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| Montague's Hailey Cockerill will be one of many area girls' basketball players hoping for district success when the tournaments start next Monday. (Photo by Andy Roberts) |
In alphabetical order, records in parentheses, here we go. Note that the girls' teams all have one or two regular-season games left.
Hart (4-12)
Season recap: A combination of space issues and snow-outs have kept me from actually seeing Hart play in person since their season opener against Mason County Eastern, but the results I've seen from them seem to indicate that they're improving. The squad I saw in December could hardly get out of its own way, and the team lost a string of games to start the season. The Pirates are basically a .500 team since that opening skid, though, and Baylee Draper and Madison Hegedus have emerged as viable forces in the post — in Draper's case, particularly on defense.
District draw: The Pirates caught a break in the district draw when Shelby and Holton, the two best teams in the district, were sorted in the other half of the bracket. Hart faces White Cloud, possibly the weakest team in the bracket, in a pre-district game, then would face Montague on Wednesday, a team Hart was behind on the totem pole at the start of the season but since has arguably surpassed.
Prediction: Hart reaches the district finals before losing. With a lot of young players on this year's team, Hart has a chance to be a decent team next year.
Hesperia (1-14)
Season recap: It's been a rough go for Hesperia. Coach Tom Welsh abruptly resigned four games into the season, leaving athletic director Mike Fosburg to take over on an interim basis. The Panthers didn't have a lot of talent to begin with – the team basically revolves around senior Lauren Zeerip, with sophomore Mariah Stitt a consistent second scorer and occasionally capable of brilliance — and not having a full coach hasn't helped, as Hesperia hasn't won since Welsh took off. However, the Panthers did play probably their best game of the year in a 12-point loss to CSAA second-place team Chippewa Hills in a game the Panthers were in all the way. Also: I should note that I haven't seen this team play in person yet. I've tried to 3 times, but 2 of those games were canceled without my knowing about it until I showed up for the game, and the other took place despite snowy conditions Monday night that were so awful I made the executive decision not to risk my life for it. I'll finally see them when they take on Shelby in a pre-district game Monday.
District draw: Hesperia's snakebitten season continued with the draw, where they face Shelby, probably the best team in a spectacularly weak district. Even if they pulled off a shocking upset, they'd face the district's second-best team, Holton, in the second round, a team the Panthers have lost to twice already.
Prediction: Hesperia pushes Shelby early into the second half, but loses their opener.
Montague (5-14)
Season recap: I had vaguely high expectations for Montague coming into this season, as the Wildcats returned most of their important players from a year ago and seem to have a decent base of talent. But it hasn't come together for them at all, and of all the teams I cover, this one seems to have improved the least since the season began. There are bright spots — Elyse Taylor, Meghan Olson and Katie Webster all bring different talents to the post, and Hailey Cockerill and the Shugars sisters (Morgan and Kenadee) are a gifted backcourt — but they just can't seem to get it to click.
District draw: Montague probably got the cushiest draw of any team in the area, not only dodging Shelby and Holton in the Hesperia district until a hypothetical final, but getting a bye. They face the winner of Hart and White Cloud on Wednesday and would get Shelby or Holton in the finals.
Prediction: Montague loses a close game to Hart in the semifinals.
Pentwater (10-8)
Season recap: Pentwater has come a long way from the group that didn't even have enough experienced players to field a varsity team in 2011-12. The Falcons are still not major contenders, but they're a solid, .500-level team in the West Michigan D League, which is a pretty terrific accomplishment for coach Jeff McDonough on a team still almost completely devoid of experience. Arguably the Falcons' best player, Taylor Wilkinson (23 points and 16 rebounds in Tuesday's win at Brethren), is in eighth grade and only eligible to play varsity because of an exemption in the rules regarding low-enrollment schools. Their second-best player, Linnea McDonough, is a freshman, and their third-best player, Emily Gebhart, is a sophomore. This team has an extremely bright future, and the present isn't bad either.
District draw: Pentwater, unlike the above, is a Class D school, so they're in a different district, the one at Walkerville. The Falcons unfortunately draw one of the best teams in the WMD, Manistee Catholic, in a pre-district game. If they win, they face Mason County Eastern.
Prediction: Pentwater loses to Manistee Catholic. Too bad, as it would've been nice to see what the young team could do deeper in the tournament.
