Leland girls basketball ends its 2025-26 campaign with a 35-31 loss to Frankfort Friday in an MHSAA D4 girls basketball final Friday.
The Comets ended its season with a 14-9 record and fifth place in the Northwest Conference
Leland handles Bear Lake; Panthers knock off Eagles
Leland girls basketball committed at least 25 steals to lead the Comets to the district final with a 45-26 win over Bear Lake Wednesday, March 4.
“We picked it up in the second quarter, and we knocked off the rust from having a week of practice. We are really aggressive coming to the ball,” Leland senior Ariah Amin said. About winning a district championship: “
(Winning a district championship) would mean a lot to us because I don’t think we’ve been able to do that for the past couple of years, so to triumph, that would be amazing.”
The first quarter was full of turnovers for both teams as the Comets and Lakers struggled to get anything going early.
The Lakers led the Comets 5-4 after the first quarter. It took a couple of minutes, but several steals in a row and a big 3-pointer from Leland’s Lily Connor got the Comets rolling to tie 7-7.
Leland went on a 13-0 run to end the half, as the Comets’ suffocating press defense forced at least 10 turnovers in the second quarter, leading to plenty of easy offensive rebounds and eventually baskets once the Comets found their shot, going into the second half up 20-7.
Leland senior Ariah Amin hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter to go up 27-10, while the pressure continued from the vaunted Leland defense to run away with the district semifinal.
“We started the game off with a lot of energy, especially coming off a week of not playing any games. We knew that we had to come out strong,” Waskiewicz said.
“It would mean a lot to come away with a district championship.
We put in a lot of effort this season. We worked really hard, and seeing that come together would be really cool.”
Leland (14-8, 6-8) was led by Ariah Amin with 11 points, followed by eight points from Addi Wakiewics and seven points from Ruby Popp.
“Eventually, we got those steals that got us those looks,” Leland coach Megan Munoz said. “I liked their aggressiveness. We’ve been working on that all season offensively and defensively. Defensively, we’ve had it, and now we’re starting to bring it more offensively.”
Regan Leifers led the Lakers with 14 points, five blocks, nine rebounds and two assists. Natalie Brown had six points and six steals, and Rianna Leiffers had four rebounds and four steals.
The Comets move on to face Frankfort in a grudge match Friday at Bear Lake (7 p.m.)
Leland lost to Frankfort twice this season, 29-24, Jan. 19, and 36-16, Dec. 11.
