Girl’s Basketball: Chargers roll over Chemics for District Championship

by Cory Butzin

The Midland Dow varsity girl’s basketball team overcame a slow start to build a commanding lead against Midland and then coasted to a 54-26 win Friday for the district championship at Bay City Western.

“All of my seniors wanted this real bad,” said Dow coach Bob Wellman. “After getting beat by Mount Pleasant last year in the district semis, we wanted to come out and get this. That was our goal. That leadership really stepped up and did a good job.”

The first quarter was ugly as neither team could hold onto the ball. When they were holding onto the ball, their shots weren’t following and for the first six minutes of the game the only points scored were from the free throw line. A Jessica Jarema field goal with two minutes remaining in the quarter was the first of the game and tied the score at 4-4. That sloppy offensive execution saw Dow take a 10-6 lead into the second.

But that’s when the Chargers woke up.

“It was an ugly start,” Wellman said. “But Tay (Taylor Mantyla) took a little breather, came back in and took over.”

Dow opened the second quarter with a 12-0 run, highlighted by Mantyla who finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals. The Chargers employed a suffocating defense that kept the Chemics scoreless until less than three minutes remained in the quarter. That’s when Kelly Deneen caught fire.

Deneen scored seven points in the final minutes to try and give Midland some momentum going into the second half, but that was taken away when Mantyla hit a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Chargers a 29-13 halftime lead.

“We had a little bit of good momentum going into that second half after Taylor’s three,” Wellman said. “We just went at them. Our goal, obviously was not to let them get back in this ballgame.”

And that’s exactly what Dow did. The Chargers ferocious press defense coming out of the half helped jump-start a 16-1 run. Midland was held without a field goal for the duration of the third as Dow’s lead stretched to 47-18 going into the final quarter.

“Offensively I thought we stood around and watched,” said Midland coach Elaine Mahabir. “Waiting for somebody else to do it hasn’t been a characteristic we’ve had.”

The Chemics managed to outscore the Chargers in the fourth, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Dow was able to roll to the championship.

Leah Kebler had 10 points and six boards for Dow, while Becca Mills finished with six points and six rebounds.

Jarema led Midland with 11 points and six rebounds.

Midland’s loss drops its record to 11-10 and ends their first winning season in twelve years.

“My kids came to this game whether the score shows it or not and they wanted a battle,” Mahabir said. “They weren’t just here to be in a district final. They wanted to beat Dow High and that was no question.”

Dow’s record improves to 19-3 on the season. They return to action Tuesday when they will travel to Gaylord to take on Traverse City West in the regional semi-finals.

“We can’t be cocky, but we have to be confident,” Mantyla said. “Because we know we’re a team that can win this regional.”

To view the photos from Friday’s game, click on “Photo slideshow” in the top right corner of this article. The photos are also available for purchase by clicking the “Buy photo reprints” link.

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Photos by Cory Butzin & Jason Wolverton