Page 14 — Thursday, June 10, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Wilkes to help Grace chase
a national nhampionship
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Ashlyn Wilkes was still a toddler when her
father took over coaching the Maple Valley
varsity girls’ basketball program.
Her first basketball memories are of team
dinners at the Wilkes’ home and goofing with
a basketball as the big girls had practices in
the Maple Valley Jr/Sr High School gymnasi-
um.
Wilkes kept making memories in that gym-
nasium until senior night in March when the
Lions were bested by Leslie in the final home
game of the regular season. The Lions had
won four in a row heading into that final
home contest and finished the season with
seven victories, as many as the team won in
her first three varsity seasons combined.
Dropping more ballgames than she won
didn’t spoil the high school experience for
Wilkes.
“The best memories from high school
would probably be senior night,” she said.
“Every season in general, from freshman year
to senior year, all the games, locker room
chats, before game and after game, going to
eat, team bonding and all of that.”
Wilkes had teammates, friends, family and
coaches together in the Maple Valley Jr/Sr
High School library May 7 as she signed her
National Letter of Intent to join the Grace
Christian University Women’s Basketball
program.
“The second I went to open gyms and met
the coach and the players I just knew that it
was home,” Wilkes said of Grace. “It was
where I wanted to go. I had talked to other
coaches and been around, and around Grace I
knew it was the perfect place for me.”
She has plans to work towards a major in
social work and a minor in education at
Grace, as well as work on her basketball
skills. Wilkes was named to the Basketball
Coaches Association of Michigan’s Division
3 BCAM’s Best honorable mention all-state
list at the end of her junior and senior seasons
and honorable mention all-state in Division 3
in the Associated Press awards as well. She
averaged 17.3 points, 6 rebounds 3.1 steals
and 2.1 assists per game this winter, earning
first team All-GLAC, first team All-Barry
County as well.
Wilkes started playing competitive basket-
ball in the Michgan’s Finest AAU program as
a fourth grader, and joined the Mid Michigan
Excel program out of the Lansing area as a
sophomore after taking her freshman year off
from travel basketball.
“She brings in a lot of energy every time
she comes out,” Grace University head coachAshley Xiong Vang said. “The first time I met
her, I know she was pretty shy, but she has
definitely stepped out of her shell and she fits
in really well with our players and gets along
well. The biggest thing we’re going to take, as
far as her contributing, is her shooting, offen-
sively, her shooting and knowing where to be
on the floor. I was telling the girls after one of
our open gyms, she reminds me of Paige
Bueckers. She has a killer mid-range shot,
knows how to move herself and space herself
out and get that jumper. Defensively, she’s
long and she plays well. We’re excited to have
her and bring her on board and see what she
can do offensively for us.”
Wilkes ran cross country during the fall of
her freshman and sophomores years at Maple
Valley, ending each season as an All-Barry
County honoree, then joined the Lion varsity
volleyball team for her junior and senior sea-
sons. She was a member of the Maple Valley
varsity track and field team throughout high
school, winning Greater Lansing Activities
Conference championships in the high jump
at the end of her sophomore and senior sea-
sons, and earning a state medal in the high
jump with a third-place finish Saturday at the
Division 3 Lower Peninsula Track and Field
Finals in Jenison.
Basketball has always been number onethough.
“Ever since I was little, I don’t think there
was anything else that could compete with
basketball,” Wilkes said. “Even though it is
stressful and a lot of hard work, it has proba-
bly always been my favorite.”
The Grace Christian women have won
back-to-back Mideast Regional
Championships in the NCCAA Division IINational Tournament, playing in the final four
in each of the past two seasons. The Tigers are
still chasing their first NCCAA National
Championship
“This year is different. We have a great
group coming in and we have our entire start-
ing line-up coming back,” Xiong Vang said.
“We’re excited.”Maple Valley’s Ashlyn Wilkes signs her National Letter of Intent to join the Grace
Christian University Women’s Basketball program as her parents, Landon and Amy
Wilkes, and Grace head coach Ashley Xiong Vang look on look on in the Maple Valley
Jr/Sr High School library May 7, 2021. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Bailey scores spot in Division 4 golf finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Maple Valley junior Owen Bailey is going
to the state finals.
Bailey scored an 85 at the Division 4
Regional Tournament at Calderone Golf Club
Wednesday (June 4) to earn a spot as one of
the three individual state qualifiers from the
varsity boys’ golf regional tournament.
The top three teams and top three individu-
als at regional across the state last week
earned spots in the June 11-12 boys’ golf
finals. The Division 4 Lower Peninsula Boys’
Golf Finals will be held at The Fortress in
Frankenmuth.
Bailey’s senior teammate Buck Schrader
was just back in the race for a finals spot,
shooting an 88. Caden Faurot shot a 116 for
the Lions.
Lansing Christian won the team regional
title with a score of 322, ahead of Hillsdale
Academy 351 and Hudson 363. Lewanee
Christian was fourth with a score of 383,
ahead of East Jackson 409, Jackson Christian
414, Addison 453 and Webberville 462.
The day’s top two individuals were from
Lansing Christian, junior William Combs shota 73 and junior Davis Garrett a 77. East
Jackson junior Benjamin Maino shot an 80
and was the top individual state qualifier from
the regional. Hillsdale Academy freshmen
Ridley Fast and Rykert Frisinger tied for
fourth with 83s.Lewanee Christian senior Landon Gallant
tied Hudson’s Ambrose Horwath for sixth
place with scores of 84. Gallant joined Maino
and Bailey in the trio of individual state qual-
ifiers.
Bailey’s 85 had him in eighth place overall.Bailey parred the par-4, number 16 to open
his round at Calderone. He had a strong turn.
He scored a birdie on the par-3, number eight,
shot a par on nine and then birdied the
55-yard, par-5 number ten.South Christian overcomes Trojan team’s early offense
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It was the start the Trojans wanted, but not
the conclusion Saturday in Wayland.
The Thornapple Kellogg varsity baseball
team took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first
inning of its Division 2 District Semifinal
with OK Gold Conference foe South Christian.
The Sailors scored a run in the bottom half
of the inning, pulled even in the third and thepulled away with three runs in the bottom of
the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Alex Bonnema led off the ballgame for TK
with a walk and went to third on a double into
center by teammate Reese Garbrecht. Levi
VanderHeide moved them each up a base with
a ground ball to the right side, and then
Garbrecht scored the second run on a passed
ball. A double play ended the Trojan threat
and South Christian pitchers would strike out15 Trojans over the next six innings while
shutting out TK the rest of the way.
VanderHeide took the loss on the mound
for TK. He went the full six innings, striking
out five. He allowed five earned runs on ten
hits. He didn’t walk a batter.
Kaiden Pratt doubled for TK and Eric
Dipert and Alex Bonnema singled the rest of
the way.
South Christian went on to win the districtchampionship. They bested Wayland 13-3 in
six innings in the district final. Wayland start-
ed the day with a 9-0 win over West Michigan
Aviation Academy. The Sailors move on to
the regional semifinals. The were scheduled
to face Olivet back in Wayland Wednesday
(June 9). The winner of that game heads to
Coldwater for regional finals and state quar-
terfinal action Saturday.