Kaylee Jeffers, Gaylord St. Mary advance to regional finals despite 46 from Mia McGregor

KALKASKA ― You could make the case that, despite winning a district championship last Friday, the postseason for the Gaylord St. Mary girls basketball team started on Monday night.

GSM had a relatively easy path to its fourth straight district crown last week, going up against Ski Valley Conference foes Central Lake and Bellaire en route to the championship victory. Their regional bracket? Far from what anyone could call easy.

The Snowbirds opened up the Divison 4 regional bracket with quite a task, going up against phenom Mia McGregor and the Mio-Au Sable Thunderbolts. Just a freshman, McGregor is set to take over as the state record holder for points per game in a single season after averaging 40+ PPG in her first stint as a high school basketball player.

Finding a gameplan to defend McGregor is a nightmare for any team she faces, and Gaylord St. Mary’s knew slowing her down was going to be different than any challenge they faced this season.

Challenge accepted.

McGregor still found a way to get hers, finishing with a game-high 46 points, but it was Kaylee Jeffers and the Snowbirds who willed themselves to victory as they took home a 61-54 upset victory to advance to the regional finals on Wednesday.

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Here are takeaways from a monumental win for GSM:

GSM defense holds just enough in battle with freshman phenom

Gaylord St. Mary threw everything it could at freshman Mia McGregor (33) and, while she still scored 46 points, GSM found a way to get a victory.

There are no secrets going into a game with Mio-Au Sable. Everyone in the gym knows every Thunderbolt possession will run through their freshman phenom, with many ending in a McGregor shot and a McGregor basket.

For GSM, the goal wasn’t necessarily to stop her or even slow her down, just to hold her to around her season average of 40 points per game.

46? Close enough.

McGregor still felt unstoppable at times, but the difference came from the shots that St. Mary’s forced her to take, limiting her opportunities in the paint and forcing more 3-pointers. Some shots fell, but as the Snowbirds limited the second chances and the rest of McGregor’s teammates, they found themselves in the game and even leading most of the way.

“Going into the game we knew McGregor was a very good player, our goal was to hold her under 40 points. 46 is pretty close,” said sophomore point guard Kaylee Jeffers. “We were hoping to take away her drives to the basket and force her to shoot more threes, and luckily that ended up working for us.”

Jeffers’s performance guides upset victory

Kaylee Jeffers (24) had her hands full all night going up against freshman phenom Mia McGregor (33), but the sophomore helped will GSM to a regional semifinal victory.

To counter a 40+ per game scorer, GSM was going to need some of the best performances of the season from its best players. It didn’t help that their only upperclassman, senior Miriam Murrell, was sidelined with an ankle injury putting all the pressure on their large contingent of sophomore playmakers.

Luckily for them, Kaylee Jeffers turned in perhaps the best performance of her career when her team needed her most.

The sophomore was on fire from the jump, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Snowbirds built an early lead and settled into an emotional game. Maybe even more important was her calm, cool demeanor at the free-throw line late in the game, making 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter as GSM put away the game at the charity stripe.

“This was one of the most fun games I have played,” said Jeffers. “This is the third year I’ve been in regionals, but the first that I’ve had a big role, so seeing all the hard work not only I put in, but my team has put in, is awesome.”

She led GSM with 28 points while fellow sophomore Payton Glasby had 19.

Frankfort awaits Snowbirds

Gaylord St. Mary defeated Mio-Au Sable on Monday, March 11 in an MHSAA Division 4 girls basketball regional semifinal, moving on to the regional championship game on Wednesday in Kalkaska.

GSM has little time to rest before getting back to work as they’ll be back in Kalkaska on Wednesday, March 13 to take on Frankfort in the D4 regional finals.

Frankfort went 17-5 in the regular season and finished third in the Northwest Conference standings behind Maple City Glen Lake and Kingsley. They beat Glen Lake 45-42 in their regional semifinal matchup, knocking the defending D4 state champions out of the bracket.

GSM and Frankfort only shared one common opponent this season, Fife Lake Forest Area, and each won those games handily. The Snowbirds defeated Forest Area twice in the regular season, 58-16 in December and 61-30 in January, while the Panthers defeated them 46-13 in their district semifinals.

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kaylee Jeffers, Gaylord St. Mary win despite 46 from Mio- Au Sable’s Mia McGregor