East Lansing, MI. – The Ypsilanti Arbor Prep Gators won their third state championship, the second in 2 years, Saturday afternoon as they defeated heavily favored Niles Brandywine 33-30. The Gators, known for their toughness and solid defense, overcame the fact the shots weren’t falling played their game, and came away with a huge victory.
The Brandywine Bobcats had a huge amount of fans and supporters at the Breslin Center including their band and cheerleaders and it was as if the whole town of Niles turned out to support their girls. The crowd noise was heavily in their favor but that did not deter the Gators at all.
The Gators started slow falling quickly behind 5-0 after missing the first three shots of the game. But the Gators never gave up and with two minutes left in the first behind a couple of baskets from Stacy Utomi and Autumn Pernell took a 6-5 lead. Down 7-6, Senior Taylor Wallace stole the ball and made an easy layup. On the inbounds pass it was Wallace’s interception of the inbounds pass with another easy close shot putting the Gators up 10-7 and they would never trail in the game again the rest of the way.
The Gators were getting the shots but they just weren’t falling but they kept the Bobcat’s offense controlled by forcing bad shots and getting big rebounds and turnovers. As the clock wound down with 2.9 seconds left in the first half it was Wallace hitting a big three-point-shot to send the Gators into the half with a 15-9 lead. It was the Gator’s first three-point shot made of the game of 12 attempts.
Early in the third quarter, it was Junior guard Eliza Bush hitting a long three to put the Gators up 21-12. The Bobcats threatened and scored 10 points in the third, the most they had scored in any quarter up to this point as the Gators held them to only 2 points in the second quarter.
The Gators took a 22-19 lead into the final stanza and it was do or die for both teams. With just a 3-point lead Junior Autumn Pernell made a great heads-up play grabbing an offensive rebound and jumping over two Bobcats to give the Gators a 5-point lead. After a Bobcats timeout, Stephanie Utomi made a huge steal and drove hard to the basket giving the Gators a 7-point lead.
With just under 2 minutes to go, the Bobcats had to do the old foul technique to get the Gators to line and hope for missed free throws and rebounds as they were down by 7 with time running out on their season.
Autumn Pernell sank both her free throws as the Bobcats reached the 5-foul mark putting the Gators into the bonus the Gators had a 9-point lead but in the last minute the Bobcats exploded with three-point scores hitting three of them but they kept having to send the Gators to the line and they made almost all their free throws.
But poor free throw shooting (2-12), turnovers (18), and losing out on the rebounds (13) especially in their zone would cause the Bobcats to come up short as the Gators were victorious!
“Right now this feels like the most important of our championships,” Arbor Prep Head Coach Scott Stine said after the game. “We’ve been in the state title five times and all of those teams and the biggest thing is it’s not just about basketball, it’s about teaching life lessons n your effort, your commitment, your dedication, your trust in your teammates, all of those things are going to take these girls to great places when they are done with basketball. And we have a lot of alumni who now are adults and doing great things and I’m super proud of these girls and privileged to be at Arbor Prep for 13 years and counting.”
The Gators were led by Stephanie Utomi with 9 points 6 steals, and 5 rebounds Taylor Wallace with 8 points and 5 steals, Stacy Utomi with 7 points and 10 rebounds, Autumn Pernell with 6 points, and Eliza Bush with 3 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The Gators had 12 steals and 29 rebounds and finished their great season with a 24-4 record.
The Bobcats finished 26-2 on the season and the 30 points were the lowest they were held to all season as they averaged almost 70 points a game during the season. They were led by Junior Adelyn Drotoz with nine points, while senior Kadence Brumitt added seven points and nine rebounds.
“We have very good athletes and every single one of these girls is tough,” Gators Head Coach Scott Stine said. “And they are committed to playing defense. They are committed to doing what we do as a system, and we don’t win this game without defense.”
“These kids are special, and even on our worst offensive day, they stuck to the Arbor Prep way. They played defense and rebounded the ball, and they are state champions.”
