Cass City at Kingston – – Girls Basketball – – The Bleacher Denizen – – December 22, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, your Bleacher Denizen is staying in Frankenmuth for Christmas (He lives in Lansing.) and it’s just a short hop to Kingston, where the hometown Cardinals will host the Red Hawks from Cass City in a Boy/Girl doubleheader.

The Cardinals enter this game with a 5-0 record. Their closest game so far has been a twenty-five point win over Bay City All Saints. The Red Hawks have a 2-1 record.

As we wait for the games to start, I hope you will enjoy this video of “O Tannenbaum” from my You Tube Channel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443EYOrZw0w

Your Bleacher Denizen had an interesting time getting to Kingston, but it was not because of icy roads are anything so understandable. Somehow, after I stopped at the gas station on the corner of M-24 and M-46, instead of getting back on M-46 to head to Kingston, I managed to get on M-24. I had to use GPS to find my way back to Kingston High, a place I’ve been to many times to cover basketball and football games.

After Christmas vacation, I plan to enroll in a math rehabilitation program so I can learn the difference between a 24 and a 46, to hopefully prevent this from happening again!!

Tonight’s game is the “Battle for Deford”. Deford is a small town located roughly between Cass City and Kingston. The winner of each game (Boys and Girls are both playing tonight.) will take home a realistic looking street sign with “DEFORD” on it.

Kingston Coach Jay Green provided me with this information about his Cardinal players.

Senior Molly Walker is a returning All-State player who excels at every aspect of the game. She is tall enough to defend and rebound in the post and quick enough to be the stellar perimeter defender she is. She is excellent handling the ball and passing. When it is time to score, there is little she can’t do as she can hit three point shots and frequently overpowers opponents on drives to the basket with her athletic ability.

Vanessa Osborn is a fine freshman guard who handles the ball well, defends the perimeter well and can hit the three point shot. Talia Harrington is another defender who can work in the post or on the perimeter. She is also an excellent passer. Lilah Kiley and Hailey McGuire are persistent perimeter defenders. Grace McGarvie is a tough defender in the post.

Norah Kiley is another tough Cardinal perimeter defender. Hailey Seaman is an accurate three point shooter who can defend and rebound in the post.

Cass City Coach Reggie Ignash provided this information about his Red Hawk players.

Skylar Ignash is a tall, athletic player who can defend the post or the perimeter. She is a fine passer and a threat to score on slashes to the basket. Her sister Karsyn Ignash is a post player who defends, rebounds and scores well inside. Carla Cortes is a sticky perimeter defender who runs the point for the Red Hawks. She is a fine passer and ball handler. Isabella Bennett is a fine defender either in the paint or on the perimeter. Maykaylah Westendorf defends well on the perimeter or in the post.

Lindsey Langenburg and Macy Haag are good perimeter defenders. Hailey Foreman and Wynter Brinkman defend well in the post. Rylee Bliss is a fine three point shooter. Lexi Tamlyn is coming back from an injury. She gives fine leadership to her Red Hawk team.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat alert eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to escape church league in the ancient times when he was considered to be “young” and attempted to hoop. It seems that he and his coach had some creative differences about the approach to basketball.

The coach attempted to get us to pass the ball only to players wearing the same color shirt. I felt that this was exclusive and that we should really try to share the ball with everyone. The coach insisted on this concept of turnover prevention. As you might guess, this led to a war of wills that the coach inevitably won. Your Bleacher Denizen eventually spent most of his time watching others play basketball as he sat.

Kingston wins the opening tap. Skylar Ignash steals the ball for the Red Hawks and hits a fast break layup to give her team the first two points of the game. Carla Cortes steals the ball for the Red Hawks and passes to Isabella Bennett, who hits a fast break layup to give Cass City a 4-0 lead.

Kingston misses a three point shot. Vanessa Osborn pulls down the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a three pointer. Grace McGarvie gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misfires on a threeball from the wing. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston throws a pass out of bounds. Talia Harrington’s tough defense forces a Red Hawk double dribble violation.

