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EAST LANSING — Ypsilanti Arbor Prep won the Division 3 championship just two years ago, but it might have been 20th place for the Gators.
Arbor Prep’s 2022-23 season ended with a loss in the regional final, but it ignited a fire among players and coaches who remembered how they felt when they won it all just one year ago.
“Our warm-up shirts say ‘Unfinished Business,’” Arbor Prep senior Stephanie Utomi said. “We consider it personal. From the beginning of the season, which is June for us, we knew what the goal was. We wanted to get back here. It was a sour taste, to say the least. We wanted to go back to back. Being here is everything. But the job isn’t done yet.”
Arbor Prep’s accomplishments are just one win away. The Gators returned to Michigan’s Breslin Center on Thursday and defeated Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest 52-30 in Game 2 of the Division 3 semifinal that day.
Arbor Prep (24-4) will look for its second championship in three years when it faces Niles Brandywine in the Division 3 final Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Gators’ only losses this season were to Division 1 or Division 2 opponents. Father Gabriel Richard of Ann Arbor, Jackson Northwest, Detroit Edison and Detroit Country Day.
“Our intent was to make sure we had the right energy level and the right effort to start the game,” Arbor Prep head coach Scott Stein said. “We were going to press them and create tempo.”
Entering the MHSAA Tournament unranked and with nine losses, Lutheran Northwest was well aware of what they would be up against at Arbor Prep.
But that obviously didn’t diminish the experience of playing on the Breslin Center floor, reaching the semifinals for the first time in school history.
The school essentially had a day off on Thursday, saw off the teams as they boarded the bus, and then all headed to East Lansing to witness something the school had never seen before.
“This is the first time in our school’s history that we’ve been able to do something like this, so they really made it a big day for us,” said Ashley, a junior at Lutheran Northwestern.・Kadikamo said. “Every moment became precious. The fact that we lost, that’s okay. We came here, and we were made to be here.”
The experience should be especially valuable since Lutheran Northwest only had one senior and three underclassmen on a roster made up mostly of underclassmen. The Crusaders had seven sophomores and two freshmen on the roster.
“Just being here was huge for the team and for the program. We have one senior, so we’re looking at the possibility of him coming back,” Lutheran Northwest head coach Jimmy Mellberg said. Ta.
Freshman Keira Spieth scored six points to lead Lutheran Northwest, which had nine players score.
For Arbor Prep, seniors Taylor Wallace added 14 points, Stephanie Utomi 11 points and Stacy Utomi 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Gators entered halftime with a 34-16 lead and scored the first eight points of the third quarter to take a 42-16 lead with 5:45 remaining. Arbor Prep increased its advantage to 32 heading into the fourth quarter.
Click to see full box score.
photograph (Above) Arbor Prep’s Taylor Wallace, 5, takes a shot while Lutheran Northwest’s Charlotte Gramzow, 3, defends her on Thursday. (Middle) Gators’ Angela Meggison (2) is considering her next move. (Photo provided by: Hockey Weekly Action Photos. )
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