Reeths-Puffer (12-6)
Season recap: It wasn't that long ago that R-P was making me look ahead to the regionals and perhaps farther. R-P started 9-2, and despite their lack of size, they more than made up for it with terrific speed and athleticism. However, the Rockets seem to be hitting a bit of a wall of late, and I'm not sure what to make of it. High-scoring Kalisa Williams is the big star, although Camaryia Williams, listed at 5'5", might be more important as the primary ball-handler and rebounder. The Rockets are only 5-4 in O-K Black Conference play. There's no questioning the team's talent, but I wonder if they'll have the horses to play their to-the-wall style in the postseason.
District draw: The Rockets are in Class A, and will host the district tournament. They face Muskegon in the pre-districts, who they just lost to on Tuesday. If they win that, they would essentially get a bye to the finals as they play terrible Kenowa Hills in the semis.
Prediction: Hard to see the Rockets getting past Muskegon. The Big Reds' best basketball of the season is being played now while R-P's was seemingly played in January.
Shelby (11-8)
Season recap: It's hard to tell whether Tigers' supporters should be pleasantly surprised or disappointed by this season. On the one hand, Shelby lost more talent than maybe any other year in school history after the graduation of Class C all-state first-teamer Sydney Czurak and underrated all-conference point guard Abby Rodriguez from the 2013 state quarterfinalists. On the other hand, there's still lots of talent on this team (most notably senior Tristen Moore on the inside), and it feels like Shelby maybe has been playing with a bit of a hangover from that playoff run. On the whole, though, it's been a decent season, and Shelby hasn't taken any really bad losses — they just aren't beating everyone anymore. They did manage to sweep Whitehall and look to be the third-best team in the WMC.
District draw: I don't know for sure that Shelby faces the weakest district slate of any team in Michigan, but I can't imagine it gets any easier than one-win Hesperia, then a Holton team that's near .500 but also lost to awful White Cloud, then either said White Cloud team, Hart or Montague, none of which is even close to .500.
Prediction: Barring an upset, Shelby will capture the district title, but they'll probably run into consistent Class C power Morley-Stanwood in the regional semifinal, and that's probably not going to go well for them.
Walkerville (3-16)
Season recap: Like Montague, this is a team that feels like they should be better than they are. The Wildcats returned almost everyone from last year's squad that finished with a similar record, and they've played some good basketball at points this year, but it just hasn't clicked. Their main problem is offense — the Wildcats play good defense most of the time, but can't find anyone who can consistently deliver high scoring. Melanie Drum and Mandy Achterhof come the closest, but if Walkerville is going to do any winning in districts, it'll have to be in a slugfest.
District draw: Walkerville got a fairly fortunate draw in their home district, facing Brethren in the pre-district round, a winnable game. If the Wildcats can win that one, they'll face an awful Baldwin squad in the semifinals before running into Manistee Catholic or Mason County Eastern in the finals.
Prediction: Walkerville makes it to the finals. Why not?
Whitehall (9-9)
Season recap: The record doesn't show it, but Whitehall is capable of being a really good team. They have one of the state's most unstoppable players in junior forward Emily MacArthur, who's good for 20 and 10 (at least) almost every night regardless of how many players the other team sends at her. Senior point guard Jenna Pesch is at times a potent scorer, and the Vikings have a decent array of role players that occasionally deliver big-time performances. Whitehall has dropped a narrow game to WMC champion Oakridge this year, as well as nearly rallying from a 20-point deficit against second-place Mason County Central after a terrible third quarter. They also had their chances to beat Shelby the first time the teams met. Consistency has been the bugaboo for Whitehall, as they've not been able to get every facet of their game going at any time.
(Apropos of nothing, I like — to varying degrees — all the coaches I deal with in this job, but no one speaks with more candor than Whitehall coach Rachel Kent. She's not afraid to say so if she feels like her team laid up a stinker, most recently referring to a "terrible performance" by the Vikings in a 30-point loss to Belding Wednesday night.
District draw: Whitehall has a layup of a game against Fruitport in the pre-district round of the Orchard View tournament, but the Vikings have the tall task of Oakridge awaiting in the semifinals. It's not a game Whitehall can't win, but they'd have to play their best game of the year to do it.
Prediction: Whitehall does play a really good game against Oakridge, but the Eagles are just too good.
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