Girls Basketball State Quarterfinal Recap and Get to Know the Opponent.
Written Wednesday March 16th at 10:20 AM
Written by Sammy Taormina
WEST BLOOMFIELD 67, TROY 32.
It was going to be a very tough State Quarterfinal for Troy on Tuesday night at Callahan Hall going up against West Bloomfield. The Lakers beat the Colts for the third time this season with a 67-32 blowout. West Bloomfield returns to the Division One State semifinals for the first time in 19 years where they will play Rockford on Friday afternoon at noon.
Summer Davis led the Lakers with 20 points while Myonna Hooper a Detroit Mercy commit had 16 points.
If the Lakers beat the Rams on Friday then they would return to the Division One State Finals for the first time since 1989 when they fell to Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills in the Class A State Finals.
Tuesday night marked an end of very successful careers for Kendal Zeiter, Charlotte Sobotka, Alyssa Matuza, Mia Valaotis, and Elena Zesses. The Colts had a very successful postseason run after three first game exits in the last three years. Troy won their first district title since 2001 which included wins over Troy Athens and Warren Cousino and their first ever regional title which included wins over St. Clair Shores Lakeview and Macomb L’Anse Creuse North.
Zeiter scored her 1,000 career point and had 12 points for the Colts.
It was a great year for Coach Julius Porter and Troy this season.
GET TO KNOW THE OPPONENT.
West Bloomfield’s next opponent is the Rockford Rams on Friday afternoon in East Lansing at the Breslin Center. Rockford is in their first final four is coming off a 54-43 victory over East Lansing on Tuesday night at Calvin College. They outscored the Spartans 25-16 in the fourth quarter and had eight threes in the game. This is the first time that the Rams have went this far in the postseason. The last time that Rockford had been this far was the 2010 State Quarterfinals when they fell to East Lansing.
Rockford also had postseason wins over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Lowell, Muskegon Mona Shores and stunned defending Division One State Champs Hudsonville in the regional finals.
The Rams feature a pair of sisters in Anna Wypych and Alyssa Wypych. Also they have a solid guard in Aleena Anderson. Alyssa Wypych had 21 points against East Lansing. This is a team that relies a lot on their depth.
Rockford is well coached under Coach Brad Wilson whom is in his fifth year with the program. The Rams play in the ultra-tough Ottawa-Kent Conference.
This should be a very interesting matchup of sisters between the Wypych sisters and the Davis and Hendrix sisters. If this game becomes a depth game, advantage Rockford. If this game becomes up tempo and speed, advantage West Bloomfield. Whichever sisters shows their will in this game should move onto Saturday.