Monday's high schools: Anchor Bay girls crush Marysville in district opener; West Bloomfield, Cass Tech out due to COVID
Macomb Twp. — The state basketball tournament got underway throughout the state on Monday with several teams already knocked to the sidelines before even touching the floor due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was crushing news for West Bloomfield’s girls' basketball team Monday, finding it would not be allowed to play due to COVID exposure.
West Bloomfield was ranked No. 2 in The News Super 20 just two weeks ago, then lost games on consecutive nights to Harper Woods Chandler Park and No. 1 Detroit Edison.
Still, West Bloomfield — 10-3 and ranked No. 18 — was expected to make some noise in Division 1 before learning its season was shut down.
“It’s very frustrating, found out today that one of our players was exposed to COVID,” West Bloomfield coach Bert Mosley said. “It’s just an unfortunate situation. It’s crazy, just doesn’t make any sense. We just got the short end of the stick, but rules are set in place and you just have to follow them.”
Cass Tech’s girls — 10-2 and No. 20 — were set to play in the PSL title game Saturday when it also had to shutter its season due to COVID. Cass Tech’s boys' team will also be prevented from playing in the districts due to COVID issues according to PSL executive athletic director Jay Alexander.
Subscription:David Goricki's final girls high school basketball rankings: March 21
Well, girls basketball district openers were played Monday night and New Baltimore Anchor Bay played well in a 42-20 win over Marysville in a Division 1 game at Macomb Dakota.
Anchor Bay improved to 11-2 with its lone losses coming at the hands of No. 14 Macomb L’Anse Creuse North to finish second in the MAC White.
Subscription:Girls state tournament preview: Hagemann, Whitehorn power Detroit Edison's title run
Anchor Bay came out with its full-court press and half-court trap and caused problems throughout the game.
Anchor Bay used a 9-0 run to close out the first half with senior guard Genevieve Decker leading the way.
Junior center Jaelyn Churchill started the run, scoring off of consecutive putbacks to open up a 17-10 lead.
Then, Decker found Payton Lee for a three-point play and Decker followed with a driving layup off a baseline move for a 22-10 halftime cushion.
Anchor Bay extended the lead to 32-18 after three.
“We were actually down our starting guard (Taylor Wolfe) and she usually plays with me on top so we really had a bunch of sophomores, underclassmen step up for us and we really did a good job getting out on their shooters and really shut them down,” said Decker, who finished with a game-high 10 points.
“This season has been crazy with COVID. We’ve just been making the most out of every single game that we can get because as you can see anybody can get shut down at any time. We have six seniors and we’ve been playing since middle school and we’re just happy to end it together.”
More girls basketball
Taylor 57, Southgate Anderson 33: Amiah Thomas scored 14 and Kursten vonHoffman 10 for Taylor (11-6). Natalie Beltran scored 15 for Southgate (1-15).
Girls scores
District 5 at Romeo
Rochester Adams 64, Romeo 63 (OT)
District 6 at Waterford Mott
Auburn Hills Avondale 55, Bloomfield Hills 53 (OT)
District 7 at Walled Lake Northern
Milford 33, Walled Lake Western 13
District 17 at Ann Arbor Skyline
Dexter 68, Pinckney 27
South Lyon 44, Ann Arbor Skyline 31
District 18 at Saline
Ann Arbor Pioneer 58, Ypsilanti 28
Ann Arbor Huron 59, Ypsilanti Lincoln 58 (OT)
District 19 at Plymouth
Northville 50, Livonia Churchill 25
District 20 at Livonia Franklin
Livonia Franklin 57, Garden City 28
District 21 at Woodhaven
Monroe 50, Gibraltar Carlson 32
District 22 at Taylor
Taylor 57, Southgate Anderson 33
District 23 at Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park 65, Allen Park 57 (OT)
Dearborn Heights Crestwood 24, Dearborn Edsel Ford 22
District 25 at Novi
North Farmington 48, Livonia Stevenson 47
District 26 at Royal Oak
Birmingham Seaholm 47, Royal Oak 35
District 28 at Hamtramck
Warren Cousino 50, Hamtramck 30
District 32 at Macomb Dakota
New Baltimore Anchor Bay 42, Marysville 20
Port Huron Northern 36, Macomb Dakota 23
District 60 at Detroit East English
Detroit Denby 46, St. Clair Shores South Lake 32
Eastpointe 54, Detroit East English 15
District 61 at Clawson
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 48, Center Line 18
District 62 at Marine City
Marine City 47, Algonac 17
District 64 at Flint Powers
Ortonville Brandon 51, Clio 14
District 86 at Erie Mason
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central 58, Clinton 25
District 87 at Grass Lake
Ann Arbor Greenhills 54, Brighton Stockwell 10
District 91 at Royal Oak Shrine
Royal Oak Shrine 46, Bloomfield Hills Sacred Heart 19
Madison Heights Bishop Foley 72, Warren Collegiate 13
District 92 at Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest
New Haven 45, Mount Clemens 41
District 125 at Marine City Cardinal Mooney
Marine City Cardinal Mooney 45, New Haven Merritt 24
dgoricki@detroitnews.com