200 Wins Later, Lusk's 'Yes' Still Paying Off as Hanover-Horton Surges
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
February 3, 2026
Joe Lusk has had to be talked into coaching a couple of times.
But that hasn’t stopped him from being a winner.
The Hanover-Horton girls basketball coach picked up career victory No. 200 last week when the Comets improved to 12-1 with a victory over Homer. It’s the best start to the season for Hanover-Horton since girls basketball transitioned from a fall sport to winter two decades ago.
“He holds his girls accountable and wants to get the best out of each and every one of them,” said Comets athletic director Chris VanEpps. “We are very lucky to have him here at Hanover-Horton.”
Lusk’s career spans two Cascades Conference schools – his alma mater Michigan Center, and Hanover-Horton for the past five seasons. He was also on the bench at Michigan Center when the Cardinals enjoyed incredible success under coach Scott Furman.
Lusk’s story isn’t the typical one about a high school athlete growing up wanting to be a coach. The Consumers Energy retiree, in fact, never considered coaching basketball until his daughter Courtney came home one day and told him he was coaching her team.
“She was in the fifth grade,” Joe Lusk said. “She told me there was a tournament at Vandercook Lake, she was playing and I was going to coach. I told her no way.”
That no slowly turned into a yes.
After coaching the youth basketball team for several years, Lusk was asked by Furman to join his varsity staff.
“He probably asked me 20 times,” Lusk said. “I kept telling him no. Ten years later, I was still coaching.”
Courtney grew into a varsity player and Lusk became an assistant coach.
“The joke at our house was she was either going to be a good basketball player or she was going to be in therapy,” Lusk said. “She would come home after a tough game and say, ‘Is tonight a therapy night?’”
Not much therapy was needed. The Cardinals went through a remarkable run during which they reached the MHSAA Finals twice and Semifinals another season before Courtney graduated in 2006.
Joe Lusk remained an assistant but, in 2012, Furman died, shocking the Michigan Center community. The ultra-successful coach had won more than 350 games during his career. Lusk took over the job, although he had reservations about becoming head coach.
Over the next nine seasons those reservations were put to rest as the Cardinals won 149 games. In 2018, they went 23-3 and made a run to the Division 3 Semifinals.
Lusk’s last season at Michigan Center was 2020-21. In June 2021, he was hired at Hanover-Horton.
“They found out there was an opening at Hanover and my wife (Cindy) and Courtney put together my resume and sent it in,” Lusk said. “They told me they were doing it. They wouldn’t let me quit (coaching).”
He was hired.
“Having an experienced coach like Coach Lusk is very important for our program,” VanEpps said. “His consistency and effort to make things better, not just for his teams, but for Hanover-Horton in general, give our younger staff someone to model themselves after. As for the girls on his team, he is stern but fair, which is something that can be lost on our younger generations.”
As for his current team being 12-1, Lusk knows the Comets have difficult games coming up. The Comets face Michigan Center (12-2) on Wednesday, Brooklyn Columbia Central (9-2) in a Cascades Conference West game in two weeks and state-ranked Concord in a nonconference matchup. Hanover-Horton also is in a District with powerhouses like Jackson Lumen Christi and Grass Lake. If the Comets win the Cascades West, they will likely face Grass Lake in the conference title game.
“We know the second half of our schedule is loaded,” he said.
Through it all, basketball remains a family sport. Courtney is the Comets’ junior varsity coach. Cindy keeps the scorebook for every game, something she has done for years.
“We are a basketball family,” Lusk said. “If Cindy didn’t do what she does, I wouldn’t be here today. She does a lot of work. For our juniors program, she keeps track of everything, all of the kids, what their shirt sizes are. If I had to do all of that, I wouldn’t be doing it. She loves basketball.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Hanover-Horton girls basketball coach Joe Lusk monitors the action during a game this season. (Middle) Lila Hamisfar (1) puts up a shot against Homer. (Below) Lusk carries balloons celebrating his 200th win alongside Hanover-Horton teacher and basketball parent Courtney Toteff. (Top and middle photos by Hannah Tacy/JTV. Below photo courtesy of Cindy Lusk.)
Breslin Bound: 2023-24 Girls Report Week 12
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 26, 2024
February is nearly at its end, and the girls basketball regular season will finish this week as well. And, of course, anticipation couldn't be higher for what's next as the calendar turns to March.
We have a much clearer picture of how this season's MHSAA Tournament will begin to unfold as District brackets were announced Sunday – find them all on the Brackets page. But keep in mind as well, several teams still have much to play for this week, and actually over the next four days, as almost all of our teams will finish up their regular-season schedules by the end of Thursday.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 54, Detroit Renaissance 39 The Irish (21-0) moved within a win of a perfect regular season by defeating the Phoenix (18-3) in the Operation Friendship league champions matchup.
2. Detroit Edison 57, Belleville 46 The Pioneers (16-2) will enter the Division 2 tournament among favorites again, further bolstered by this victory over the Division 1 Tigers (18-2).
3. Goodrich 44, Flushing 26 The Martians (21-0) also are one win from a perfect regular season, and one of those Division 2 contenders, coming off this Flint Metro League Tournament championship clincher over Flushing (14-8).
4. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 45, Jackson Lumen Christi 31 The Eaglets (20-0) are closing in on a possible perfect regular season as well after finishing a Catholic High School League Cardinal Tournament title run against the Titans (17-5).
