Concord, MI. – The Ypsilanti Arbor Prep Gators fell just short in their run for a second straight girls’ basketball championship and their third overall as they were edged out in the Regional Finals by Blissfield. Taylor Wallace led the Gators in scoring with 15 points while Eliza Bush finished with 10.
The Gators played shorthanded throughout the playoffs and most of the season as there were times they were only able to dress 5 players for many games due to injuries and transfer rules. It makes it much harder to compete and sub players in and out for rest when other teams have 10, 12, and 14 players to substitute against 5 or 6. But the Gators make no excuses. They show up for every game resilient and ready.
The Gators lost their only senior player Kayla Covington and the tallest player on the team at 6 feet, to an ACL injury early on. It was hard for her to sit and watch her teammates knowing the only way she could help was to cheer and give positive reinforcement. Covington will be playing basketball at Wayne State next year.
Then just a few games before the playoffs began Sophomore defensive star and one of the top outside shooters in the state Tyra Wright broke her clavicle. With sophomores Autumn Pernell and Jourdin Lewis unable to play because of MHSAA transfer rules the Gators played with 5 players in several games. Lewis was declared eligible for the playoffs which gave the Gators 6 players.
But Gators Head Coach Scott Stine and his assistants Cameron Smiley and Jibri Taylor have been down this road before. Unlike most schools, the Gators don’t have the privilege of a large student body so they don’t have a freshman or junior varsity team to pull players from. So the coaches are used to dealing with adversity. And they do a great job with it.
The Gators finished the season 18-7 and play one of the toughest schedules in the state as they play many Division 1 schools, large private schools that can recruit from all over, top out-of-state schools, and other state champion schools. Because Head Coach Stine knows adversity will make you tougher and playing a weak schedule might build confidence but it’s not realistic for when you do play a really tough team.
Arbor Prep may be a small school but it has a large heart and soul with its great academics and athletics a majority of the students go to great colleges and succeed very well in life and that’s because of all the support they give one another. And although they may be outnumbered at a basketball game 300 fans to 40 and not much of a student section because of the longer drives they must face, they still manage to succeed the best they can.
And the Arbor Prep Gators will be bringing back some of the top players in the state next season to their team and they will be working hard in the offseason and will take advantage of every opportunity they receive. And The Gators will be back. And the goal is to be back at Breslin holding another state championship trophy!
