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(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

(Photo courtesy of Tanya Hagen)

EAST LANSING — Emotions ran high following Brandywine’s heartbreaking 31-29 Division 3 state semifinal loss in girls’ basketball Thursday afternoon to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at Michigan State University’s Jack Breslin Center. 

It marked the second straight year that Arbor Prep has ended Brandywine’s season. The Gators edged the top-ranked Lady Bobcats 33-30 in the 2024 state championship game as well. 

Arbor Prep (16-12) advances to Saturday’s state finals at 4 p.m. against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (22-6). 

Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest defeated Calumet (23-6) in the other semifinal. Brandywine’s season ends at 27-1. 

Arbor Prep, which is making a bid to win its third state crown under current head coach Scott Stine, who is 158-47 in eight years as head coach, and fourth title overall. 

With the game tied at 29-29, Arbor Prep’s Angela Meggisson was fouled with two seconds left in the game. Meggisson calmly made both attempts to seal Brandywine’s fate.

After what Brandywine fans deemed a questionable call that sent Meggisson to the stripe, the Lady Bobcats inbounded the ball past mid-court and attempted one final shot that missed the mark. 

“There are all kinds of calls throughout a 32-minute game that can happen. It looks worse when its at the end and decides a semifinal game, but that’s not the reason we lost today. The game officials are here for a reason because they are very good at what they do so give them credit. I’m not going to blame us losing on that. If we had made a couple more three pointers or get more stops against their athletic zone that we might’ve won,” Hood said. 

The Lady Bobcats’ latest bid to earn the school’s first state girls’ basketball title was hard to swallow for 16th year head coach Josh Hood and his Lady Bobcats, who were led by its seven seniors. 

That senior group of Miley Young, Adelyn Drotoz, Adeline Gill, Paige Krisher, Ireland Prenkert, Niyah Mason and Lexi Troup helped lead Brandywine to a record of 53-3 the past two seasons, including one state runners-up finish, a pair of Final Four appearances, two district titles, two regional crowns and a pair of Lakeland Conference titles. 

An emotional Hood struggled afterwards to find the right words to sum up what the Brandywine seniors have meant to the Bobcats’ program the past four years. 

“I’m just so frustrated right now because of all the hard work this group has put in only to fall short. This group of seniors will go down as one of the best ever here at Brandywine,” Hood said. 

Brandywine’s undersized squad prided itself on its defense and an ability to box out bigger opponents to compensate for its lack of size during its previous 27 games. 

The game essentially came down to rebounding, though, where Arbor Prep held a dominating 33-15 edge on the glass over Brandywine.

“We knew coming in that Arbor Prep was very athletic and that they do a phenomenal job of attacking the glass. They have great athletes who are just so strong and physical and are good basketball players. We have 13 girls and enough depth in practice that we can really go at it and that’s why we are so good. But we don’t really have any girls who can simulate the kind of athleticism they possess. You have to give them credit because they manhandled us in the first half. I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We also knew it was going to be a one possession game. They’ve been here a bunch of times. Every possession has to count. We got a shot we wanted there at the end. That’s basketball and things don’t always go your way, but we play at the level that warrants success for our program,” Hood said.

Hood did express his frustration afterwards with the dominance by private and parochial schools over public schools in postseason tournaments. 

“We have 13 girls in our locker room who are really hurting bad right now. It’s a group we have worked with and developed since they were Kindergartners in our Kiddie Cats’ Program. I’m just being honest and speaking up and saying the current situation needs to be addressed. Speaking out about it doesn’t make me a bad person, it’s just honesty. No one likes to talk about it. It’s not sour grapes because we lost the game itself today because we didn’t make enough shots or get enough stops. These girls have busted their tails for the last 12 or 13 years to bring a state title back to our community only to have it taken away again,” Hood said. I love our girls and I’ll go to battle for them any time.”

Arbor Prep, which was led in scoring by Meggisson’s 12 points and nine from Eliza Bush, finished 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) and 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) at the charity stripe.  

