By Staff
I guess none of us should be surprised that Bridgman was eliminated from the Class C District Basketball Tournament over at Watervliet High School on Monday night.
After all, the Lady Bees were playing without one of the area's and state's top players - Heather Seyfred.
I was in Bridgman last Thursday night when Seyfred went down with 6:02 to play in the third quarter against Cassopolis.
Bridgman picked up the pieces for a while against the Lady Rangers, who were battling for a share of the Lakeland Conference championship.
The bad news was that Seyfred would not be returning to that game and perhaps would not get to play on Monday in the opener against Watervliet.
When that reality started to set in things went bad for the Lady Bees.
Bridgman didn't score in the fourth quarter and were able to make a 12-point advantage after three periods stand up.
The Lady Bees ran their winning streak in the Lakeland Conference to 40 games, but the writing was on the wall when it came to their chances of making another strong tournament run.
If Seyfred couldn't play in the tournament opener, Bridgman had little chance of advancing.
Even with Seyfred, Bridgman would have had a tough time against a very strong Watervliet team which was playing on its home court.
I hate to see any player get hurt, but I feel particularly bad for seniors.
For many of them, a season-ending injury in high school means the end of their careers.
Most do not go on to play at the next level.
Hopefully the injury to Seyfred will not be a career-ender.
She was scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday to see if surgery was going to be needed.
What made Thursday night's injury even more painful to watch was the fact that Seyfred was scheduled to have a signing ceremony for her National Letter of Intent to go to Indiana State the following day.
That was canceled.
I would like to wish Heather well and hope that she is able to step on the court next winter when the Sycamores open up their season.
She is one of the best players I have seen come out of this area and I was looking forward to seeing how she would fare at the college level.
While Bridgman has been sent to the sidelines already, the Cassopolis Lady Rangers look poised to claim their second straight district title.
Cassopolis plays host to Marcellus tonight in the semifinals with the winner moving on to Saturday's title game.
Good luck Lady Rangers.