Kingston misses an eight foot shot in the lane. Hailey McGuire knocks a Red Hawk pass out of bounds; Cass City retains possession. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston is whistled for an over and back violation. Cass City travels on an up and under scoring move in the lane. Molly Walker passes to Grace McGarvie, who is fouled on a layup. Grace McGarvie hits one of her two free throws to shave the Red Hawk lead to 4-1 with 4:41 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Ignash Connections comes through for the Red Hawks as Karsyn passes to her sister, Skylar, who hits a layup to give Cass City a 6-1 lead.

Skylar Ignash and Carla Cortes’ aggressive defense forces a tieup. The Possession Arrow looks up from her Christmas Cookie batter, is impressed by the tough defense and awards the ball to Cass City. Cass City misses a layup. Vanessa Osborn hits a three point shot from the wing for Kingston, to cut the Cass City lead to 6-4.

Cass City loses a pass out of bounds. Kingston misses a twelve foot shot from the baseline. Grace McGarvie gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and the Cardinals get another opportunity. Kingston misses a three pointer from the side. Cass City is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. With 2:00 to play in the opening quarter, the Red Hawk lead remains at 6-4.

Kingston misses a three point shot from the side. Vanessa Osborn gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. Lilah Kiley grabs the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a fifteen footer from the side. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals, but her momentum forces her out of bounds and Cass City gets the ball back.

Cass City commits a traveling violation. Hailey McGuire hits a fifteen foot jump shot from the side for Kingston to tie the game. Carla Cortes is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of her two free throws to give her Red Hawks a 7-6 lead with 1:01 to play in the quarter.

Karsyn Ignash gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Talia Harrington is fouled on a six foot shot and hits two free throws to give Kingston an 8-7 lead with 55.3 seconds to go in the opening period.

Molly Walker steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a fifteen foot shot from the side. Lilah Kiley pulls down the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston drives and misses a ten foot shot in the lane. Molly Walker gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Carla Cortes steals the ball for the Red Hawks. Cass City misfires on a threeball from the wing as time expires.

After one quarter, Kingston has an 8-7 lead.

Cass City inbounds the ball to open the second quarter. Grace McGarvie’s defense forces a Cass City traveling violation. Vanessa Osborn passes to Talia Harrington, who throws in a threeball from the top of the key for the Cardinals. Cass City misses a layup. Skylar Ignash blocks a Kingston driving layup. The loose ball goes out of bounds and the Red Hawks take possession. Carla Cortes is fouled on a driving shot and hits one of three free throws for Cass City. (A lane violation by Kingston gave her an extra free throw.) With 7:01 left in the second quarter, Kingston has an 11-8 lead.

Skylar Ignash gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Kingston misses a three pointer from the side. Cass City commits a double dribble violation. Kingston misses a threeball from the wing. Cass City misses a fifteen footer from the side. Karsyn Ignash gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Molly Walker passes to Grace McGarvie, who is fouled as she shoots a layup. Grace McGarvie hits one of her two free throws to give Kingston a 12-8 lead with 5:58 remaining on the first half clock.

Cass City misses a twelve foot shot in the lane. Kingston misses a three pointer from the wing. Molly Walker knocks the ball away from Cass City and Hailey McGuire picks it up for Kingston. The Cardinals travel on a drive to the hoop and turn the ball over. Grace McGarvie taps the ball away from Cass City and Molly Walker picks it up for Kingston. Kingston is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. With 4:00 remaining in the second quarter, the Kingston lead remains at 12-8.

Talia Harrington forces a tieup. The Possession Arrow is busy sifting flour and misses the play. The ball is awarded to Cass City. Molly Walker steals the ball for Kingston. Grace McGarvie passes to Lilah Kiley, who hits a layup for Kingston. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a fast break layup. Molly Walker gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals and is fouled on a putback. She hits one of her two free throws to boost Kingston to a 15-8 lead with 3:01 left in the quarter.

Vanessa Osborn pulls down the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a threeball from the side. Molly Walker’s sticky defense forces a Red Hawk dribbler to lose the ball out of bounds. Hailey Foreman knocks the ball away from Kingston and Macy Haag picks it up for Cass City.

Lilah Kiley and Molly Walker harass a Red Hawk inbounding the ball and Cass City loses the pass out of bounds. Kingston misses a layup. Cass City misses a twelve foot shot from the side. Molly Walker is fouled and hits one of her two free throws to give Kingston a 16-8 lead with 1:45 left in the half.

