Written Saturday March 18th at 2:45 PM
Updated Sunday March 19th at 11:00 AM
The Rockford Rams were on a mission to not make the same mistake that happened last season to them. In a tight defensive game, the Rams held West Bloomfield, a team that had won their postseason games by 29.5 points per game to their lowest point total of the season as Rockford stunned the Lakers 40-36 on Saturday afternoon in the Division One State Finals at Michigan State.
West Bloomfield won 66-63 over Rockford in the Division One State Semifinals which led them to the Division One State crown last season but the Rams had a very good game plan to play at their pace and not West Bloomfield's.
The Rams took advantage of West Bloomfield's foul situation and lack of depth. They got the Hendrix sisters into foul trouble. The foul trouble allowed Rockford to pay more attention toward the Davis twins.
Kendall Hendrix had 12 points while Sydney Hendrix had 10 points. The Rams held the Davis twins to 12 total combined points (Indya had eight while Summer had four points.)
The Lakers held Grace Lyons whom torched them with 21 points (five threes) last season to five points but those five points were in very critical moments and in the fourth quarter.
She got a steal and then hit a contested three pointer off very good ball movement from the Wypych sisters causing the defense to collapse leading to the three with 40 seconds left. The three by Lyons proved to be the dagger in the fourth quarter which gave Rockford the 38-36 lead. West Bloomfield would try to get the ball up the court but turned the ball over with 33 seconds left giving it back to the Rams.
West Bloomfield still had a chance to tie the game after a free throw miss by Rockford. They got the ball to Summer Davis whom was fouled. Davis missed both free throws which the second was missed intentionally but was wiped off by a lane violation giving the ball to the Rams and Lyons sealed it with with two free throws.
"We came up short a few plays and Rockford is a great team, great coached team and they made plays when it counted and they walked away. And I'll say this, today they were the better team, today. They were the better team, they walked away. And they are champions. And I respect that" said Coach Darrin McAllister during his press conference to MIPrepZone and the Oakland Press's Matt Mowery.
Anna Wypych had 20 points (five threes) while Alyssa Wypych had nine points for Rockford. The big three for the Rams combined for 34 of Rockford's 40 points on the night.
The 36 points were the lowest the Lakers had scored this season. They scored 48 against Lake Orion which was their previous lowest prior to the game.
West Bloomfield finished the season with a 26-3 record. They lose Sydney Hendrix and Jada Vaughn to graduation but they have both Davis twins, Kendall Hendrix, Gabrielle Hale, Ava Lord, Sheridan Beal, and Destiny Washington coming back.
The Lakers should be motivated to get the Division One State crown back and they should be with four starters coming back plus two more off the bench. They do have a few questions to address particularly program strength.
More will be talked about this game on the podcast on Monday so stay tuned to OAA Now.
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