Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, March 9, 2024CHS senior pair closes year bowling in D1 State Finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Caledonia seniors Kala
Bisterfeldt and Emma
Whitman finished off their
varsity bowling time at the
MHSAA Division 1 Girls’
Singles Finals Saturday at
Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen
Park.
Bisterfeldt placed 22nd in
qualifying, just 42 pins behind
the last of the 16 match play
qualifiers after the six games.
Whitman was just a little bit
back in 45th place.
Bisterfeldt had a high game
of 245, a total surpassed by
only four of the top 16 during
the qualifying. She also had
high games of 184 and 196 to
close out her day with anoverall total pinfall of 1,103.
Whitman had a total pinfall
of 988 with high games of
202 and 186.
L’Anse Creuse North
senior Haley Streatmans was
the last of the match play
qualifiers from the group of
56 girls at the finals. She had
a final pinfall of 1,155.
Rockford freshman SofiaDeLuccia was at the top of
the qualifying list. She out-
scored Flushing senior
Hannah Reid 226-214 in the
last of the qualifying games to
move to the to with an overall
pinfall of 1,338. Reid was
right behind at 1,333.
The 16 bowlers in match
play each rolled two games in
each round to determine ahead to head winner. Reid
rolled her way into the finals
where she was bested by just
three pins by Holt sophomore
Emma Cadwell. Reid took a
216-158 lead in the first game
of the final round, but Cadwell
rallied to win the state cham-
pionship by outscoring Reid
204-143 in game two.
Utica Eisenhower juniorDylan Harnden beat out
Grand Haven junior Ben
Prokopoek in the finals of the
boys’ D1 Singles Finals
Saturday.
The day before, Friday,
March 1, Zeeland East won
the D1 Girls’ Team Bowling
Championship and the
Grandville boys’ team rolled
its way to a state title.(^) GAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Gaines Charter Township Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to
consider the following request:
Summary of Request: Stoneco 2023 Annual Review
Property Address: 1856 100th Street SE
Parcel Number: 41-22-33-100-
Applicant: Garrett Singer, Stoneco
Date and Time of Hearing: March 28th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Location of Hearing: Gaines Charter Township Offices, Board Room
8555 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Caledonia, MI 49316
Any interested party may appear and be heard on said proposal. Information related to
this request may be inspected, by appt., during regular business hours at the Planning
Department window located in the Gaines Charter Township Offices. For information relat-
ed to this request, contact Dan Wells at (616) 980-6188 or [email protected].
To be entered into the public record, signed written comments must be received by 5:
PM on March 28th, 2024.
Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations should contact Kim Triplett at
(616) 698-6640 one week prior to the meeting to request mobility, visual or any other assis-
tance.
(^213329)
GAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Gaines Charter Township Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to
consider the following request:
Summary of Request: Special Use Permit to allow for a 4,040 square foot accessory
building in the Agricultural/Rural Residential (A-R) zoning district.
Property Address: 8808 Eastern Avenue SE, Byron Center, MI 49315
Parcel Number: 41-22-20-300-
Applicant: Matthew VanNoord
Date and Time of Hearing: March 28th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Location of Hearing: Gaines Charter Township Offices, Board Room
8555 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Caledonia, MI 49316
Any interested party may appear and be heard on said proposal. Information related to this
request may be inspected, by appt., during regular business hours at the Planning Department
window located in the Gaines Charter Township Offices. For information related to this
request, contact Dan Wells at (616) 980-6188 or [email protected]. To be
entered into the public record, signed written comments must be received by 5:00 PM on
March 28th, 2024.
Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations should contact Kim Triplett at (616)
698-6640 one week prior to the meeting to request mobility, visual or any other assistance.
213328
Comeback comes up just short for Scots in district
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Caledonia senior Mackenzie
Devries knew what she had to
do, but she clearly didn’t want
to.
She pounced to try and pry
the basketball away from East
Grand Rapids’ Brecken
Grashuis and the whistle blew.
Devries clasped her hands
on top of her head and made it
a few steps towards the bench
before the emotion of the
moment really hit her face.
The hand at the scorer’s table
held up all five fingers as
Devries stood in the arms of
her head coach Todd Bloemers
with 42.8 seconds left and her
Caledonia varsity girls’ bas-
ketball team trailing East
Grand Rapids by four.
Her varsity basketball time
was through. Grashuis hit her
two free throws and the Scots
didn’t score again as the
Pioneers earned a spot in
Friday’s MHSAA Division 1
District Final back in Lowell
with a 39-31 win.
