crossing the Bridge: Maplewood Baptist topples Springfield Christian for MACS-II title

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

CLARKSTON — Kinross Maplewood Baptist accomplished a feat that no other girls basketball team from the Upper Peninsula has ever accomplished before: win a Michigan Association of Christian Schools state championship.

The Black Bears crossed the bridge to win a pair of games Friday and Saturday, and rolled past tournament host Clarkston Springfield Christian, 51-27, for the MACS Division II title.

The Division II tournament, open for schools with under 40 high school students, was recreated after a 14-year hiatus. In recent years, only one state tournament for member schools had ben hosted.

What made the title run so special that this was only the third season of girls basketball from the small parochial school in Kinross, some 30 miles north of St. Ignace and the Mackinac Bridge.

“I think the girls have really worked so hard this season and it was nice to see them do so well in the tournament,” said Maplewood Baptist coach Colleen Rader. “We are a very young team with only one senior, but they worked hard together to have a successful season.”

Nine of 10 players scored points for Maplewood Baptist (12-8), which shared the regular season crown in the mostly public school Northern Lights Conference with Beaver Island but finished fourth in the postseason tournament.

The Black Bears more than refocused for the state tournament.

Maplewood Baptist did so with a stifling defensive effort, which had Springfield Christian turning the ball over more than their total points.

“That’s what we (preach), solid defense,”  said Rader. “I thought that this was one of our better defensive games.”

Freshman Hannah May scored eight with five steals for Maplewood. Freshman Harmony Bailey added seven points, seven rebounds and seven steals, senior Shannon Rader contributed six points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three assists and junior Bethany Burton scored six with six rebounds and three assists for the Black Bears.

Additionally, junior Rachel Frank had six points and six rebounds and freshman Ashton Bonnee chipped in with six points and four rebounds for Maplewood Baptist.

“I don’t think we won more than two games last year,” admitted Rader of her team’s fine turnaround.season. “This is only our third season of girls basketball. This team has come a long ways in just a short time.”

Springfield Christian last made the finals in 2001 and last won a state title in 1988. Both of those teams competed in MACS Division I.

Sophomore Lauren Key scored six points with eight rebounds, five steals and three assists and senior Taylor Key had six points and four rebounds for Springfield Christian.

Savannah Berlinski had five points and a game-high 14 rebounds with two blocks, freshman Heather Comstock scored eight with three steals and freshman Heather Key followed with followed with eight rebounds for the Eagles, who only had five players score points.

Down 22 points at the half, Springfield Christian instituted some half court trapping defense of its own and was only outscored 10-8 in the third quarter, yet the large deficit was too much to overcome.

Both teams scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we did a much better job defensively in the second half. We came out in the second half and did all right, a lot better than the first half,” offered Springfield Christian coach James Day. “We did a nice job with the 1-3-1 (defense). We started to make some shots and we forced a lot of turnovers. But we were down too much to come back. Maplewood is a talented team. We kept cutting back to 20 points and it went back up to 25 (points).”

“I am proud of my girls, because they came a very long way since the beginning of the season,” added Day. “We weren’t very good at the beginning of the year, but we played a tough schedule in our league and we got better. We just had a hard time with their (pressure) defense. We turned the ball over way too much.”

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Tags: Clarkston Springfield Christian Girls Basketball, girls basketball, High School Girtls Basketball, Kinross Maplewood Baptist Girls Basketball, MACS Girls Basketball, prep girls basketball

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