Bedford girls 1 win from unbeaten regular season

Bedford, ranked fourth among Michigan s Class A teams, include, from left, Laura Hall, coach Amy Schrader, Tara Breske, Kristin Hendricks, and Allison Davis. The Mules are 19-0, 8-0 in the Southeastern Conference.

A victory for Bedford s girls basketball team on senior night will solidify the first undefeated regular season in school history.

The Mules, ranked fourth in Michigan among Class A teams, are 19-0 on the year, including an 8-0 mark against Southeastern Conference opponents going into tonight s regular season finale at home against Dexter.

And the good news doesn t end there. Senior Laura Hall made it official yesterday that she will play basketball at Michigan State next fall.

Hall, who signed a national letter of intent to attend MSU next year, is one of the top girls basketball players in Michigan. The Bedford senior, who stands 6-4, looks forward to playing against Big Ten competition and at the Division I college level in general.

Nonetheless, the Mules best post player isn t quite ready to hang up her high school jersey anytime soon. Her senior season has been nothing less than perfect for the Mules and she isn t ready for it to end yet.

“We want to keep [the season] going,” said Hall, a four-year starter. “We want to make it to the top because we ve already come this far and we ve worked so hard this year.

“At practices we go all out. We take it a game at a time, but we know we can do it. We ve got the heart and we ve put in the long hours and hard work.”

Hall, who ultimately chose Michigan State over Michigan and Purdue, is averaging 13.8 points and 7.0 rebounds a contest. Her numbers are slightly down from a year ago (14 ppg, 8 rpg) when the Mules posted their best season to date. They collected their most victories in a single season as they finished 21-5 overall while reaching the state quarterfinals for the first time ever in Amy Schrader s second season coaching the team.

“We wanted to go undefeated because that was one of our goals for the season,” Hall said. “We just basically worked hard every day in practice and we ve been buckling down on defense this year.”

Sophomore forward Tara Breske, who actually leads the team in scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg), is one of three returning starters from a year ago. An undefeated regular season isn t something that has come as a surpise to her.

“I expected it because we have most of the people back from last year who started and we have the talent to go far,” Breske said.

When Schrader took over as head coach of the team three seasons ago, the Mules were coming off a losing season. Schrader, who grew up in Ida, was the Monroe girls junior varsity coach for one season before she was hired to coach at Bedford.

During the last three seasons the Mules have thrived like never before, going 56-10 and becoming one of the top programs in Michigan.

During the undefeated run the Mules have beaten their opponents by an average of 25 points. They re averaging 58 points a contest while holding their opponents to 33. They ve defeated all but two of their opponents this fall by at least 10 points. They squeaked past rival Adrian by six points earlier in the season and knocked off Detroit Country Day 58-50 Tuesday night on the road.

Hall s low-post play has been the centerpiece in Bedford s winning over the last three years. Yet, the Mules are a team deep on quality talent.

Breske, a 5-11 forward, is one of the top sophomores in Michigan. Colleges, including Connecticut, already have started to send letters to her home. Not only is Breske skilled, she s also a proven winner. She s been a part of undefeated teams in the past.

Most recently, she was a starter on a 14-and-under AAU team that finished among the top-15 teams nationally last summer following a 31-0 record against AAU teams across Michigan.

Then there s Kristin Hendricks (10.5 ppg, 2.0 spg) and Allison Davis (6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg), who have been consistent contributors to a team that hopes to continue with its winning ways all the way through the Michigan Class A state playoffs. The Mules will open the state playoffs against Ypsilanti on Monday night at Ypsilanti Lincoln.