Michigan high school girls basketball: Fowler smothers Ewen-Trout Creek for Div. 4 title

EAST LANSING — Fowler stormed out of the halftime locker room with a dominant run to sprint past Ewen-Trout Creek 53-29 in the Michigan high school girls basketball Division 4 championship Saturday morning at Breslin Center.

The Eagles started the third quarter with six straight to push the lead out to 15 points midway through the third quarter. Ewen-Trout Creek briefly stopped the run with a pair of buckets, but Fowler ended the third quarter with a 10-0 run to go up by 23 entering the fourth.

"We talked about correcting the little things," head coach Nathan Goerge said, who pointed to the defensive effort early as an issue. "Things we can control. That was the main message, and having confidence and trusting things were going to work out. The girls really regrouped and came out in the second half and did a fantastic job."

The Eagles (27-2) cruised in the fourth quarter for their third Division 4 state championship in the past five seasons. Fowler won all six state tournament games this season by more than 20 points.

Fowler led from start to finish after a quick start sparked by the defense. Elizabeth Hufnagel gave it an early advantage and Katie Spicer put Fowler back ahead after Ewen-Trout Creek took its only lead in the first quarter on a pair of Emma Besonen 3-pointers.

The Eagles’ advantage got as big as 11 points in the first quarter, but Trout-Creek cut the deficit to seven points at halftime with an 8-2 run to close the second quarter.

Fowler’s smothering defense sparked the large runs, especially in the third quarter. Ewen-Trout Creek shot 34.3% from the field (12-for-35) and had 18 turnovers, as Fowler hounded the guards and consistently jumped the Panthers’ skip passes aiming to beat the matchup zone defense.

Hufnagel, who finished with 10 points and five rebounds, often led the break or found Spicer, who got the fastbreak going immediately with full-court passes to streaking Fowler players. Spicer, who finished with 17 points, had a personal 6-0 run during Fowler’s 12-0 run late. Brooke Weber was the third Fowler player in double-digits with 10 points.

"The message all year has been finish," Goerge said after losing in the semifinals last year. "... I'm just happy that they've been able to do that this year."

Besonen, a junior, led Ewen-Trout Creek with 13 points, and her freshman sister Bree scored nine. Junior center Irelynd McGeshick had seven points.

Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan high school girls basketball finals: Fowler wins D-4 title

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