ELMIRA ― The gymnasium at Alba High School in Elmira is affectionately called, ‘The Thunderdome,’ an ode to the gladiator-style arena used in the 1985 film “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.”
Maybe most teams see that nickname as an overzealous description of a relatively small gym. When JoBurg girls basketball walked off the court Friday, March 6, after another matchup with No. 2 Gaylord St. Mary, feeling exhausted, battered and bruised after another physical matchup with their Otsego County rivals, the ‘Thunderdome’ moniker probably felt pretty fitting.
St. Mary (23-1, 16-0 Ski Valley) played another elite defensive game against JoBurg (10-11, 7-8 SVC), holding the Cards to a single-digit point total in the first half as they ran away with a 64-25 victory.
It was the third win for St. Mary in the rivalry matchup with JL in 2026, that also secured the program’s sixth-straight district title.
Here are the key takeaways from another GSM title victory.
Jeffers, Snowbirds defense hound Lawes, JL’s offense
Not many teams in the state of Michigan have a player as versatile as senior Kaylee Jeffers.
According to coach Pat Schultz, nobody does.
The Snowbirds’ point guard has her hands full on GSM game days, leading the Snowbirds offense up the floor, serving as the point player in GSM’s hounding press defense and is almost always left one-on-one with the other team’s best player. Sometimes, her efforts don’t show up in the box score; that does not mean they go unnoticed.
“A night like this, there’s not a whole lot of teams in the state that have a kid like that on defense,” said coach Schultz. “I’ve been here 17 years, the varsity coach for about 10. There is no one that can match her work ethic. She’s 1-of-1 when it comes to that.”
JoBurg’s Emery Lawes felt her presence all night long, Jeffers holding the talented sophomore scoreless in the first half and limiting her to just five points in the final two quarters. Jeffers added 11 points of her own while fellow senior Payton Glasby led all scorers wtih 23 points.
Defensive efforts like what they put on display on Friday night are why GSM entered the postseason ranked No. 2 in the final Michigan Sports Writers Rankings and why they have high hopes for their future in the D4 postseason. For now, they’ll celebrate a sixth-straight district title before going back to work this weekend.
Snowbirds eyeing elusive regional championship, rematch in finals
While every championship is something for a team to relish, forgive this Snowbird team if their eyes are on a bigger prize.
With GSM’s sixth-straight district title victory comes a sixth trip to the regional rounds of the Division 4 playoffs, something that wasn’t lost on coach Schultz after the game.
“This will be our sixth regional. This group has never broken through that,” said Schultz. “There’s just a certain ceiling we’ve never been able to break through.”
This particular group, led by seniors Kaylee Jeffers, Payton Glasby, Emery Blust and Allyra Cook, has seen three consecutive seasons end in the regional title game: a loss to Maple City Glen Lake in 2023 and back-to-back losses to Frankfort in 2024 and 2025. The Snowbirds’ last regional title win came in 2022. This year, they want things to be different.
“You could call it our revenge tour,” senior Emery Blust said after the Inland Lakes game on Feb. 26.
GSM plays Buckley at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 9 in the regional semifinals. With a win, GSM will face one of two rematch scenarios, depending on the result of Mio vs. Frankfort at 7 p.m. St. Mary has defeated the Mio Thunderbolts and their star Mia McGregor in the regional semifinals in 2024 and 2025, then fell to the Frankfort Panthers in the finals.
JL season ends, graduating two seniors
For JoBurg, the loss brings an up-and-down 2025-26 season to a close.
Coach Jessica Crane’s team showed up for more than a few games this season, rattling off a five-game winning streak during early February to help them finish fifth in the final SVC league standings. However, finding consistent offense against the best teams in the league proved to be a challenge for JoBurg throughout the year, and that showed up again against GSM.
Junior Lily Crane led the Cardinlas with 13 points, while Emery Lawes and Laney Wells had five points apiece.
Seniors Jaeden Briley and Laney Wells depart from the roster for next season, but with a solidn group returning, including Lawes and Crane, the Cardinals have a chance to be an experienced, talented team in 2027.
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: St. Mary gets third win over JoBurg, wins sixth-straight district title
Reporting by Dylan Jespersen, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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