Tuesday night brought the postseason run to an end for two of the Thumb region’s most competitive girls basketball programs. Kingston and Cass City both fell in district tournament action on March 17th, closing out seasons that had given their communities plenty to be proud of – even if the final night did not go the way anyone in those programs had hoped.
There were no boys area scores reported. The spotlight belonged entirely to the girls, and for the Thumb-area programs still standing when the night began, it turned into a difficult evening.
Girls Basketball Scores – March 17th
Morenci defeated Kingston 42-25 in a result that was more decisive than Kingston’s tournament run to this point might have suggested was coming. Kingston had navigated the early rounds of the bracket with genuine resilience — surviving a 40-39 heartbreaker against Waterford Our Lady on March 3rd, bouncing back to post a dominant 70-point performance against Sterling Heights Parkway Christian in the district opener on March 9th, and then holding off a determined Deckerville squad 47-43 just six days ago. That is a postseason arc that required three different kinds of basketball — escaping a close loss, delivering a blowout, and surviving a grinder — and Kingston had shown they could do all of it.
Tuesday night, Morenci was simply the better team. A 17-point margin tells the story clearly enough. Kingston was held to 25 points, which is a testament to how well Morenci defended throughout the game and how difficult they made it for Kingston to find any consistent offensive rhythm. When a team that scored 70 points in one game and 47 in another gets held to 25, credit belongs entirely to the defense that made it happen.
For Kingston’s seniors, Tuesday night is the final game of their high school careers. That reality lands differently depending on the player — some will have had the game they wanted to go out on, others will feel the sting of knowing they had more to give. But a postseason run that included the kind of resilience Kingston showed across four weeks of tournament competition is a legacy worth being proud of, even when the last game does not produce the outcome a team was working toward.
Pewamo-Westphalia ended Cass City’s season with a 55-33 victory that was not particularly close at any point. Pewamo-Westphalia is a program with deep tradition and the kind of organizational culture that tends to show up in big moments — they arrived at Tuesday’s game ready, and Cass City, despite its own impressive tournament run, could not match them on the night.
The margin is tough to absorb for a Cass City program that had been playing some of the best basketball of its season heading into the bracket. The Blue Devils defeated Otisville Lakeville 43-33 in the first round on March 9th and then delivered one of the tournament’s most impressive results just two nights later — a dominant 54-30 dismantling of Sandusky on March 11th that reversed a 17-point loss to the same team from just two weeks earlier. That kind of turnaround between two games against the same opponent is a remarkable thing, and it spoke to a Cass City coaching staff and team that made real adjustments and executed them at exactly the right time.
Against Pewamo-Westphalia, the adjustments were not enough. A 22-point deficit at the final buzzer reflects a significant gap on the night, and Pewamo-Westphalia’s ability to control both ends of the floor kept Cass City from ever generating the kind of momentum that had defined their best performances earlier in the tournament.
For Cass City’s seniors, this is the end. A season that included multiple competitive wins, a dramatic tournament reversal against Sandusky, and the kind of growth that only comes from playing meaningful postseason basketball is a career worth celebrating regardless of how Tuesday ended.
Reflecting on What These Seasons Meant
Both Kingston and Cass City leave the 2025-2026 season with more to show for it than a single final score. Tournament runs produce experiences and memories that stay with players long after the scoreboard has been forgotten — the lessons learned in close games, the bonds formed through shared preparation and competition, and the understanding that the work required to succeed at the highest level of a season’s bracket is genuinely difficult and genuinely worth doing.
For the communities behind these programs, there is real pride to be found in how both teams competed. Kingston’s resilience across multiple rounds and Cass City’s remarkable response to a regular season loss are stories that reflect well on the people who coached them, the families who supported them, and the schools that gave them a place to compete.
The girls postseason in the Thumb region has been one of the more compelling stretches of local basketball in recent memory, with multiple programs showing genuine quality across several rounds of competition. For a full picture of how this week’s tournament results connect to the earlier rounds, the March 11th district results captured the Kingston-Deckerville clash and Cass City’s statement win over Sandusky — the performances that set up Tuesday’s quarterfinal matchups and gave both programs the belief that another round was within reach.
For complete regional tournament brackets, updated scores, and advancing team information as the girls postseason continues toward its conclusion, the Michigan High School Athletic Association provides authoritative bracket information and game results across every division statewide. Fans wanting detailed scoring breakdowns, player statistics, and program histories throughout the tournament can find comprehensive coverage at MaxPreps Michigan High School Basketball.
