LONG TIME COMING
Armada ends 42-year drought, wins district championship over rival Yale
The drought is over for Armada girls basketball.
The Tigers claimed their first girls basketball district championship in 42 years on Friday night, defeating Blue Water Area Conference league champion Yale 49-29 in the Division 2 district title game at St. Clair High School.
“It’s been 42 years for girls basketball,” Armada coach Joe McDevitt said. “It’s been a good day.”
Armada likes to play an up-tempo style and it worked against the Bulldogs, racing to a 11-1 lead six minutes into the game behind six points by Claire Sniesak. Yale managed to end the quarter with layups by Alyssa Barr and Sadie Dykstra, closing the gap to 11-5 after eight minutes.
“We talked about the first four minutes being important and they pressured us and got us early,” Jason Leonard said. “(Armada) pushes the ball and they’re physical. They’re a good team. We didn’t take care of the ball.”
The Tigers seized control in the second quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-6 in the frame, entering the half with a 26-11 lead. Brooklyn Khon had six points in the quarter for Armada.
“We know who we are, and we were going to win it doing what we do,” McDevitt said. “We might come up short, but we were going to do what we do.”
Armada never let up in the second half, extending its advantage to 39-20 after the third quarter before coasting through the fourth to claim the championship trophy.
“The pressure was off, and they knew that (Yale) had won the league championship. That’s all the motivation they needed,” McDevitt said. “We wanted one more practice and now we get two practices. Obviously, the championship is rare air for us being that it’s been 42 years, but it’s a good day to be a Tiger.”
The Tigers we led by Sniesak and Ashlyn Upton with 11 points each.
“They are the heart and soul,” McDevitt said. “Ashlyn is just a warrior and a kid that you’re happy to have on your team. Claire is the backbone of the team. We go when she goes. Those two together, when they get going, we like our chances.”
Valeria Ricossa and Khon each added eight points for Armada, which improved to 16-3 overall and moves on to next week’s regional semifinal at Goodrich High School.
“We’re going go there to do what we do,” McDevitt said. “That’s it.”
Yale was led by Dykstra with 15 points, while Barr added 10 points.
“Sadie is athletic, long and she works hard,” Leonard said. “She didn’t have a great night, but she does play hard every night.”
The loss ended the Bulldogs’ season at 17-6 overall. With only one senior — Grace Kecskes — on the team this season, Leonard said his young squad will learn for this and will build on this season next year.
“I think they learned this season about working hard each day and getting better,” Leonard said. “We’ll be back and we’ll get better,” Leonard said. “We’ll battle each day and get better next year.”
McDevitt added, “Yale is a great team. They won the league and earned the league. We split with them before tonight, and we played this way the first time we played them. We played at a different tempo the second time around and lost. Our goal tonight was that we just had to be us.”