Lady Raiders are Regional Champions

Anyone who has been following girls high school basketball season knew that Wednesday night’s regional championship content between Portland and Frankenmuth at Corunna would be a game to see.

The Red Raiders entered the game 16 and 2. The Eagles of Frankenmuth came in 18 and 1.

The match-up did not disappoint. Portland jumped on the Eagles early with hot shooting and took a convincing 21-12 first quarter lead, but Frankenmuth stayed within striking distance the remainder of the game, even outscoring the Raiders in the final quarter.

In a game that kept spectators on the edge of their seats, Jason Haid’s Portland squad showed true grit and determination, and defeated Frankenmuth 53-49 to earn the Regional Championship.

Portland was led offensively by junior Ashley bower who scored 26 points, 12 of them coming on three pointers. Senior Ava Gruber added 11 points for the Raiders, nine of which came on threes.

Frankenmuth was led by Lexi Boyke with 14 points, and Emma Kerkau with 11 points.

Scoring by quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 21 – 11 – 10 – 11 – 53

Frankenmuth 12 – 14 – 10 – 13 – 49

You can see Coach Haid’s post game comments at the link below.

Portland will face Escanaba in the MHSAA quarterfinals at Houghton Lake on Monday night. Escanaba is 14-4 and beat Ludington in their regional finals 53-35.

The winner of the Portland and Escanaba game will meet the winner of Parma Western and Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard on Wednesday at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids in state semi-finals.

Photos by AJ Guilford.