Pewamo-Westphalia, MI. – The Ypsilanti Arbor Prep Gators made a big journey to Pewamo-Westphalia for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Lady Pirates. The host team had a large crowd in the stands and a vast and actively loud student section on hand as they tipped off against the 2022 Division 3 State Champions.
The Gators had on their pink uniforms and both teams started out slowly on offense and despite several good open shots, the Gators couldn’t get the ball to fall for them. The Pirates took an early lead but Gators Head Coach Scott Stine called a timeout and it worked as his team got back on track relatively quickly with Tyra Wright draining a deep 3 to start the second quarter and to put the Gators in the lead where they would stay the entire game.
Stephanie Utomi had more points in the first half (14) than the entire PW Pirates team did as the Gators took a 22-13 lead into the locker room. In the third, it was all Gators as they dominated forcing lots of bad shots and turnovers and dominating on the boards keeping the Pirates scoreless for almost 6 minutes.
With a 36-18 lead entering the final stanza it was Wright getting the Gator’s scoring started as she drained a huge NBA range 3-pointer. She would have four on the afternoon from long range. The Pirates never gave up though and played hard and at one point closed the lead to 8 points but Gators Coach Stine kept his girls focused and they were able to battle to a 42-32 victory in a very low-scoring affair.
The Gators were led by Stephanie Utomi with 18 points, Wright with 12, Stacy Utomi, and Taylor Wallace finished with 5 points each.
The Gators will close out the regular season on the road Tuesday at Lansing Catholic Central (15-5 on the season, 7-0 in the Capital Area White Conference) for a 7 P.M. tipoff then will start District play as soon as the schedule is announced. The Gators are 15-5 on the season thus far.