Lilah Kiley gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Molly Walker drives and hits a layup to give Kingston a ten point lead. Cass City misses an eight foot banked shot from the side of the lane. Kingston misses a threeball from the wing. Hailey McGuire forces Cass City into a double dribble violation. Skylar Ignash knocks a Cardinal pass out of bounds to prevent a layup.

Molly Walker forces a tieup. The Possession Arrow ignores a pan of cookies burning and awards the ball to Kingston. The Cardinals miss a fourteen foot shot in the lane just before the halftime buzzer decides it’s time for a break.

Kingston will take an 18-8 lead into the locker room at halftime. Your Bleacher Denizen boldly predicts that when the third quarter begins, the Cardinals will also have an 18-8 lead.

Talia Harrington leads the Kingston scoring at halftime with 5 points and Molly Walker has 4 points.

Skylar Ignash has 4 points for Cass City.

As there is no entertainment at halftime, I hope you will enjoy these two videos from my You Tube Channel.

“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” details a tragic tale involving Grandma and some reindeer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACFZptPUZs

This next one is an original song that documents what led up to this tragic incident. As Paul Harvey would have said, here is the “rest of the story.” Here is “Grandpa Did It!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp3FW5dhL3E

The Bleacher Denizen nearly wrenched his shoulder patting himself on the back when the scoreboard revealed that the score was still Kingston 18 Cass City 8 at the beginning of the third quarter. Fortunately, I did not push so hard that I was not able to type the article when I got back to my room.

Cass City inbounds the ball to open quarter number three. The Red Hawks miss an eight foot shot in the lane. Karsyn Ignash gets her hand on the ball, but Kingston is able to recover. Kingston misses a twelve foot shot from the side. The Possession Arrow has its hands full of shortening as it is greasing a pan, but manages to find time to award the ball back to Kingston.

Cass City plays ferocious defense and prevents Kingston from inbounding the ball in the required five seconds, so the Cardinals turn the ball over. The Red Hawks miss a driving layup. Karsyn Ignash grabs the offensive rebound for Cass City. Isabella Bennett drives and hits a ten foot shot from the baseline to trim the Kingston lead to 18-10.

Kingston misses a six foot shot from the side. Cass City fouls going for the rebound and the Cardinals get another opportunity. Carla Cortes gets her hand on the ball and Kingston loses it out of bounds. Cass City misses a fifteen foot shot from the wing. Skylar Ignash grabs the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Karsyn Ignash gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a six footer from the baseline. Kingston is fouled on a driving layup, but misses two free throws. With 4:53 remaining in quarter number three, Kingston holds an 18-10 lead.

Talia Harrington gets the offensive rebound from the missed free throw for Kingston. Kingston misses a layup. Cass City is whistled for a traveling violation. Kingston reciprocates and is whistled for a traveling violation. Isabella Bennett hits a fifteen foot shot off the dribble from the side for Cass City. Kingston misses a driving layup. Talia Harrington is fouled on a outback and hits two free throws to give Kingston a 20-12 lead with 3:57 to go in quarter number three.

Carla Cortes passes to Isabella Bennett, who hits a threeball from the wing for Cass City. Isabella Bennett steals the ball for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Karsyn Ignash gets the offensive rebound and passes to Maykaylah Westendorf, who hits a twelve foot shot from the baseline for Cass City and chops the Kingston lead to 20-17.

Maykaylah Westendorf knocks the ball away from Kingston and Carla Cortes picks it up for Cass City. The Red Hawks miss a three point shot from the wing. Karsyn Ignash gets the offensive rebound for Cass City. Cass City is fouled on a layup and misses two free throws. With 2:46 to play in quarter number three, the Kingston lead remains at 20-17.

Vanessa Osborn gets into the lane and hits a twelve foot banked shot for Kingston. Cass City misses a ten foot shot in the lane. Karsyn Ignash pulls down the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Maykaylah Westendorf hits a putback to cut the Kingston lead to 22-19.

Kingston misfires on a triple try from the side. Cass City misses a fast break layup. The rebound goes out of bounds and Kingston takes possession. Vanessa Osborn drives and hits a layup for Kingston. Grace McGarvie gets her hand on the ball, but Cass City recovers. The Red Hawks commit a traveling violation. Kingston misses a ten footer from the baseline.

