KALKASKA — Kaylee Jeffers somehow outshined a player who scored 46 points in the Division 4 regional semifinal at Kalkaska on Monday.
The Gaylord St. Mary sophomore might not have outscored Mio freshman phenom Mia McGregor, but Jeffers outplayed her and left the court with a 61-54 win as well as a ticket to the D4 varsity girls basketball regional championship final against Frankfort (20-5) on Wednesday.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Jeffers said after the seven-point win. “All day, we’ve been thinking about how bad we wanted to win this. We all feel like we have something to prove.”
Jeffers knocked down three 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the first quarter against Mio (20-5) as Gaylord St. Mary (17-8) jumped out to a 12-3 lead. The Thunderbolts charged back behind McGregor’s offensive prowess to take a 14-12 lead, but Jeffers connected on her fourth triple of the quarter to put the Snowbirds up one, 15-14, after the first eight minutes.
Payton Glasby dialed from long distance to open scoring in the second quarter for an 18-14 St. Mary advantage, but McGregor once again put the Thunderbolts on her back and scored nine points in the quarter to put Mio up 23-22 at the half.
Glasby repeated the feat and opened scoring in the third quarter with a corner three for a 25-23 St. Mary lead. The Snowbirds and Thunderbolts battled back and forth with Jeffers hitting another trey to go up 34-30. McGregor ended the third with a three of her own to cut the Snowbirds’ lead in half heading to the fourth at 39-36.
McGregor eclipsed 30 points with a layup to begin the fourth quarter and get the Thunderbolts to within one, but free throws would be the name of the game for the Snowbirds in the final eight minutes.
St. Mary scored 16 of its 22 fourth-quarter points from the charity stripe. Jeffers went 9 for 10 from the line, Glasby was 5 of 6, and Allyra Cook connected on both of her attempts in the final quarter.
“We never shoot free throws like that,” Gaylord St. Mary head coach Pat Schultz said with a laugh. “Against a team like that with a girl like that (McGregor), you can’t leave any points on your end of the floor.”
McGregor tried to keep her team close, but her game-high 46 points would not be enough to earn the Thunderbolts a comeback victory.
“We’re so thin with numbers, I can’t get up and pressure her (McGregor) because she would foul us out,” Schultz said. “We had to just hedge our bets with her. She’s a different animal, and you have to try something different against a kid like that. I’m just glad she missed a couple shots.”
Jeffers finished with 28 points followed by Glasby with 19. Emery Blust had six points followed by Cook and Lily Keister with four apiece.
“You didn’t see anybody above a sophomore on the court tonight. This was a JV team,” Schultz said, adding that the team’s only senior, Miriam Murrell, was out injured. “That was 10th, ninth and eighth graders out there. That was as poised as they’ve been in this type of moment. We are so young, and I’m extremely happy with the way these girls stepped up.”
The Snowbirds square off against the Frankfort Panthers at 7 p.m. back at Kalkaska High School in the Division 4 regional championship game Wednesday. The winner moves on to the state quarterfinals March 19.
“Frankfort is a good team. They’re bigger than we are — everybody’s bigger than us,” Schultz said. “If shots fall, it’ll be a good game. If they don’t, we could get run out of the gym. But we live by what we do, so we’ll die by what we do.”
REGIONAL SEMIS
Elk Rapids 57
Roscommon 19
Elk Rapids: Kendall Standfest 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists; Morgan Bergquist 17 points, 6 rebounds; Brooke Fluty 10 points, 4 steals.
UP NEXT: The Elks (23-2) square off against West Iron County in the Division 3 regional championship game at St. Ignace on Wednesday.
Midland Dow 60
TC Central 42
Traverse City Central: Lucia France 18 points; Lorelai Zielinski 10 points; Jakiah Brumfield 4 points; Kylie Ball 4 points; Belle Bird 4 points; Lucy Bongiorno 2 points.
UP NEXT: The Trojans end their season at 18-6.
West Iron County 52
Harbor Springs 47
Harbor Springs: Olivia Flynn 33 points; Stefi Reskevics 4 points; Sophie Barnadyn 4 points; Bryleigh Rummer 4 points.
UP NEXT: The Rams end their season at 22-3.
MP Sacred Heart 41
Brethren 25
Brethren: Elly Sexton 9 points; Grace Kidd 6 points.
UP NEXT: The Bobcats end their season at 19-6.
Negaunee 43
Petoskey 29
UP NEXT: Petoskey ends its season at 13-11.
St. Ignace 59
Inland Lakes 35
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs end their season at 18-7.