The Martin girls’ basketball team that eventually only lost to Covid in 2020 will be honored Friday evening, Jan. 17, in between the girls’ and boys’ games at the hometown gym.
The Lady Clippers won the district championship in impressive fashion over Zion Christian, 47-18, and then defeated Colon in the regional semifinals to set up showdown in the finals against St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran. They were 22-1 for the campaign overall and their opponents likewise had lost only once.
Faith Guritz was the leading scorer for that team and she got a lot of help offensively and defensively from Jaclyn Hildebrand, Bri Warner, Freddie Elkins and Kiaya Warner.
It was the second consecutive district title for Martin, which also copped the Southwest Athletic Conference Lakeshore Division crown.
But the showdown for the regional championship was not to be. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared all high school athletic contests to be suspended because of the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
So no one will know just how good that Lady Clippers’ outfit, coached by Ben Schipper and Robert VanDenBerg could have been — perhaps as successful or better than the 1987 team that made it all the way to the Class D state championship.