5. Bark River-Harris 52, Munising 31 The Broncos (20-1) secured an outright championship in the Skyline Central Conference Large schools division by winning this matchup of co-leaders entering the game, with Munising (16-4) finishing runner-up.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Clarkston (15-6) The Wolves have hovered between Nos. 10-20 on the Division 1 MPR list over the last five weeks before bumping up to No. 8 heading into this one. They’ve played tough teams and won key games, the most notable victory lately 53-27 over Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (14-5) to avenge a 43-38 loss three weeks earlier. The other defeats have come to West Bloomfield (18-1) twice, Lake Orion (12-7) by a point, Detroit Country Day (15-5) and Chelsea (17-4) – and Clarkston has six wins over opponents with at least 14 victories, the most recent 50-33 last week over Royal Oak (14-6).
Grand Blanc (16-3) The Bobcats have won three straight District titles and sit a combined 65-17 over the last three-plus seasons, and they’ve created an opportunity to win their first Saginaw Valley League championship during this run of success. Grand Blanc will host Midland Dow on Tuesday in a winner-take-all for the SVL title, as neither has lost a conference game. The Bobcats are riding an 11-game winning streak, with their defeats to Goodrich (21-0), Lake Fenton (15-6) and Hartland (14-7). A 47-46 win over Flint Powers Catholic (17-13) on Feb. 6 factored significantly in creating this championship chance.
DIVISION 2
Vicksburg (17-2) The Bulldogs – 23-1 last season – added an exclamation point to another strong run by handing Portage Central (17-1) its only loss of the season last week, 47-33. Vicksburg did the same to Niles Brandywine (18-1) on Feb. 6, winning 46-38, which followed a 53-49 win over Paw Paw (18-2). That win over the Red Wolves avenged a 60-50 loss during the season’s first week, and has Vicksburg atop the Wolverine Conference with a share of the league title and a chance to clinch it outright Thursday against Otsego. The Bulldogs’ only other loss was 47-31 to Coldwater (17-3) on Jan. 30 – and Vicksburg bounced back for the Paw Paw and Brandywine wins over their next two games.
Williamston (16-4) The Hornets are winners of 12 straight games and took back the Capital Area Activities Conference Red championship after finishing runner-up to Haslett a year ago. Williamston swept the Vikings (14-7), winning 45-43 and then 57-38, and also owns a 44-34 victory over Ovid-Elsie (18-2) during this nearly two-month run. A 4-4 start surely provided some prep for this success, with the losses to Howell (15-6), Lansing Catholic (16-4), DeWitt (19-2) and Chelsea (17-4) – and Chelsea and Haslett both are on the other side of the bracket from Williamston at the Division 2 District at Fowlerville.
DIVISION 3
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (18-3) The Kestrels won their first Huron League championship since sharing the title in 2017-18, and clinched this one outright by defeating Monroe Jefferson in the league finale as co-leader Riverview lost to Flat Rock by a point to move into second place. SMCC doubled their win total between 2021-22 and 2022-23, from nine to 18, and the Kestrels can surpass that this season with a victory over Ida on Thursday. Their losses were to Temperance Bedford (18-2), Carleton Airport (13-7) and Grosse Ile (12-9), and SMCC avenged the Airport defeat during this current eight-game winning streak that’s also seen victories over Riverview (15-4) and Flat Rock (13-7).
Sandusky (19-1) The Wolves claimed a fourth-straight Greater Thumb Conference East championship, avenging their lone loss – 30-26 to Harbor Beach on Jan. 2 – by defeating Harbor Beach 36-23 in the rematch Jan. 25. Six more wins have come against teams with 11 or more victories this season, with a chance to add to that list this week against Cass City and Caro before jumping into the District at Vassar as the top seed. Of the Wolves’ 19 wins, 15 have come by double digits.
DIVISION 4
Clarkston Everest Collegiate (13-4) The Mountaineers finished second in the CHSL Intersectional #1 this winter, but defeated champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 46-30 on Saturday to claim the league’s St. Anne Tournament title. The victory also avenged two four-point losses to the Cranes (14-4), and Everest’s other defeats were to two more Division 2 teams, Macomb Lutheran North and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (20-0). The Mountaineers will be the top seed at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian as they seek to win a third-straight District title.
Mio (17-4) Statewide eyes have turned toward 140-student Mio, which didn’t field a varsity in 2021-22, came back and finished 5-16 last winter and has jumped to 17-4 and a shared championship in the North Star League Big Dipper this season. A lot of that attention has come with freshman Mia McGregor, who according to a Bay City Times story from last week was averaging 39.3 ppg at the time. Mio defeated Bay City All Saints (16-4) that night, 61-52, and also has a win over Big Dipper co-champ Oscoda (16-4).
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Midland Dow (18-2) at Grand Blanc (16-3) – As noted above, the winner will be the outright Saginaw Valley League champion, and Dow is seeking its second league title over three seasons.
Tuesday – Belleville (18-2) vs. Howell (15-6) at Northville – The winners of the KLAA East and West, respectively, face off for the overall championship.
Tuesday – Frankenmuth (18-2) at Lansing Catholic (16-4) – Frankenmuth starts a substantial final week of the regular season with this rematch of last year’s Division 2 Final, won by the Cougars, before taking on Detroit Edison on Thursday.
Tuesday – Muskegon (16-4) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (20-1) – These champions of the O-K Green and Blue, respectively, should give each other a nice test before they pursue postseason aspirations in Divisions 1 and 2, respectively.
Thursday – Colon (19-2) at Mendon (18-2) – The Magi own a share of the Southern Central Athletic Association West title thanks to a 54-31 win on Jan. 18, but Mendon can finish with the other share by avenging that defeat.
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PHOTOS (Top) Goodrich's Kayla Hairston leads her team on a break during a 61-48 win over Lake Fenton on Feb. 16. (Middle) Plainwell's Brooklyn Timpe (13) works to wall off Otsego's Audrey Lingbeek during the Bulldogs' 41-37 win Feb. 16. (Top photo by Terry Lyons; middle photo by Gary Shook.)