Breslin Bound: 2021-22 Girls Regional Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 8, 2022
Breslin is only one more week away. And what a week it's going to be.
Regional play begins tonight with 128 teams becoming just 32 quarterfinalists by Friday. Check out “Tracking the Tournament” on MHSAA.com for every matchup, and see below for some of last week’s most notable District scores and three Regionals in each division to pay special attention to as we move closer to determining this season's champions.
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Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Fowler 50, Portland St. Patrick 41 The Division 4 reigning champ Eagles (19-3) avenged losses of four and seven (in overtime) to the Shamrocks (21-1) from the regular season.
2. Portland 45, Lansing Catholic 30 The reigning Division 2 champion Raiders (21-1) made it two straight over the Cougars (19-3) after losing the first meeting in January.
3. West Bloomfield 46, Bloomfield Hills Marian 35 Both had been building notable momentum over the last few weeks, but the Lakers (20-1) advanced in the final game at Marian (15-7) for legendary coach Mary Cicerone.
4. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian 61, Hart 47 The Warriors (17-4) won this matchup of league champions, also avenging a 16-point season-opening loss to the Pirates (17-4).
5. Newaygo 61, Sparta 49 The Lions (21-1), last season’s Division 2 runners-up, won their 15th-straight game by double digits in ending the run for Sparta (19-3).
Regionals at a Glance
These could be among our most competitive brackets. Host sites are in bold:
DIVISION 1
Byron Center
Muskegon Mona Shores (19-3) vs. Rockford (20-2), Hudsonville (20-2) vs. Byron Center (19-2)
Hudsonville, Mona Shores and Byron Center all were league champions in the Ottawa-Kent Conference, and Rockford was runner-up to Hudsonville in the Red with its only two losses to the reigning Division 1 champion Eagles – who also entered the tournament No. 1 overall in Division 1 MPR. But although Hudsonville has defeated all three of these teams, this hardly will be a breeze. The Eagles defeated Byron Center on Dec. 14 in overtime, 59-56, and that was the Bulldogs’ last loss this season. Mona Shores lost two more times, but avenged both on the way to sharing the O-K Green title with Muskegon Reeths-Puffer.
Midland
Alpena (14-9) vs. Midland Dow (21-1), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (18-4) vs. Grand Blanc (17-4)
Dow, Carman-Ainsworth and Grand Blanc finished first, second and third, respectively, in the Saginaw Valley League, while Alpena tied for third in the Big North Conference before putting together a District run that included a win over runner-up Gaylord, a one-point victory over Marquette and a two-pointer over Traverse City Central. Next up for the Wildcats is Dow, a Division 1 semifinalist last season. The Chargers clinched the SVL with a 56-45 win over Carman-Ainsworth on Feb. 22, and surely their rematch is anticipated by most this week. But Grand Blanc has won eight straight since falling back-to-back to Dow and the Cavaliers and also will be tough seeing either or both the second time.
West Bloomfield
Berkley (13-8) vs. Grosse Pointe North (17-5), Farmington Hills Mercy (18-4) vs. West Bloomfield (20-1)
Mercy (No. 4), West Bloomfield (6) and North (11) all finished among the highest in overall Division 1 MPR and won league championships. Mercy also earned a 43-35 win over North back on Dec. 5, the only time any of these teams played each other this regular season – although West Bloomfield advanced with a 46-35 win over Bloomfield Hills Marian, which got past Mercy in overtime three weeks ago. Not only has West Bloomfield not lost since its season opener, it has had only one single-digit game since the start of the calendar year. Don’t look past Berkley, which defeated 2021 Division 1 runner-up Detroit Renaissance by 20 to win their District last week.
DIVISON 2
Detroit Edison
Detroit Edison (14-3) vs. Redford Westfield Prep (20-1), Carleton Airport (14-8) vs. Romulus (19-2)
Edison and Westfield Prep finished first and second, respectively, in final Division 2 MPR, and this will be their first meeting as both played B teams for Charter School Conference games. Edison’s Ruby Whitehorn is one of four finalists for the Miss Basketball Award and keys a team that lost in-state only to West Bloomfield, 65-62 on Feb. 15. Westfield’s only loss was to Division 3 contender Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, 54-51 on Jan. 13. The other side of the bracket also has plenty of intrigue: Romulus has won 10 straight and is the Western Wayne Athletic Conference champ, while Airport is enjoying its best stretch and avenged two losses to Grosse Ile with a 48-41 District Final win.
