Michigan high school girls basketball: Hemlock wins first title with Division 3 rout

EAST LANSING — Hemlock played keepaway and made key free throws Saturday to secure the Division 3 championship — its first girls basketball crown in school history — with a 59-43 victory over Blissfield at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.

Despite being plagued by foul issues, the Huskies (26-3) returned triumphantly to Breslin after having to forfeit a chance at the title during the 2021 state semifinals after being ruled out because of COVID-19.

Despite 6-1 junior center Lauren Borsenik (16 points) collecting her fifth foul and exiting with 6:50 left in the game, along with her sister Hannah picking up her fourth with 5:17 remaining, the Huskies stretched their lead to as many as 16 in the final quarter before closing it out.

“The good part is that we’ve had plenty of experience with that because we’ve had foul trouble about every game,” said Hemlock coach Scott Neumeyer, who is in his 10th season. “We found a way to get through, which we have done all year. Obviously, it affected our game plan a little bit ... but Lauren was crushed when she fouled out. She was crushed and I told her, ‘You have nothing to be sorry about.’ She helped get us here and that’s what teammates are for. They stepped up and finished the game.”

Senior guard Regan Finkbeiner, who went 7-for-7 from the foul line, scored a game-high 19 while her running mate at guard, senior Chloe Watson, scored 18 and made 11 of 13 free throws.

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Hemlock shot a blistering 88% from the free line, going 22-for-25.

“Chloe and Regan played a great game of keepaway,” Neumeyer said. “And that’s no accident because these guys work on free throws like crazy, and that’s all there is to it.”

As the seconds ticked off before the final horn, Finkbeiner got emotional.

“It’s great, we’ve never done that before,” she said. “I don’t know if I had happy tears or sad tears because I’m done with basketball after this. I didn’t know how I was feeling. Just having that whole community there — a big crowd as we always do — I’m just glad we went out with a win.”

Blissfield (27-2), making its first state finals appearance since 1973, got 17 points from junior guard Avery Collins and 14 points and 14 rebounds from senior center Julia White.

The Royals were plagued by 17 turnovers (to Hemlock’s six) while shooting 26.1% from the field (12-for-46).

“I thought we got off to a good start,” Blissfield coach Ryan Gilbert said. “They got ahead early. We like to let people do that to us and then got back in it, tied it up and got a lead, and then battled. Their guards are tough. ... They’re just a very complete team that can get it inside and outside. They hurt us both ways. And they were the better team today and showed it. Late, it was tough to (be) running them down.”

To start the third quarter, Lauren Borsenik began working the two-man low-high post game with Hannah, who scored seven straight points to stake the Huskies to a 32-22 advantage with 5:46 left in the period. And the Huskies retained their 10-point lead going into the fourth, 40-30, as Finkbeiner made a pair of throws with 1.4 second left.

The Borsenik sisters, a pair of juniors, both attended school in Hemlock until the third grade before going to Bullock Creek schools in Midland where their father was a teacher and coach. They transferred back to Hemlock for their junior seasons, where Watson, along with her younger sister, are cousins.

“I guess it was our telepathy, we’ve been playing together all our lives because we always know where the other person is going to be,” Lauren said.

And the Huskies retained their 10-point lead going into the fourth, 40-30, as Finkbeiner made a pair of free throws with 1.4 seconds left.

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Finkbeiner scored 11 points and Lauren Borsenik added nine as the Huskies took a 25-20 halftime advantage. Collins scored 13 and June Miller scored six for the Vikings, who shot 5 of 21 from the field (23.8%) while committing eight turnovers to Hemlock’s three.

Hemlock led 12-9 after one quarter thanks to a 3-pointer at the buzzer from the right wing by Watson.

Both teams lost key players in the first period as Blissfield starter Leigh Wyman went down with an injury after a collision under the basket and did not return. Lauren Borsenik picked up two quick fouls and was forced to the bench.

“She (Wyman) tried to run it off in the tunnel and it was just a no-go,” Gilbert said. “There were a lot of moments where we were one play away to just kind of get back into the game. Just a big play away, get a stop and a score. We talking about that in the huddle, ‘Get one of those.’ But then it just slowly mounted. We just ran out of gas.”

With the first girls basketball state title in school history, Neumeyer called the moment afterwards in the postgame press conference “surreal.”

“I’m just so proud of this team, especially the seniors,” he said. “People, I think, don’t have any idea how much girls spend or players that get to this level spend to get here. All of the stuff they do outside of practice — beside all the summer stuff. ... I know what they do, but they don’t go and flaunt it or anything. They just do the work. And I was happy how they approached this whole tournament run. We had a brutal schedule to get here. We played a 20-win team every game. I’m just happy how they persevered and how they led this team. They really took a one-day-at-a-time approach. They had a very business-like attitude.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA girls basketball: Hemlock dominates for Division 3 crown