Clinton Township, Fraser

Big Reds win district

By Jon Malavolti
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by David Schreiber Chippewa Valley’s Tiffany Misch (20) rises up to take a shot during a Feb. 29 district semifinal against Roseville at Lake Shore. The Big Reds won that game 66-52 and went on to win the district final against Fraser before advancing to a regional semifinal, played after press time. Photo by David Schreiber Chippewa Valley’s Tiffany Misch (20) rises up to take a shot during a Feb. 29 district semifinal against Roseville at Lake Shore. The Big Reds won that game 66-52 and went on to win the district final against Fraser before advancing to a regional semifinal, played after press time.

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Clinton Township Chippewa Valley’s girls basketball team defeated Fraser High 53-37 March 2 in a Class A district final at St. Clair Shores Lake Shore. The Big Reds advanced to a regional semifinal, which was played after press time.

For updates and recaps from the regional and district rounds, including photo galleries, visit our website at www. candgnews.com.

District rewind

The Big Reds opened district action with a 51-44 win over hosts Lake Shore Feb. 27. They then found themselves pitted against Roseville High in the semifinals, while Fraser took on L’Anse Creuse after both teams received a first-round bye.

Both the Big Reds and the Ramblers, who finished in the middle of the Macomb Area Conference Red Division during the regular season, had to battle out of some early holes in their semifinal showdowns.

Fraser trailed the entire first half against L’Anse Creuse, struggling to make outside shots against the Lancers’ zone defense. But the Ramblers came out of the locker room on fire, scoring 10 unanswered points to take charge of the game. They fended off a couple of rallies by the Lancers to win 28-24 and advance to the final.

“I said if we keep getting the looks, keep getting the shots, things will turn around for us,” Fraser coach Dave Kuppe said. “Fortunately, coming out of halftime, we had a nice little spurt, and it kind of changed the game a little bit.”

Chippewa, meanwhile, fell behind early in the first quarter against Roseville, but quickly turned things around and never looked back. The Big Reds led 39-30 at halftime before stretching their lead out to 20 points in the third quarter to put the Panthers away and eventually won 66-52.

“Our focus at halftime was continuing to build off of that,” Chippewa coach Jackie Mauer said of the Big Reds’ lead. “That was basically our key in the second half, was to win the second half, which we did.”

That set up what would be the third meeting of the season between the MAC Red rivals. Chippewa won both regular-season meetings and would go on to sweep the Ramblers with district final victory.

Fraser ended the season 8-14 overall, while Chippewa improved to 14-9.

Regional info

The Big Reds were slated to play MAC Gold champs Macomb L’Anse Creuse North in a March 6 regional semifinal. The winner would meet the winner of the Romeo High (MAC Red champs) and Grosse Pointe South (co-MAC White champs) matchup in the 7 p.m. March 8 regional final at Utica Ford II.
 

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Jon Malavolti at jmalavolti@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1040. Follow Jon on Twitter.