Lady Raiders Defeat Freeland to Advance to Regional Finals

On Monday night, the Portland High girls basketball team traveled to Corunna to face the Falcons of Freeland in the MHSAA regional semifinals.

The Lady Raider defense was solid in the contest holding the Falcons to single digits in three of the four quarters of play, while the Raider’s balanced offensive attack saw nine different players score.

Portland won the game 54-32.

Offensively, Portland was led by junior Ava Guilford who scored 13 points. Other Raiders who scored include:

Ashley Bower 12

Shalyn Dziewaitkowski 8

Breckyn Werner 6

Alivia Densmore 4

Alexa Weber 4

Ava Gruber 3

Hannah Schrauben 2

Grace Sines 2

Freeland’s offense was led by junior Whitney Farrell who scored 11 points.

Scoring summary by quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 14 – 18 – 7 – 15 – 54

Freeland 6 – 7 – 8 – 11 – 32

On the other side of the regional bracket, Frankenmuth defeated Lake Fenton 47-43. Frankenmuth is 18-1 on the season with their only loss coming from the undefeated 20-0 Midland Dow squad.

Portland (16-2) and Frankenmuth will face off on Wednesday night at 7:00 at Corunna in the regional championship.

The Lady Raiders will surely enter the contest on Wednesday with a chip on their shoulder after Frankenmuth ended Portland’s 2020 playoff run with a 52-43 loss in the regional semifinals.

The Frankenmuth squad brings a grudge of their own into the game. After defeating Portland last year, the Eagles regional final contest was never played as the MHSAA ended the postseason due to the COVID concerns before the next contest.

Both of these high caliber teams have something to prove and the game is sure to be a battle.

Photos by AJ Guilford.