PHS Girls Basketball District Preview 2019

The Portland Lady Raider basketball team kicks off MHSAA districts on Monday. The Raiders are assigned to district 50 hosted by Lake Odessa Lakewood

Portland, coached by Jason Haid, will face host Lakewood Monday night at 7:00. The Lady Raiders finished the regular season 15-5 overall and 2nd place in the CAAC White with a 7-3 conference record. Portland is 1-0 versus Lakewood this season, picking up a 47-32 win at Lakewood back on February 25th.

The Vikings of Lakewood, coached by Marcus Urka, finished 7-13 in the regular season. They were 5th in the Greater Lansing Activities Conference behind Leslie, Perry, Olivet, and Stockbridge.

When asked how he felt about his team heading into districts, Portland’s Haid said, “I really like our focus heading into a very competitive district. We hope to continue our strong defensive play throughout the tournament. We know in order to win, we must get stops and be sold defensively.”

As for his first-round opponent, Haid said, “We played Lakewood last week and we were able to come out with a win. They are a much-improved team from a year ago and play extremely hard. Coach Urka has done an excellent job and they will be ready to play on their home floor.”

The Portland vs. Lakewood winner will play Lansing Catholic in the Semi-Finals Wednesday at 7:00. The Cougars of Lansing Catholic, coached by Kacee Reid, drew a first round bye. They finished 11-8 overall, and 6-4 in the CAAC White landing them in 3rd place for the conference.

The other side of the district 50 bracket starts off with Lansing Sexton playing Lansing Eastern on Monday at 5:00. The Big Reds of Sexton, coached by Ivory Morrell, finished their regular season 0-19 overall, and 0-10 in the CAAC White.

The Quakers of Lansing Eastern, coached by Curtiss Wright, finished their regular schedule 2-17, and went 0-10 in the CAAC Red.

The winner of the Sexton and Eastern matchup will face Ionia Wednesday at 5:00 in the Semi-Finals. The Bulldogs of Ionia, coached by Scott Pischea, drew a first round bye. The Bulldogs were 10-10 overall, and finished fifth in the CAAC White with a 2-8 conference record.

The district championship game is set for Friday night at 6:00 PM.

Bracket image from mhsaa.com.