Girls
Three Rivers ends season in district semifinals
VICKSBURG — Three Rivers’ girls’ basketball season ended on Wednesday, March 1 in Vicksburg with a loss in the Division 2 district semifinals to Olivet, 55-28.
Gabby Charvat led the Wildcats with 12 points, while Dani Glass scored six and Lanie Glass added four. Three Rivers finishes their season with a record of 11-9.
Olivet would go on to win the district over previously-undefeated Vicksburg, 48-33, before losing in the regional semifinals to Plainwell, 46-42 in overtime.
Colon wins district over Mendon, onto regional final with Tuesday win
COLON — Colon continued their roll through the Division 4 state playoffs this past week, winning the district title over Mendon in Mendon 42-26 on March 4, before moving on to the regional finals with a 40-21 win over Three Oaks River Valley Tuesday in New Buffalo.
In the game against Mendon, Reese Williams led the Magi with 25 points, six rebounds and four steals. Macey Burgess had six points and five rebounds, while Kelsey Burgess had five points and five rebounds.
Mendon was led in the scorebook by Jadyn Samson with nine points and five rebounds, Makennah Mullin with six points and five rebounds, and Cienna Nightingale with five points and five rebounds.
Colon led 18-9 after the first half and 31-21 after three quarters.
“We knew we had to stay disciplined on defense and not give up anything easy. We knew if we could get into our press we could get some things going our way. We did not shoot terribly well, but we kept trying to work the ball around and find something,” head coach Bethany Preston said about the Magi’s victory over Mendon. “Credit to Mendon, they kept us out of our comfort level and they are a young team with a lot of potential. You don’t win 18 games by accident.”
Mendon had previously defeated Howardsville Christian 37-30 in the district semifinals, while Colon defeated Marcellus 47-29 in their district semifinal.
In the victory over River Valley, the Magi led 13-7 after the first half after being down 4-3 after the first quarter. The lead would increase to 24-16 after three, with Colon exploding for 17 points in the fourth to just five for River Valley to put away the game.
Williams led Colon with a 26-point effort, followed by Macey Burgess with four points and nine rebounds. Megan Jackson had two points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
“The first quarter was a struggle offensively, we had too many turnovers trying to force the ball inside or in transition, on top of that, we weren’t shooting well. Thankfully we stepped up our defense and kept River Valley from getting much going as well,” Preston said about Tuesday’s win. “We did a better job of attacking the defense in the 2nd quarter and finally got some points on the board. We told the girls at halftime that we had to take care of the ball and give ourselves a chance to get some shots to fall. We knew that if we could get stops on defense, we were more than capable of getting some buckets. By the end of the third we were getting some things to go our way.”
Colon faced off on Thursday with Hackett Catholic Central for the regional title in New Buffalo, with the winner going to the state quarterfinals in Bellevue on March 14. The results of the regional title game will be in next week’s edition of the Commercial-News.
Marcellus bows out with loss to Colon
MENDON — Marcellus’ girls’ basketball team bowed out of the state tournament with a 47-29 loss to the Colon Magi on Wednesday, March 1, 47-29.
Brooklyn VanTilburg was held to just nine points, six rebounds and eight blocks on the evening by the Magi, while Sophia Affriseo had nine points as well in the defeat.
Kelsey Burgess had 18 points and five rebounds on the evening for Colon, and Reese Williams had 14 points, five steals and six rebounds.
White Pigeon eliminated in district finals, Centreville out in semis
CONSTANTINE — White Pigeon and Centreville each ended their seasons in Constantine last week, with the Chiefs knocking off the Bulldogs in the Division 3 district semifinals 45-34 on March 1, and then losing to Bronson in the district finals 58-27.
No stats for the game against Bronson were available at press time. Bronson would go on to lose in the regional semifinals to top-ranked Buchanan 66-59 Tuesday in Centreville.
In the White Pigeon-Centreville matchup, Bailee Freedline led the Chiefs with 15 points, followed by Amyia Wright with 11 points. Ellie McBride had eight rebounds to go with three points.
For the Bulldogs, Faith Edwards led the team with 15 points and eight rebounds, followed by Hailey Miller with 10 points.
“We played great team basketball tonight,” White Pigeon head coach Brooke McClure said. “We executed our game plan, and I’m really proud of the improvement I have seen of our girls.”
“Our girls battled tonight and all season,” Centreville head coach Jill Peterson said. “I’m proud of them for their attitude and effort and showing up every day ready to work all while keeping a positive attitude. Faith and Hailey have been great examples to the team this season and they will certainly be missed next year.”
Boys
Three Rivers’ season ends in district semis
PAW PAW — Three Rivers’ boys’ basketball team ended its season Wednesday night, dropping its Division 2 district semifinals match against Marshall in Paw Paw, 82-67.
The Wildcats led the favored Redhawks by 12 going into the half behind a strong second-quarter effort, but Marshall dominated the second half on both sides of the ball to advance to the district finals.
In his final high school game, Andrew Brown had 36 points, while Alonzo Ballentien and Jordan Pisco each had 11 points.
The Wildcats advanced to the semifinals with a 69-61 win over Paw Paw Monday. Brown led the ‘Cats with 32 points, while Ballentien had 10 points in that match.
Three Rivers finishes the season with a record of 8-14.
Centreville on to district finals
UNION CITY — Centreville won its first two matchups of the postseason, defeating Quincy in the Division 3 district tournament in Union City 46-26 on Monday and defeating Reading in Wednesday’s semifinals 67-46.
In the win against Quincy, Roman Robinson led the way for the Bulldogs with 20 points, while Micah Lemings had 16.
Against Reading, Lemings poured in 29 points, while Harrison Gregory had 12 points.
Centreville moves on to face host Union City in the district finals Friday.
Marcellus defeats Heritage Academy, Howardsville to reach district final
LAWRENCE — Marcellus moved on to Friday’s Division 4 district finals by defeating Kalamazoo Heritage Academy Monday 56-32, and defeating Howardsville Christian in a 48-44 nailbiter Wednesday.
In the game against Heritage Academy, Parker Adams led in the scoresheet for the Wildcats with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Nathan Mihills had 17 points and eight rebounds.
In Wednesday’s win against Howardsville, Beau Ferguson led the way with 17 points, while Adams, Mihills and Quinton Tone had nine points each.
Marcellus will face the host team, Lawrence, in Friday’s district final.
Constantine falls in opening district game
PAW PAW — Constantine ended its season with a 71-61 loss to Vicksburg in the opening round of the Division 2 district tournament in Paw Paw Monday.
Dean Topolski led the way for the Falcons with 28 points, while Lukas Hagenbuch had 16 and Carter McGee had 10.
Other local district scores
Division 3 District Opening Round
Union City 45, White Pigeon 36
Division 4 Districts
Mendon 95, Coldwater Pansophia 11 (opening round March 6)
Mendon 59, Tekonsha 46 (semifinal March 8)
Colon 79, Burr Oak 51 (semifinal March 8)