Armada girls hand Cros-Lex rare BWAC loss

 

By Chuck Pleiness, The Macomb Daily

POSTED: 01/19/18, 9:06 PM EST | UPDATED: 2 DAYS AGO

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Armada coach John Baerwolf gets his point across during a timeout in his team’s 44-42 BWAC victory over Croswell-Lexington.CHUCK PLEINESS -- THE MACOMB DAILY

When Armada secured a rebound off a missed 3-point shot as time expired, the celebration began on the Tigers’ home court Friday night.

And why not, they had just handed the five-time Blue Water Area Conference champs its first loss in quite some time.

“They’re a really good program and they’ve the top team in our league what seems like every year,” said Armada coach John Baerwolf after his squad’s 44-42 win over Croswell-Lexington. “I can tell you this, I don’t know how far back it goes, but I know for sure nobody has beaten them one time in the last three years so it goes back awhile.”

The Pioneers have also won seven straight district championships.

“After last season we knew we were getting close,” Baerwolf said. “These girls put a ton of work this offseason. Once the season ended last year I couldn’t keep them out of the gym for a month.

“Their goal is to be at the top,” Baerwolf continued. “There have been a lot of girls’ teams here at Armada, but we haven’t won a league title since 1989. This win is a big deal for us.”

The win keeps the Tigers undefeated in the BWAC, while handing the Pioneers their first loss.

“They’re still on top until someone knocks them off,” Baerwolf said. “That was our message.

“Those shots at the end always seem to bank off and go in,” Baerwolf added. “The odds went in our favor this time. We got that last rebound and that’s what really matters.”

Armada got 12 points from Caitlin Rawlins and nine out of Joann Seefried. Madelynne Sutton followed with eight points. Rawlins also had four blocks, four assists, three steals and two blocks.

“I don’t know. I don’t keep track of that,” Pioneers coach Darren Bongard said when asked about the last time his squad had lost a game in the BWAC. “It’s been awhile.”

Seefried also snatched eight rebounds to go with four blocks, three steals and three assists, while Sutton grabbed five boards.

Early on it looked like Armada (4-0, 9-1) was going to run away with it after draining its first four shots – all triples – to go up 13-0 before Croswell-Lexington recorded a point.

“You could tell we were ready to go, but it looked like we thought we could do whatever we wanted to at that point,” Baerwolf said. “We got way out of our offense. We shot a ton of threes, we do shoot them, but not that many.”

The Pioneers (4-1, 5-4) was led by Gabriella Childers with 17 points, while Lily Connelly chipped in nine and Devyn Gordon added seven.

“Never have I seen a team hit four straight shots and they’re all threes,” Bongard said. “We didn’t’ want to go for a three. We wanted to dump it in the post, but it just didn’t work out that way.

“It’s a tough one to lose,” Bongard continued. “This is a tough place to play. It’s always a tough place to play. We talk about going on the road and trying to steal one and we almost did.”