Portland St. Patrick vs. Ishpeming – – MHSAA Division 4 Girls Basketball Final – – The Bleacher Denizen – – March 21, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft

This morning, your Bleacher Denizen is up early to get to the Breslin Center to watch as the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick take on the Ishpeming Hematites for the MHSAA Division 4 Girls State Basketball Championship!! Ishpeming got to the final by beating Morenci in the semifinal game Thursday. St. Patrick made the finals with this win over Onekama! https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2026/03/20/portland-st-patrick-vs-onekama-mhsaa-division-4-girls-basketball-semifinal-the-bleacher-denizen-march-19-2026-by-chuck-krafft/

As we wait for this game to begin, I hope you will enjoy the “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”. This version is an instrumental featuring me on the piano and trumpeter extraordinaire John Rickert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1MxOus8t44

Ishpeming enters this game with a 24-3 record. Their only losses have been to Division 2 teams. The Hematites are led by two players who started on their state championship team from two years ago. Jenessa Eagle averages 24.4 points and 3.7 steals per game. She is a great three point shooter with a quick release who has hit 68 three point shots this year so far. Mya Hemmer averages 16.6 points, 5.8 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. Frankie Stetson averages 6.3 points and has hit 40 three point shots so far this year.

Portland St. Patrick enters this game with a 23-5 record. They are led by Grace Rockey, who averages 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game. Macie Smith scores 6.8 points and pulls down 4.8 rebounds per game. Lily Sandborn averages 7.9 points per game. Macie Leonard is capable of big scoring games; she scored 18 in the semifinal win over Onekama. Marian Davlin fills out the starting lineup. She is a tough defender in the post as well as being a rebounding machine.

Please note that these statistics are from the MHSAA Finals Review and do not include Thursday’s semifinal games.

I’d also like to take a minute to salute Mattie Honsowitz, who injured her knee earlier this season. She was a classic post player with great fundamentals who was a four year varsity rotation player. She was an excellent post defender and rebounded who used footwork and great form to be a great interior and midrange scorer.

Instead of being depressed over her injury, she has been coming to every game and urging her teammates on while providing valuable coaching to her teammates. She has been a big part of the team this season even though she cannot play.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the occasionally alert eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to escape church league. It seems that his creative approach to defense confused his coach. He tried to insist that defenders always need to be between their man and the basket.

Your Bleacher Denizen felt that stifled his creativity and spent a lot of time defending near the midcourt line. His coach did not get the vibe and insisted that this approach led to too many easy layups for the opponents. He started giving the Bleacher Denizen’s playing time to those who approached defense more traditionally.

Ishpeming wins the opening tap. The Hematites miss a three point attempt from the corner. Ave Jo Hares ties up the ball. The Possession Arrow is cleaning its house for a party and misses the play. The ball is awarded to the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a threeball from the side. Ava Jo Hares passes to Mya Hemmer, who hits a layup to give Ishpeming the game’s first two points.

Macie Leonard drives the baseline and hits a six foot jump shot for St. Patrick to tie the game. Grace Rockey knocks the ball out of bounds. The Hematites retain possession. Ishpeming misses a layup. Mya Hemmer hits a putback to give Ishpeming a 4-2 lead.

A Shamrock dribbler steps out of bounds. Ishpeming throws an errant pass. Mya Hemmer makes a valiant, athletic attempt to save the ball, but it goes out of bounds and the Shamrocks take possession. Mya Hemmer blocks a St. Patrick layup. (The layup was actually taken by a Shamrock player and not the Saint, himself.) Mya Hemmer ignores the Bleacher Denizen’s attempt at humor and takes the ball coast to coast for a layup that givers Ishpeming a 6-2 lead.

Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock layup. Grace Rockey blocks an Ishpeming threeball from the side. The loose ball goes out of bounds and the Hematites get another opportunity. Brittanie Piotrowski passes to Mya Hemmer, who hits a layup for the Hematites. Mya Hemmer steals the ball for Ishpeming. The Hematites miss a layup. The rebound goes out of bounds and Ishpeming gets the ball back.

