Bedford, Airport, Summerfield, SMCC win district semifinal games

TEMPERANCE – There were 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

Bedford had built a massive 29-point lead in the district semifinals.

Payton Pudlowski never hesitated.

When she saw the ball rolling on the floor, she threw her body at it.

“I love it,” Bedford coach Bill Ryan said. “It was probably my favorite play of the game. That’s the way we need to play. Here’s our senior leader, probably our most decorated player, diving for the ball.”

That’s the type of effort that carried the Mules to their second straight Southeastern Conference championship and the No. 7 spot in the final Associated Press Division 1 girls basketball state rankings.

Wednesday it helped carry the Mules to a 55-33 victory over Monroe in the semifinals of the Division 1 district Bedford is hosting.

Bedford never let Monroe feel like it was in the game. It scored the first eight points of the game and led 11-1 after one quarter and 30-6 at the half. The Mules led 48-19 when Pudlowski made her dive.

“They are tough,” Monroe coach Trent Moody said. “We knew how good they are. Bedford is a program you want your team to be like.”

Ryan said his team was sharp in its opening game of the state tournament.

“I loved our energy,” he said. “We were flying around the court really well.”

The Bedford players were especially good on defense. They seemed to be a step ahead of Monroe, consistently anticipating plays and jumping in passing lanes.

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“Conceptually, we plant the seeds, but it’s really the girls,” Ryan said. “They have played a lot of basketball. Now they are enjoying the fruits of their labors. Kudos to them.”

Aubrey Hensley scored 12 points, Pudlowski 11 and Victoria Gray and Nyah Mullins 9 apiece as Bedford pushed its record to 21-2 and earned a spot in Friday’s 6 p.m. finals against Trenton.

Monroe concluded its first season under Trent Moody with an 8-15 record.

“We don’t have the structure that Bedford has yet,” he said. “We have to build consistency that Monroe hasn’t had. … Eight wins doesn’t show how good a team we are.”

Sophia Bussell led the Trojans with 11 points and sophomore Jennah Cadle added a career-high 9.

Alana Aulph was the only senior on the roster.

“I am happy with what we accomplished,” Moody said. “We will miss Alana Aulph. She will tough to replace because she was such a good leader, but we have four starters back.”

Airport 41, Jefferson 22

ROMULUS – Airport pulled away at the end, dominating the fourth quarter 12-1 in the semifinals of the Division 2 district hosted by Summit Academy.

“We are proud that are kids respected Jefferson and understood they’ve got good players and that those girls would battle,” Airport coach Darrell Mossburg said. “If they didn’t focus and bring energy there is no Friday.  We put ourselves in a position to compete for a title.”

Olivia Gratz scored 9 points and RaeAnn Drummond 8 to lead a balanced attack for the Jets, who will take a 15-8 record into Friday’s 7 p.m. championship game against Grosse Ile.

Jefferson, which ends its season with a 5-18 record, was led by Anna Boggs with 9 points.

SMCC 45, Clinton 32

ERIE – St. Mary Catholic Central trailed 24-21 at halftime, but allowed just eight points in the second half in the semifinals of Erie Mason’s Division 3 district.

“It the second half we played a little better,” SMCC coach John Durbin said. “It took us a while to get going and match their energy.”

Brooke Mossburg scored 10 points and Natalie LaPrad added 8 for SMCC, which will put its 19-4 record on the line against 21-2 Blissfield at 7 p.m. Friday.

“We lnow we have to play a lot better than we did tonight,” Durbin said. “We have to play our best game of the year. That’s probably what it will take.”

Summerfield 67, Ann Arbor Central 5

ADRIAN – Summerfield got points from 10 of its 11 players to roll into the finals of the Division 4 District at Lenawee Christian.

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“Our starters played very sparingly tonight,” Summerfield coach Mickey Moody said. “Offensively we did execute very well tonight and shared the basketball.”

Mayley Mannebach led the bulldogs with 12 points while Brea Olmstead and Makenzie Wolfe added 10 each.

The Bulldogs move into the finals at 7 p.m. Friday against Lenawee Christian.

Adrian Madison 49, Ida 22

TECUMSEH – Adrian Madison used a 24-8 third quarter advantage to pull away in the semifinals of Tecumseh’s Division 2 district.

Ida and Madison split their regular season meetings in the Lenawee County Athletic Association, but this one was all Madison (19-4).

The Trojans led 10-4 after the first quarter and carried an 18-7 lead into the half. When Ida came out of the locker room and hit back-to-back buckets, Madison called a quick timeout, switched up defenses and went on a 14-2 run to put the game out of reach.

“We gave up six points in about 30 seconds and that blew it wide open,” Ida coach Tim Leonard said.

Jessica Schrader finished with 13 points to lead the Blue Streaks, who closed the season with a 17-7 record.

Leonard said the seniors had been through a lot and he thanked them for it.

“This is the COVID group that lost a half a year then lost a summer or two because of what they couldn’t do,” Leonard said. “The true four-year basketball player, which a lot of these girls were, was cut down to about three.

“We thanked them for persevering through that time and fighting through the difficulties they did. Hopefully they’ll be able to fall back on some of this stuff and use it in the future when they run into those hard times.”

Tecumseh 73, Dundee 17

TECUMSEH – Tecumseh started the game on a 34-0 run.

“We knew they were going to be very good,” Dundee coach Jay Briggs said of the Indians. “They are loaded with talent and coach (Kristy) Zajac knows what she is doing.”

Tecumseh is 19-4 and was in and out of the state rankings during the regular season. It closed the season by beating two top 10 teams from Division 1 and carried that through into the district.

Dundee’s first points came on a 3-pointer by Natalie Rath with 6:37 left in the first half. Rath and Kendall Karner each hit two 3s for the Vikings in the game.

The Vikings finished the season 6-16, but Briggs is happy with how things went in his first season as varsity head coach.

“We have a few seniors that this was their first year,” Briggs said. “I just thanked them for coming out this year. It was my first year, so it was big to help change the culture. They provided a lot of leadership.

“I love it. We tripled our win total from last year. We had a good shift in culture and hopefully there will be some buy-in during the offseason.”

Blissfield 40, Whiteford 23

ERIE – The No. 4 ranked Royals eliminated Whiteford from the state playoffs after a 13-10 season by the Bobcats.

The Royals jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first quarter then held the Bobcats to two points in the second quarter and pulled away.

Whiteford got nine points from Emily Rasor.

Grosse Ile 36, Flat Rock 34

ROMULUS – Flat Rock got a good shot in the closing seconds, but could not convert.

“Both teams played great defense,” Flat Rock coach Brian Kryk said. “I thought we did everything we could to have a chance to win. … I'm extremely proud of our effort top to bottom.”

The Rams, who were playing without center Lily Klein, were led by Madleen Hussein and Layla Holbrook with eight points each.

The Rams finish at 13-10.

“These girls had some ups and downs throughout the season, but I think we showed that we had the ability to compete at a high level,” Kryk said. “We'll get better in the off season and get ready for next season.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Girls Basketball: Bedford, Airport, SMCC, Summerfield move into finals