Cass City commits an offensive foul. Kingston misses a three point shot form the side. Molly Walker gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses an eight foot shot from the baseline. The third quarter buzzer decides to end things before Cass City can get the ball up the court to shoot.

With three quarters in the books, Kingston has a 24-19 lead.

Kingston inbounds the ball to open the fourth quarter. The Cardinals are whistled for traveling. Hailey McGuire gets her hand on the ball, but Cass City is able to recover. The Red Hawks are fouled on a driving layup, but miss two free throws. Kingston misses a threeball from the side. Cass City misses a turnaround eight foot shot from the side of the lane. Kingston throws its outlet pass too far and it sails out of bounds.

Cass City misses a driving layup. Lexi Tamlyn gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Skylar Ignash steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for Cass City to cut the Kingston lead to 24-21.

Vanessa Osborn passes to Molly Walker, who hits a three point shot from the side for Kingston. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball and is fouled on a fast break layup. She hits two free throws to boost Kingston to a 29-21 lead with 6:15 remaining in the game.

Molly Walker nearly steals the ball for Kingston, but Cass City recovers. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. (One of the Cass City starters fouled out on the play.) Lilah Kiley steals the ball for Kingston. Molly Walker hits a fifteen foot shot off the dribble on the baseline to give Kingston a 31-21 lead.

Talia Harrington steals a Red Hawk pass to prevent a layup. Kingston misses a threeball from the side. Talia Harrington pulls down the offensive rebound and passes to Molly Walker, who hits a layup and is fouled. She sinks her free throw to boost Kingston to a 34-21 lead with 4:50 left on the clock.

Lilah Kiley knocks the ball away from Cass City and Molly Walker picks it up for Kingston. The Cardinals miss a fast break layup. Molly Walker hits a putback for Kingston. Vanessa Osborn harasses a Red Hawk dribbler and forces her to lose the ball out of bounds. Kingston misfires on a threeball from the top of the key. Talia Harrington gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a layup. Molly Walker is fouled on a putback and hits two free throws to give Kingston a 38-21 lead with 3:52 left in the game.

Cass City misses a layup. Carla Cortes pulls down the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. The rebound is tied up. The Possession Arrow looks up from mixing chocolate chips into the cookie batter and awards the ball to Cass City. Vanessa Osborn steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a layup. Cass City misses a threeball from the wing. Vanessa Osborne is fouled on the rebound and hits one of her two free throws. (The second one was actually made, but a lane violation negated it.) With 2:55 to play, Kingston holds a 39-21 lead.

Skylar Ignash drives and hits a six foot banked shot for Cass City. Kingston misses a three point shot from the side. The Cardinals get the offensive rebound. Molly Walker hits a fifteen foot shot from the side for the Cardinals. Cass City is fouled, but misses two free throws. Karsyn Ignash pulls down the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a fifteen foot shot from the side. Talia Harrington passes to Molly Walker, who is fouled on a layup and hits one of her two free throws. With 1:12 left on the clock, Kingston has a 42-23 lead.

Molly Walker gets the offensive rebound from the missed free throw and hits a putback for Kingston. Cass City loses the ball and Molly Walker grabs it for Kingston. The Cardinals are fouled with 29.7 seconds to go, but miss two free throws. The rebound is tied up. The Possession Arrow is cleaning a flour spill and looks up to award the ball to Kingston. Lindsey Langenburg knocks a Kingston pass out of bounds; the Cardinals retain possession. Kingston runs out the clock.

Kingston wins this game by the final score of 44-23 and the Deford Street Sign is awarded to the Cardinals.

Isabella Bennett led the Cass City scoring with 9 points. Skylar Ignash supported her teammate with 8 points. Maykaylah Westendorf scored 4 points and Carla Cortes tallied 2 points.

Molly Walker scored seventeen points in the fourth quarter and finished with 21 points for Kingston. Vanessa Osborn joined her teammate in double figures with 10 points. Talia Harrington contributed 7 points. Lilah Kiley, Hailey McGuire and Grace McGarvie each added 2 points.

I also covered the boys’ game between Kingston and Cass City. When I finish typing that article, I will post the link here.