Brandywine finished the game shooting just 11-of-32 shots (34.4 percent) from the floor, including 4-of-18 from three-point territory, and 3-of-5 (60 percent) at the foul stripe.

Adeline Gill ended her career for the Lady Bobcasts with 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal. Price added six points and two rebounds. Byrd had one point, two boards and three assists. Lily Gill contributed two boards and a pair of steals. Mason added two boards and Drotoz had three points, two assists and two steals. 

The Lady Bobcats committed just eight turnovers and forced the Gators into 14. 

Brandywine went into the locker room at halftime holding an eight-point lead, 17-9. 

But Arbor Prep reeled off seven of the first eight points of the third quarter and took its first lead, 20-18, of the afternoon on Eliza Bush’s triple. But Brandywine regained the lead 21-20 on Price’s second triple of the day. Banks’ layup gave Arbor Prep a 22-21 cushion going into the fourth quarter.

“She (Meggisson) is a Load to handle down low and they had some role players step up and hit a couple of huge shots for them in the second half. We didn’t get too many offensive rebounds either and that had a lot to do with their defense. I don’t think this game was ever a two-possession game. If we could’ve made a couple more threes than we’d probably be sitting up here a little happier,” Hood said. 

After the lead had flipflopped a couple times, Brandywine took a two-point lead on Drotoz’s triple with 7:05 left. Karleigh Byrd was fouled and made the first of two charity tosses to give the Lady Bobcats a 27-24 edge with 5:03 left. 

Annecia Clark drained a triple for Arbor Prep that tied the contest up once again at 27-27 with 4:01 left to play. 

Adeline Gill’s bucket from underneath gave Brandywine its final lead at 29-27 just before the three minute mark. 

Meggison evened the contest at 29-29 shortly before she provided her late heroics at the foul stripe. 

“Niles Brandywine is very good at denying the basketball. Their defensive pressure is very good. Both of our programs pride themselves on defense. Once we settled down in the second half we got opportunities against their pressure,” Stine said. “At halftime I told our girls they had hearts of a champion. Rebounding was a definite factor for us today, especially in the final half.”

Brandywine’s pressure forced Arbor Prep into three turnovers during the opening period, including two that the Bobcats were able to get baskets off of.”

Adeline Gill scored the Bobcats’ first bucket of the game and followed it up just seconds later with a 5-foot jumper in the lane for a quick 4-0 lead. Sophomore Lily Gill drained a three pointer a short time later to give Brandywine a 9-5 lead after one quarter. 

Adeline Gill scored twice in the post and added a free throw for Brandywine’s first five points of the second quarter, increasing the Lady Bobcats’ lead to nine, 14-5 with 5:59 left in the half. A triple by sophomore Mackenna Price at the 2:38 mark helped send the Bobcats into intermission with a 17-9 advantage.

Brandywine’s defensive pressure forced Arbor Prep into a 3-of-22 shooting performance from the floor in the opening 16 minutes. 

‘Nobody talks about this’

Hood did express his frustration afterwards with the dominance by private and parochial schools over public schools in postseason tournaments. 

“Nobody talks about this,” Hood said. “I’m taking the high road, OK? The game was decided at the end. We needed to make shots; I’m not talking about the game itself. I’m just talking about the real problem we have here. Until somebody does something, it’s not going to change.

“We have 13 girls in our locker room who are really hurting bad right now,” Hood continued. “It’s a group we have worked with and developed since they were Kindergartners in our Kiddie Cats’ Program. I’m just being honest and speaking up and saying the current situation needs to be addressed. Speaking out about it doesn’t make me a bad person, it’s just honesty. No one likes to talk about it. It’s not sour grapes because we lost the game itself today because we didn’t make enough shots or get enough stops. These girls have busted their tails for the last 12 or 13 years to bring a state title back to our community only to have it taken away again. I love our girls and I’ll go to battle for them any time.”

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