Champs Again: Arbor Prep Girls Celebrate Back-to-Back State Titles

The Arbor Preparatory High School girls basketball team successfully defended their Division 3 state title Saturday, March 22, defeating Lutheran Northwest 31-21 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, but the season presented plenty of challenges.

Returning seniors Eliza Bush and Autumn Pernell had just competed at the cross-country state finals when practices for basketball season began, and they were interested to see what their young basketball team was made of. Unfortunately, a season-ending knee injury to Pernell in the preseason created an on-court challenge for the whole team to manage.

“I think everyone had to adapt to their roles, it was definitely different from last year,” Bush said. “Autumn would have had a huge role for us, so when she got hurt, we weren’t sure if all this would happen.”

Bush said Pernell quickly transitioned into a support player from the sidelines, encouraging players with her words, creating excitement on the bench, and even showing some coaching prowess when guiding younger players during the games.

“Even though she was hurt, she helped us a lot,” Bush said. “Her leadership and motivation were huge. She gave us pep talks before and after the games, gave us advice. She basically was another coach for us. She really helped us get to this point.”

Coach Scott Stine, who tallied his fourth state championship leading the Gators, echoed Bush’s comments about Pernell, but was quick to heap praise on his starting point guard.

“Over this postseason run we did a terrific job of really controlling tempo and handling the ball,” he said. “Our schedule is always very difficult, and it put some kids in positions we didn’t anticipate, and we took our lumps. But we continued to get better each and every week. And when you’ve got a point guard like Eliza Bush, good things can happen.”

Arbor Prep junior Angela Meggisson finished the state championship game as the leading scorer with 11 points, while Bush had 10. They were the only two players in the game with double-digit scoring totals. Rebounding proved to be the stat of the game, as the Gators pulled down 29 total boards, 24 of them while on defense.

Bush is putting the basketball away for now has announced her commitment to run track and cross country for Oakland University in the fall, but her memories of teamwork on the court will last a lifetime.

“I’m really proud of myself, but I’m especially proud of my team and how far we were able to come this year. We just grew so much, especially the underclassmen who had to take on bigger roles. I’m just proud of my team.”

Congratulations on another championship season, Gators!