Frankenmuth
Saginaw Swan Valley (18-4) vs. Belding (19-3), Frankenmuth (20-2) vs. Ovid-Elsie (21-1)
Frankenmuth (No. 5), Ovid-Elsie (No. 11) and Swan Valley (No. 13) were among the top ranked in the final Division 2 MPR. All have impressive records and lost almost entirely to opponents that posted similarly high win totals. Frankenmuth defeated Swan Valley twice on the way to winning the Tri-Valley Conference 8, but Swan Valley’s other losses were to teams that won 17 and 18 games. The Eagles fell to Arbor Prep and Grand Blanc, but defeated Midland Dow. Ovid-Elsie lost to Goodrich but has pairs of victories over 16-game winners New Lothrop and Chesaning, and two of Belding’s defeats were to 19-game winner Sparta.
Tecumseh
Marshall (16-6) vs. Portland (21-1), Williamston (17-6) vs. Chelsea (19-3)
The Division 2 reigning champion Raiders finished third in final Division 2 MPR, and Chelsea was fourth. The Raiders got by a significant challenger in No. 7 Lansing Catholic with a 45-30 District Final win; the Cougars had handed Portland its only loss. The Raiders also have an early win over Williamston, by 12, and a mid-January 17-point victory over Chelsea. But to see either again they’ll have to get past Marshall, which finished second in the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference with all but one of its losses to teams that won at least 15 games and two of those defeats to Division 1 contender Parma Western (21-1). Williamston is on an eight-game winning streak that helped result in a league title, and Chelsea also won its league and can boast victories over Marshall and 18-win Battle Creek Lakeview and Tecumseh (twice).
DIVISION 3
Houghton Lake
Lake City (18-4) vs. Oscoda (15-6), McBain (19-3) vs. Sanford Meridian (20-2)
Meridian is enjoying one of its best seasons in recent memory after going 6-9 last year and 0-21 the season before. The Mustangs won 18 straight before falling to Division 1 contender Midland Dow in the regular-season finale, and they edged Jack Pine Conference rival Farwell for the third time to claim the District title. They’ll see McBain, which won a Highland Conference that had four teams reach 15 wins this season – including runner-up Lake City, which defeated McBain in their first meeting. Oscoda also shared its league title, in the North Star League Big Dipper, and is enjoying an 8-2 stretch.
Reese
Reese (18-4) vs. St. Charles (18-3), Sandusky (22-0) vs. Cass City (16-4)
Reese, St. Charles and Sandusky are league champions, and Cass City was the runner-up to the Rockets in the Greater Thumb Conference West but with losses by only three and two points to the league title winner – the latter just two weeks ago. Sandusky is enjoying its best of a long run of excellent seasons and first undefeated this late since 2016-17. St. Charles has four victories over teams that won at least 15 games, and Reese has taken 11 of its last 12 with last week’s District title its first since 2015-16.
St. Ignace
Bark River-Harris (15-6) vs. Calumet (19-2), Maple City Glen Lake (22-0) vs. St. Ignace (20-2)
This loaded Regional includes the No. 2 (St. Ignace), No. 3 (Calumet) and No. 8 (Glen Lake) teams in final Division 3 MPR, and all four were league champions. Calumet defeated St. Ignace and Glen Lake on the way to last season’s Division 3 Semifinals and lost this season only to Division 2 Escanaba and Houghton. The Saints have won 17 straight and avenged one of their defeats this winter, to Sault Ste. Marie. Glen Lake last made the Semifinals in 2018, and its only defeat last season was to the Copper Kings. The Lakers haven’t had a game closer than 10 points since Dec. 7. Bark River-Harris has won 10 of its last 11 games and made a nice statement edging Menominee by four in last week’s District Final.
DIVISION 4
Kingsford
Baraga (20-1) vs. Ontonagon (15-7), Eben Junction Superior Central (14-7) vs. Carney-Nadeau (21-1)
Baraga won its fourth-straight league title, in the Copper Mountain Conference Copper Country division, and lost this season only to Division 2 Houghton. The Vikings finished No. 10 in overall Division 4 MPR and have five and 12-point wins over Ontonagon this winter, although the Gladiators also are league champions after sharing the title in the Porcupine Mountain division. They’ve won 11 of their last 13 games, including avenging three of their defeats. Superior Central had a tough end to the regular season but downed Munising (16-6) to advance to this week and a third matchup with Carney-Nadeau, which won the first two big and has only a two-point loss to Felch North Dickinson keeping it from a perfect record. Carney-Nadeau made the Division 4 Semifinals a year ago.
