- Michigan
STATE CHAMPS! Michigan small-school girls basketball rankings for Jan. 16: St. Ignace, Kent City, Manton start out in top 3 spots
When you do a statewide top 25 ranking, almost invariably it’s filled with schools from the bigger divisions, with a few one-offs thrown in from the smaller divisions. Sure enough, in our most recent girls basketball rankings (Jan. 6), we had 20 teams from either Division 1 or 2, and just five — No. 7 Adrian Lenawee Christian, No. 10 Grass Lake, No. 11 Pewamo-Westphalia, No. 17 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep and No. 21 Byron — from Divisions 3 or 4.
So, like we did with football in the fall, we’re going to have a small-school ranking, to give some props to those schools with smaller populations who are still showing out on the hardwood. Obviously, we’ll remove the five aforementioned schools (they’d likely be 1-5 in this rankings, anyway) from consideration, and start with the next best 25 teams — based on record, resume and MPR — in Michigan’s lower two divisions.
Here’s the first edition of the STATE CHAMPS! small-school girls hoops rankings, with records and MPR updated through the end of action on Wednesday, Jan. 15:
1 St. Ignace (5-1, MPR: 0.634) — D4
Key wins: Charlevoix 61-37; Sault Ste. Marie (D2) 40-37; Ann Arbor Huron (D1) 65-52; Pickford 70-48
Loss: Ann Arbor Pioneer (D1) 45-42
2 Kent City (7-1, MPR: 0.581) — D3
Key wins: Comstock Park (D2) 51-48; White Cloud 43-26; Kalamazoo Christian 79-33
Loss: Muskegon (D1) 60-57 (2OT)
3 Manton (9-0, MPR: 0.664) — D3
Key wins: Charlevoix 52-49; McBain 59-44; Kingsley 67-52; No. 18 Maple City Glen Lake 58-54
4 Kingston (8-0, MPR: 0.653) — D4
Key wins: Croswell-Lexington 36-32; Bay City All Saints 58-24; Deckerville 41-28
5 Bellaire (7-0, MPR: 0.633) — D4
Key wins: Boyne City 24-18; Johannesburg-Lewiston 53-24; East Jordan 38-28
6 Centreville (9-0, MPR: 0.704) — D3
Key wins: Bloomingdale, 44-33; Decatur, 47-33; Hartford, 38-21.
7 Pickford (9-0, MPR: 0.609) — D4
Key wins: Gaylord St. Mary 62-46; Engadine 63-42; Brimley 60-24
Loss: St. Ignace 70-48
8 Allen Park Inter-City Baptist (6-0, MPR: 0.650) — D4
Key wins: Flat Rock (D2) 54-52; Redford Westfield Prep 77-48; Allen Park (D1) 48-26
9 Morley Stanwood (7-0, MPR: 0.592) — D3
Key wins: Mt. Pleasant (D1) 49-29; Lake City 54-49
10 Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart (10-0, MPR: 0.552) — D4
Key wins: Ogemaw Heights (D2) 38-16; Breckenridge 52-43
11 Niles Brandywine (8-0, MPR: 0.586) — D3
Key wins: Kalamazoo Christian 57-40; Kalamazoo Hackett 46-28.
12 Lake City (8-1, MPR: 0.586) — D3
Key wins: Houghton Lake 56-31
Loss: Morley Stanwood 54-49
13 Springport (7-1, MPR: 0.644) — D3
Key wins: Leslie 63-31; Jonesville 61-27; Quincy 49-29
Loss: Grass Lake 58-49
14 Martin (9-0, MPR: 0.555) — D4
Key win: Bloomingdale 43-26
15 Pittsford (10-0, MPR: 0.557) — D4
Key wins: Jackson Christian 39-26; Bellevue 71-43
16 Ishpeming Westwood (7-1, MPR: 0.634) — D3
Key wins: Calumet 59-45; Gladstone 56-48 and 49-29
Loss: Menominee (D2) 52-47
17 Maple City Glen Lake (6-2, MPR: 0.672) — D3
Key wins: Elk Rapids 51-13; Traverse City St. Francis 61-33, Charlevoix 65-41
Losses: Midland Dow (D1) 45-43; No. 3 Manton 58-54.
18 Ewen-Trout Creek (8-1, MPR: 0.602) — D4
Key wins: Baraga 33-28; L’Anse 61-53
Loss: Calumet 49-47
19 Schoolcraft (6-1, MPR: 0.646) — D3
Key wins: Kalamazoo Christian 32-22; Kalamazoo Hackett 29-26; Niles 47-41
Loss: Edwardsburg 43-31
20 Plymouth Christian (7-1, MPR: 0.622) — D4
Key wins: Canton (D1) 38-34 (OT); Livonia Franklin (D1) 47-40; Livonia Churchill (D1) 43-49
Loss: Adrian Lenawee Christian 79-45
21 Brooklyn Columbia Central (8-1, MPR: 0.676) — D3
Key wins: Onsted 50-39; Ida 44-36; Blissfield 50-46; Erie Mason 70-53
Loss: Parma Western (D2) 63-47
22 Flint Hamady (7-1, MPR: 0.578) — D3
Key wins: Grand Blanc 42-29; Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 56-49
Loss: Flint Kearsley (D1) 59-48
23 St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran (8-0, MPR: 0.561) — D4
Key wins: New Buffalo 49-39; Three Oaks River Valley 46-31
24 Gobles (7-0, MPR: 0.565) — D3
Key wins: South Haven (D2) 46-22; Fennville 56-37
25 Negaunee (8-2, MPR: 0.599) — D3
Key wins: Calumet 50-35; West Iron County 62-39
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HONORABLE MENTION: Hart (D3, 9-1), Peck (D4, 7-1), Walkerville (D4, 9-1), Gaylord St. Mary (D4, 6-2), Morrice (D4, 6-1), Felch North Dickinson (D4, 7-1), Mackinaw City (D4, 6-1), Camden-Frontier (D4, 9-1), Ithaca (D3, 8-0), Ecorse (D3, 6-0).
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CLICK HERE for the most recent STATE CHAMPS! top 25 for big schools (Jan. 6)
