Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
If you had taken a straw poll and asked high school girls’ basketball coaches how many of the them thought that the Eaton Rapids girls basketball team would walk away from the Breslin Center as Class B state champions, it is likely there wouldn’t have been many takers.
But if Eaton Rapids coach Willis Whitmyer was a betting man, he would have taken that bet in a heartbeat.
Eaton Rapids came into the tournament poised, confident, and relaxed, and it showed in their play on the court.
All the Greyhounds did was waltz through the field, defeating favorites like reigning runner-up and No. 9-ranked Powers Catholic 46-36 in the semifinal and knocking off Class B No. 1 and previously undefeated Grand Rapids South Christian 51-38 in the final to win the school’s first-ever girls’ basketball championship.
Even though the road to the title looked easy for the Greyhounds, it wasn’t by any means. However, Eaton Rapids made believers out of the naysayers in the end.
“How many of you believe Allie Dittmer is all-state first team player now?” Whitmyer asked jokingly in the press conference after the Powers victory. “Allie Dittmer is a gamer. She played her butt off tonight, and we got the win over a very good Flint Powers team.”
The Greyhounds out-rebounded the Chargers 38-22, thanks in large part to Dittmer’s 14 boards that went with her game-high 15 points.
Dittmer followed up her big game against Powers with an even bigger effort in the championship game against South Christian.
She led the victorious Greyhounds with 26 points and 13 rebounds as she dominated play inside, making nine of 15 field goal attempts.
“This was a long time coming,” Whitmyer said. “We thought we had the talent to do it last year, but we made too many mistakes. We learned our lesson.
“We tell them a thousand times to get the ball inside. We rode her [Dittmer] to victory.”
Dittmer, who is headed to Hillsdale College to continue her basketball career, said key matchups on the court played to her advantage to an extent, but she felt that the entire team stepped up en route to winning the state title.
“I just felt really comfortable out there,” Dittmer said. “My teammates would get me the ball in space, and I made my shots. I am so proud right now. It’s an amazing feeling.”
The Class B all-state honorable mention selection scored eight fourth-quarter points, despite having picked up her fourth foul with 4:50 to go in the fourth quarter.
The Greyhounds never trailed by more than two points in the game, and Dittmer was a big reason why. She helped take the Greyhounds to a 19-16 halftime lead after scoring 11 first-half points, including nine in the second quarter.
Eaton Rapids also forced 12 first-half turnovers and out-rebounded the Sailors 16-11 in the first two quarters, with Dittmer pulling down eight boards. The Sailors didn’t have a single first-half offensive rebound.
“She [Dittmer] was a force inside,” said South Christian coach Jim De Bruyn. “We tried our best to stop her, but she was just a horse in there.”
Eaton Rapids also got solid efforts from Emily Reinecke, who contributed six rebounds and five assists, and from senior Bailey Baker, who was a huge contributor in the Powers win.
The coach felt another force during the championship game, especially in the second half, which made a big difference in turning things in his team’s favor.
“I thought our fans were unbelievable,” said Whitmyer, whose team won all eight of its tournament games by at least 10 points. “I looked out there, and I thought we owned the Breslin. Our support system throughout the school and the community was really something else, and that makes this even more special.”
And rightfully so for a team that no one expected to win the tournament when it started. Now Eaton Rapids is the Class B champion, and I bet people know who they are now.