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Hillman (14-7) vs. Saginaw Nouvel (19-3), Fowler (19-3) vs. Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (17-4)
The Eagles are the reigning Division 4 champions and finally got past rival Portland St. Patrick in the District Final after losing both regular-season games against the Shamrocks. But things don’t get easier this week – starting with a Sacred Heart team that’s won 11 straight and defeated its Mid-State Activities Conference co-champ Coleman to win last week’s District. On the other side, Hillman was co-champion in the North Star League Little Dipper, and has won 10 of its last 12 games. Nouvel also won a league title, in the Division 3-heavy Tri-Valley Conference 10, and hasn’t lost since opening 1-3 – with one of those early defeats by 16 to Fowler.
Rogers City
Pickford (17-2) vs. Engadine (15-7), Posen (20-1) vs. Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian (13-7)
Posen is coming off its fifth-straight league and third-straight District championships, with its only loss this season by three to Little Dipper co-champ Hillman. Tonight’s opponent Harbor Light Christian won its first District title since 2017-18 and avenged a loss in clinching last week. Pickford finished No. 7 in overall Division 4 MPR with its only defeats to Division 3 St. Ignace and two wins by 18 over Engadine during the regular season.
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PHOTO West Bloomfield and Bloomfield Hills Marian played in one of the headlining Division 1 District Finals last week. (Photo by Douglas Bargerstock.)
Shores Star Walker Continues Drive for Hoops Greatness as College Coach
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
August 8, 2024
NORTON SHORES — Dribbling, passing, and shooting are prerequisites for basketball players, and Muskegon Mona Shores alumna Jordan Walker did them quite well.
But for Walker, determination has been perhaps her most important trait.
It helped her win the Michigan Miss Basketball Award during her senior season in 2017 after suffering an ACL injury prior to her junior year with the Sailors. It’s also allowed her to continue an ascent in the basketball world.
Time-management habits and prioritization have been instilled in all three of Jarvis and Danielle Walker’s three children.
“There’s a special drive with these (Walker) kids,” said Brad Kurth, who was Jasmyn and Jordan Walker’s basketball coach at Mona Shores.
Jordan Walker earned two master’s degrees over six years of college while juggling the demands of being a Division I basketball player at Western Michigan University and University of Tennessee. The 25-year-old’s playing days appear to be finished, but she’s still pursuing her basketball dreams as an assistant coach at the D-I level.
Walker spent the 2023-24 season as a first-year assistant at Mercer University. This March, Mercer head coach Susie Gardner announced her resignation, meaning Walker had to seek opportunities elsewhere.
In typical Walker fashion, she landed on her feet, and it didn’t take long. In May, she was hired as an assistant coach at Jacksonville University. Her responsibilities include player development with point guards, academics, community service, and housing.
“(The Mercer position) kind of fit exactly where I was at perfectly,” Walker said during a break while on the road recruiting for Jacksonville recently. “I was really thankful for that opportunity and thankful for my circle and my village thinking of me at that time and putting my name out there because it honestly was the perfect situation for me.
“At the Final Four, you meet people and you meet a lot of coaches and you network, you build relationships. There was one coach I saw on the road a ton throughout the year and I saw at the Final Four and he knew the situation. At that point, (Jacksonville) didn’t have any openings, and later on it opened up and they gave me a call. At that point, it was getting to the interview and what the position holds and what it would look like. Again, it was another situation that was perfect for where I was at in life and what I wanted to do and the path that I’m on, so it was another no-brainer for me to head to Jacksonville.”
At Mona Shores, the 5-foot-7 guard broke the school’s all-time scoring record — one that stood 22 years — with 1,365 points. During her Miss Basketball season, Walker averaged 22.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game.
At the collegiate level, Walker amassed more than 1,300 points, 700 rebounds, and 400 assists. In two seasons with WMU (she lost one season with another ACL injury), she started 54 of 64 games and averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.8 steals. As a graduate transfer at Tennessee, she started 77 of 96 games and averaged 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.1 steals while helping the Lady Vols reach the NCAA Tournament three times.
According to Walker, the foundation for her success began in the home and in the Mona Shores school community.
“Honestly, my memories with Mona Shores I truly cherish because it’s such a special time, a special place. Playing high school ball, I tell people AAU and high school ball is some of the most fun times that you’ll have playing. Obviously, I enjoyed my college time as well — I did six years,” she quipped. “But I definitely enjoyed my time at Mona Shores. Just the people that were there because it was a truly special place.
