Bridgeport is located in the Saginaw area, a hotbed for Michigan boys basketball. Lately, no team has been as hot as Bridgeport thanks to Derrick Davis, averaging 21 points a game.
Jason Kowalski has coached Bridgeport to a 17-2 record with Davis making major contributions. His season high was 32 points against Williamston, a Lansing-area school.
“It's his second year of playing varsity,” Kowalski said. “He averaged 18.1 points and 10 rebounds as a sophomore. He's about 6-2 ½ and was a power forward last year. This year, he's playing more of a wing. He's getting more assists and steals.”
Another standout player is Darvin Ham Jr., whose dad played for the Detroit Pistons from 2003 to 2005 and is best known for a thundering slam during the NCAA Tournament while at Texas Tech. Ham is a 6-foot-5 junior guard averaging 14 points and seven rebounds a game.
“He's grown three inches in the last year. He continues to grow. He could be 6-7 or 6-8 by the time he's a senior,” Kowalski said. “He improved his range. He has nice a touch for a guy from the arc. He can shoot it pretty well. His defense is really improving.”
Kowalski is in his second season of coaching the varsity.
“We generally are a pretty good basketball program here,” Kowalski said. “For the last 10 years, we've had consistent winners here.”
This could be the season a state title comes to Bridgeport.
“Our boys have a goal of making it to the Breslin Center (at Michigan State University) for the state semifinals,” Kowalski said. “It depends on how well we play defense and how we shoot free throws. In the two games we lost this year, we shot under 60 percent from the line. If we can shoot free throws well, make our puppies and defend well, we hope to make a long tournament run.”
Girls Basketball: New Lothrop confident in Class D
Tom Kohlmann coached New Lothrop to the state championship last season in Class D and is confident his team can make another title run with talented players like Monica Confer, a junior, averaging 14 points a game.
“She leads us in scoring. She's also averaging 8.5 rebounds a game,” Kohlmann said. “She's a very good shooter. She's shooting 46 percent behind the three-point line.”
Confer, Kohlmann said was more of a role player on the state championship team.
“This year, she has really done a good job of stepping up and being a leader,” Kohlmann said. “She's also a captain on the team.”
Ashley Root, a senior point guard, is averaging 11.9 points per game.
New Lothrop is 17-3 with the only losses coming to Flint Hamady (twice) and Napoleon, who are undefeated Class C powers. Confer had 28 points against Flint Hamady in one of the games against the state's No. 1-ranked team.
“It's our defense,” Kohlmann said. “We're only giving up 30 points a game. We're pretty excited about that going into the tournament. We feel it's important to keep the score low in order to make a run.
“We think if we play well, we can make a similar run as last year. In tournament play, you hope to avoid one bad game and hopefully we'll stay healthy.”
More Girls Basketball: Monumental mark for Grand Rapids Catholic Central
For the first time in the 103-year history of Grand Rapids Catholic Central, a basketball team is undefeated.
That monumental moment came last weekend when the Cougars girls team defeated Caledonia 44-22 to end the regular season at 20-0.
Annalise Pickerel led the team with 11 points and has been the scoring leader in her junior season for the Cougars with about 15 points a game. Sudan Saunders, a senior, has been among the team's other leading scorers.
Catholic Central coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate said Pickerel has emerged as a future Michigan Miss Basketball candidate.
“She's 6-foot-2 and can be a point guard and also play post,” Lamoreaux-Tate said. “She's very versatile and a good all-around player.
“Defensively, we always put her on the best player of the other team.”
Another Grand Rapids School, Wyoming Tri-Unity Christian, defeated Muskegon Catholic Central 50-39, to finish as conference champs of the River Valley Conference for the 15th straight season.
Standout performers from west Michigan this week included senior captain Lindsey Karpowicz of Grandville, who led her team to a 56-41 victory over Hudsonville for the O-K Red Conference title. Karpowicz had 22 points while junior Kara Hess had 19.
Stanton Central Montcalm's Monica Larson scored 30 points also last week. Amanda Cuello of Grand Rapids Potters House and D. Gordon of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills netted 27 points apiece. Markla Patrick of Wyoming Lee had 25 points. Kaitlyn Tehisen of Saranac, Megan Mulder of Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills and Deiona Rogers of Grand Rapids Union netted 24 points apiece and Shelby Carter of Byron Center scored 23 points.