Grace Rockey blocks a Hematite layup; the loose ball goes out of bounds and Ishpeming gets another possession. Macie Smith steals the ball and is fouled on a fast break layup. She makes her two free throws to trim the Hematite lead to 8-4 with 3:34 remaining in the opening period.

Macie Leonard gets her hand on an Ishpeming pass; the Hematites recover. St. Patrick misses a threeball from the side. Ava Jo Hares hits a two point basket from the side for Ishpeming. St. Patrick misfires on a triple try from the side. Macie Smith grabs the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a layup. Jenessa Eagle hits a ten foot shot off the dribble from the baseline to give Ishpeming a 12-4 lead.

St. Patrick misses a threeball from the side. Ishpeming misfires on a triple try. Ava Jo Hares gets her hand on the ball and knocks it out of bounds; Ishpeming takes possession. The Hematites miss a three point shot from the corner. Frankie Stetson pulls down the offensive rebound for Ishpeming. The Hematites miss a layup. Macie Leonard tosses a pass to Macie Smith, who hits a three point shot from the side to cut the Ishpeming lead to 12-7.

Grace Rockey steals the ball and hits a layup for St. Patrick. She is fouled on the play and hits her free throw to chop the Ishpeming lead to 12-10. Mya Hemmer steals the ball and is fouled on a fast break layup. She hits two free throws for Ishpeming to give the Hematites a 14-10 lead. Grace Rockey drives, spins and hits a layup for St. Patrick. She is fouled on the play and makes her free throw to cut the Ishpeming lead to 14-13 with 18.1 seconds left in the first quarter.

Ishpeming misses a ten foot shot off the dribble in the lane. St. Patrick misses a heave as the first quarter buzzer seeks attention and blares loudly.

After one quarter, Ishpeming has a 14-13 lead.

Ishpeming has the ball to start out the second quarter. Frankie Stetson passes to Jenessa Eagle, who hits a six foot shot from the baseline for the Hematites. St. Patrick misses a layup. Macie Leonard blocks a Hematite layup. St. Patrick misses a fifteen foot shot from the baseline. Ishpeming misses a twelve foot shot from the baseline.

St. Patrick travels with the ball. (Basketball cliches can be interesting!! I doubt that traveling “with the ball” would be terribly newsworthy.) Ishpeming misses a threeball from the side. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock layup. Brittanie Piotrowsksi passes to Mya Hemmer, who makes a slick post move and hits a layup to give Ishpeming an 18-13 lead.

Ava Jo Hares knocks the ball away from St. Patrick and Jenessa Eagle picks it up for Ishpeming. The Hematites miss a fast break layup. Mya Hemmer hits a putback for the Hematites. Ava Jo Hares dives and causes a tieup. The Possession Arrow is polishing its silver for the party and misses the play; the ball is awarded to St. Patrick. The Shamrocks miss a driving layup.

Marian Davlin knocks the offensive rebound to a Shamrock teammate. Mya Hemmer gets her hand on the ball, but the Shamrocks recover. Brittanie Piotrowski blocks a St. Patrick triple try from the side. Lily Sandborn knocks the ball out of bounds to stop a Hematite fast break. Mya Hemmer passes to Jenessa Eagle, who takes a hard dribble and hits a three point shot from the side to boost the Ishpeming lead to 23-13.

St. Patrick misses a ten foot shot off the dribble from the baseline. Ishpeming misfires on a threeball from the top of the key. Mya Hemmer blocks a St. Patrick layup. Brittanie Piotrowski passes to Jenessa Eagle, who hits a twelve foot jumper in the lane for Ishpeming. Brittanie Piotrowski steals a Shamrock pass. Jenessa Eagle passes to Brittanie Piotrowski, who is fouled on a layup and hits two free throws to give Ishpeming a 27-13 lead with 2:37 remaining in the second quarter.

