By By DAN WEISS / Vigilant/Argus
MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- At least now people in Indiana know there really is basketball being played in Michigan.
The Michigan All-Stars girls' basketball team made sure of that this past week with its play in Sports Fest, an event which included three Indiana teams and just one from Michigan.
The Michigan girls beat the Indiana Metro squad in Tuesday's semifinal, but suffered a 64-58 loss to Indiana West in Friday's championship game.
The girls' basketball team was one of only two teams from Michigan to reach a title game in the seven-sport festival.
Friday night, the Michigan All-Stars fell behind early and cut the West lead to two points at halftime. Michigan took a four-point lead to start the second half but fell behind by six shortly after.
The final 10 minutes of the game were nip-and-tuck with Michigan threatening to take the lead but never succeeding.
Balie Maak of Marcellus led all scorers Friday with 23 points for Michigan. She also made a game-high four 3-pointers.
Ashlee Layher of Buchanan, who shared game-high honors with Maak on Tuesday, made just one field goal and scored two points. Danielle Fields of Buchanan chipped in 12 points.
Ashley Spriggs of Niles and Jami Grandholm of River Valley scored six points apiece. Spriggs will attend Bethel in the fall and play basketball for coach Jody Martinez.