Devries had six points.
Junior guard Lily Gortmaker
had a team-high ten points in
the loss, with eight of those
coming in the fourth quarter.
Kayla Briseno and Kathryn
Langenburg added five points
apiece for the Scots.
East Grand Rapids was led
by center Sienna Gills’
15-point performance, and her
team was 17-of-22 at the free
throw line for the night. The
Pioneers made more free
throws than the Scots shot.
Fouling at the end to keep
hope alive was only necessary
because of all the hard work
the Caledonia girls did to dig
out of a 17-3 hole they created
for themselves in the opening
quarter.
“Call it the jitters, call it
whatever. It is not the first time
it has happened to us,”
Caledonia head coach Todd
Bloemers said. “One of my
fears as a coach was that we
might be a little bit nervous.
We might struggle a little bit
just to settle in early. East
Grand Rapids does play at a
pace that is very high in transi-
tion and then they’re going to
come around and pressure
you. I was just hoping that we
would take two or three pos-
sessions to kind of adjust to
that style, and unfortunately it
took us the majority of the first
quarter.”
With an 8-0 run in the mid-
dle of the third quarter the
Scots had the Pioneer lead
down to 23-19. They got as
close as three points a few
times in the fourth quarter, even
with the ball in their hands and
a chance to get closer.
Freshman Kayla Briseno
provided a spark. She had a
steal and a bucket that got the
Pioneer lead down to single
digits for the first time in the
second half, and she knocked
down a three-pointer with two
minutes to go in that third
quarter which was the basket
that put the scoreboard at
23-19.
East Grand Rapids man-
aged to score just four points
against the Caledonia defense
in the third quarter. Grashuis
hit a couple free throws early
in the quarter and managed to
score her team’s only field
goal of the quarter as the clock
ticked under a minute to go in
the third.
The Scots had the deficit at
25-19 going into the fourth
quarter. Sophomore workout
warrior Jolie King battled for
an offensive rebound after a
missed free throw, the CHS
defense forced a ten-second
call against the Pioneers and
Gortmaker hit a three off a
nice feed from junior center
Lakely Bottum to get the Scots
within 26-23 with just under
six minutes to play. Bottum
also led a Caledonia defense in
the paint in the second half
that proved very adept at
blocking shots.
Bottum got an and-one
opportunity with 5:12 to go,
scoring inside to make it a
28-25 ballgame. Her free
throw was off its mark, but
Briseno snagged the rebound.
Devries had a good chance
inside, but it wouldn’t fall and
things just didn’t play out in
favor of the Scots the rest of
the way.
East Grand Rapids put
together a 6-0 spurt and went
9-of-10 at the free throw line in
the last five minutes to seal it.
“I was so proud of the way
the kids responded,” Bloemers
said. “We have six seniors on
this roster, and whether they
have been in the starting line-
up or kids that don’t receive
very much playing to, they’re
just all so special to the pro-
gram and to us as coaches. I
just really wanted to go out
there and finish the season
strong and get this win for
them and for our program.
“I thought the way we
played in quarters two through
four, we played like winners.
Our effort. Our attitude. Our
focus was phenomenal and I
am just kind of sad that we
didn’t have a little more than
32 minutes to play tonight,
because it would have been
nice to see what we could have
done.”
Those six Caledonia seniors
include Devries, Mackenzie
Myers, Teresa Abraham,
Addie Rapa, Sarah Kirk,
Addie Roe and Teresa
Abraham.
Caledonia ends the season
with a 6-18 record.
Caledonia got to the district
semifinal with a 56-36 win
over Ottawa Hills in the first
round of the state tournament
Monday at Caledonia High
School.
The Scots’ Lakely
Bottum(34) goes up strong
to the basket between
Bengals defenders
Jadelyn Cooke-Towsel(5)
and Gianna Ladomato-
Fisher (11)during their dis-
trict opener at Caledonia
High School Monday.
(Photo by Perry Hardin)
Caledonia senior Mackenzie Devries gets a hug
from head coach Todd Bloemers after fouling out in
the fourth quarter of her team’s district loss to East
Grand Rapids at Lowell High School Wednesday.
(Photo by Brett Bremer)
Caledonia junior guard Lily Gortmaker (15) elevates
in the paint over Ottawa Hills’ Semaj’ Robertson (10)
and Gianna Ladomato-Fisher(11) in the first round of
the MHSAA Division 1 state tournament at Caledonia
High School Monday. (Photo by Perry Hardin)