Ava Jo Hares gets a hand on the ball, but the Shamrocks recover. St. Patrick commits a traveling violation. Ishpeming misfires on a triple try from the side. Frankie Stetson grabs the offensive rebound for the Hematites. Ishpeming misses a layup. The rebound is tied up. The Possession Arrow looks up from the flowers it is arranging and awards the ball to the Hematites. Grace Rockey gets her hand on the ball and an Ishpeming dribbler loses it out of bounds.

Mya Hemmer steals the ball for the Hematites. Ishpeming misses a ten foot shot from the side. Jenessa Eagle grabs the offensive rebound for the Hematites. Ishpeming misses a threeball from the side. Mya Hemmer grabs the offensive rebound for Ishpeming. The Hematites miss a layup and foul on the rebound. Mya Hemmer knocks the ball out of bounds; St. Patrick retains possession.

The Shamrocks miss a layup. Morgan Krieger gets the offensive rebound for St. Patrick. Ishpeming ties the ball up. The Possession Arrow is looks up from its invitation list and awards the ball to the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a jump shot from the free throw elbow. Jessica Eagle spins in the lane and hits an eight foot turnaround jumper from the side for Ishpeming to give the Hematites a 29-13 lead.

Marie Salisbury partially blocks a Shamrock threeball from the side. Ishpeming misses a three point shot from the side just before the halftime buzzer decides it is time for a break.

Ishpeming has a 29-13 lead at halftime. In the second period, they scored fifteen unanswered points.

Grace Rockey has 6 points to lead the Shamrock scoring at halftime and Macie Smith has 5 points.

Mya Hemmer has 14 points and Jenessa Eagle has 11 points for Ishpeming.

As our readers cannot hear what is happening during halftime, I hope you will enjoy these videos from my You Tube Channel.

“We Gotta Get Out of This Place” was a huge hit for Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1964. Don Sare plays an excellent bass line in this video while I sing and play keyboards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICFXX8cI-nk

And here’s “Georgia on my Mind!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrWlNWzmTiw

Ishpeming inbounds the ball to start out quarter number three. The Hematites fumble a pass out of bounds. Ava Jo Hares knocks a Shamrock pass out of bounds; St. Patrick retains possession. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock jumper from the free throw line. Brittanie Piotrowski passes to Jenessa Eagle, who hits a three point shot from the wing for Ishpeming. Mya Hemmer steals the ball and hits a fast break layup to give Ishpeming a 34-13 lead.

St. Patrick misses a threeball from the wing. Lily Sandborn steals the ball for the Shamrocks. Marian Davlin passes to Lily Sandborn, who hits a three pointer form the wing for St. Patrick. Marian Davlin blocks an Ishpeming layup. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock driving layup. Jenessa Eagle passes to Brittanie Piotrowski, who hits a fast break layup to boost the Hematite lead to 36-16.

St. Patrick is whistled for a traveling violation. Ishpeming misses a layup. Mya Hemmer grabs the offensive rebound for the Hematites. Ishpeming misses a layup and the Shamrocks foul on the rebound. Ishpeming misses a three point shot from the side. St. Patrick reciprocates and misses a three point shot from the side. Lily Sandborn gets the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks and passes to Marian Davlin, who hits a twelve foot shot from the side to trim the Hematite lead to 36-18.

Ishpeming misses a layup. Mya Hemmer grabs the offensive rebound for the Hematites. Ishpeming misses a layup. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock layup. Ishpeming misses a three pointer from the side. St. Patrick reciprocates and misses a three pointer from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and St. Patrick gets another opportunity. Grace Rockey passes to Marian Davlin, who fakes a shot, drives and hits a layup to cut the Ishpeming lead to 36-20.

Ishpeming misses a three point shot from the top of the key. St. Patrick misses a driving reverse layup. Ishpeming misses a three point shot from the wing. Frankie Stetson ties up the rebound for the Hematites. The Possession Arrow is arguing with a friend that was not invited to the party and misses the play; the ball is awarded to St. Patrick.

St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the corner. Ishpeming misses a three point shot from the top of the key. The rebound goes out of bounds and St. Patrick gets the ball. St. Patrick misses a three pointer from the wing. The rebound goes out of bounds and Ishpeming gets the ball. The Hematites miss a three point shot from the corner. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock three point shot from the side. The loose ball goes out of bounds and St. Patrick gets another opportunity.

The Shamrocks miss a ten footer from the baseline. Grace Rockey blocks a Hematite threeball from the corner. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing. The buzzer decided it is time to end quarter number three and lets out a roar.

After three quarters, Ishpeming has a 36-20 lead.

Ishpeming inbounds the ball to open the fourth quarter. Lily Sandborn gets her hand on the ball, but the Hematites recover. Marian Davlin passes to Grace Rockey, who hits a layup for the Shamrocks. Grace Rockey blocks an Ishpeming layup. Grace Rockey passes to Macie Leonard, who hits a layup to trim the Hematite lead to 36-24.

Mya Hemmer alertly reacts to prevent a bad pass from turning into a Hematite turnover. Ishpeming misses a threeball from the corner. St. Patrick misses a layup. Macie Smith grabs the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. Mya Hemmer blocks a Shamrock layup. Morgan Krieger gets her hand on the ball, but Ishpeming recovers. Jenessa Eagle hits a jump shot off the dribble to give Ishpeming a 38-24 lead.

Mya Hemmer steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for Ishpeming. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the corner. Macie Leonard ties up the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. The Possession Arrow has successfully barred an unwanted guest from the party, looks up, sees the play and gives the ball to St. Patrick.

St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the top of the key. Grace Rockey hits a putback for the Shamrocks. Ishpeming misses a driving layup. Brittanie Piotrowski is fouled on a putback and hits two free throws to give Ishpeming a 42-26 lead with 4:35 remaining in the game.

St. Patrick misses a threeball from the wing. Macie Leonard grabs the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the side. Ishpeming misses a driving layup. Jenessa Eagle is fouled on a putback and hits two free throws to boost the Hematite lead to 44-26 with 3:58 left on the clock.

St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Lily Sandborn grabs the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a layup. Macie Smith knocks the ball away from Ishpeming and Macie Leonard picks it up for the Shamrocks. Mya Hemmer knocks the ball away from the Shamrocks and Brittanie Piotrowski picks it up for the Hematites. Jenessa Eagle is fouled before the shot; this negates a Hematite layup. Jenessa Eagle hits one of her two free throws to give Ishpeming a 45-26 lead with 2:57 to play.

St. Patrick misses a three pointer from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and St. Patrick retains possession. The Shamrocks miss an eighteen foot shot from the wing. Ishpeming is fouled, but misses two free throws. St. Patrick misses a fifteen foot shot form the side. St. Patrick misses an eighteen foot shot form th ewing. Ishpeming misses a layup.

Mya Hemmer knocksw the ball out of bounds; St. Patrick gets another opportunity. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the top of the kay. Maria Austen gets the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Brittanie Piotrowski passes to Ava Jo Hares, who takes a hard dribble and hits a three point shot from the wing to give her Hematites a 48-26 lead.

Jordyn Lansdell drives and hits a layup for St. Patrick. She is fouled on the play, but misses her free throw. Joanna Dugan gets the offensive rebound for St. Patrick. The Shamrocks miss a layup. Ishpeming runs out the last few seconds of game time.

Ishpeming wins this game and the Division 4 State Championship by the final score of 48-28.

Grace Rockey led the St. Patrick scoring with 10 points. Macie Smith added 5 points. Macie Leonard and Marian Davlin each tossed in 4 points. Lily Sandborn scored 3 points. Jordyn Lansdell tallied 2 points.

Jenessa Eagle led the victorious Hematites with 19 points. Mya Hemmer supported her with 18 points. Brittanie Piotrowski pitched in with 6 points and Ava Jo Hanes had 5 points.