“Again, I talk about the village a lot because it does take that and (the) Mona Shores community, they really just poured into me and supported (me) and that’s something that I was always grateful for. Especially my head coach there, Brad Kurth. He did an amazing job with us and preparing us, not only for the games in high school but for the next level as well as far as player development and scouts and going over stuff like that so when I got to college, it wasn’t my first time seeing a scout, it wasn’t my first time doing a film study. Those things I always take with me.”
Of course, with the Walker family, it’s always been books before basketball.
While at Mona Shores, Jordan Walker served on the MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council and earned one of the prestigious MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Awards as a senior; only 32 honorees are selected annually. Walker earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in communications from WMU in 2020, taking only three years. At Tennessee, she completed her first master’s degree in 2022 in business administration (MBA) with a concentration in entrepreneurship and innovation; she finished her second master’s degree in 2023 in the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications (ALEC) Department with a concentration on name, image, and likeness (NIL) and women’s leadership.
When Walker suffered the ACL injury at WMU, which sidelined her for a year, it allowed her to get ahead in the classroom. She had 19- and 20-credit semesters that year. In her third and final year at WMU, she was taking 21 credits in a semester.
“Academics in our house was nothing to play around with,” Walker said. “If you didn’t have your academics right — in the summer, if you didn’t finish your workbooks, if you didn’t read your books, you were not playing basketball. Academics were a big thing, and I thank my parents for that because they instilled that at a young age.
“It came down to time management, which kind of goes back to what I was saying about the foundation of your high school and what you do in high school and the habits that you form because that’s ultimately going to carry you throughout college. Of course, you can tweak it and gain new things, but I think Mona Shores did a great job of setting me up academically so that when I got to college, some of the courses that I took, I was able to comprehend at that level and take multiple classes and high-credit semesters and be able to graduate early, which led to me being able to get my (two) master’s (degrees).”
All three of the Walker siblings continue to achieve at a high level on and off the court.
Jasmyn Walker, the eldest of the siblings, was a first-team all-stater at Mona Shores and a Division I basketball player at Valparaiso and Western Michigan. She is in her first season as an assistant coach at George Washington University after previous stops at Purdue-Fort Wayne, Butler, Ferris State and Davenport.
Jarvis Walker II, the youngest of the siblings, was a first-team all-stater at Muskegon High School and is a graduate student playing basketball for Indiana University-Indianapolis after starting his collegiate career at Purdue-Fort Wayne.
The Walker siblings are each other’s biggest fans.
“I’m immensely proud of them,” Jasmyn Walker said. “Jordy and Jay have gone above and beyond to reach their goals. I’ve seen the work they’ve put in, the time invested, and sometimes the lows that come with chasing dreams. They’ve pushed themselves at every turn.”
Jarvis Walker II said that sister Jordan is somebody who will “figure it out no matter the circumstances.”
He believes that each stop along her journey has afforded her great experience and deeper knowledge that will benefit her not only in basketball but in life.
“Grind, grind, grind — she is one of the hardest-working people I know,” he said about his sister. “It has motivated me to be better in every aspect of life from school to basketball and day-to-day interactions and how I go about certain things.”
In many respects, Kurth feels like a proud papa to the Walkers as he’s coached Jasmyn and Jordan and has spent countless hours around the family.
“All three of the kids — I mean, Jarvis, Jordan, and Jasmyn — I could never be prouder of a group of kids,” Kurth said. “You talk about the full package: Basketball is one part, but every single one of them shows academic excellence, every single one of them shows extreme character. Those are things that are timeless. Basketball is a young person’s sport. Coaching you can do a long time, but your playing days are limited. I think I’ve seen a lot of kids sacrifice everything, including their character, including their academics, to do basketball and they shouldn’t. Character should be at the top. These three kids, it’s just matchless.”
Included in Jordan Walker’s long resume is her active participation in leadership programs such as “So You Want To Be a Coach” and “Above the Rim Summit.”
Walker aspires to be a collegiate head coach. She’s doing all she can to keep climbing that ladder.
With her second master’s degree specializing in NIL and that being such a large part of college athletics now, she appears to have a leg up on her competition.
“NIL can look like a bunch of different things, and I think that when choosing a school and what that looks like, make sure that outside of NIL it meets all of your expectations,” Walker said. “Money and brand deals and all of that may look enticing, but still don’t fall on your standards of what your program you want to have has.
“It’s the academics, and if they have your major, and it’s the culture and it’s your relationships with your coaches and your teammates. Make those be your tops and NIL be a plus. I think that that’s the biggest thing.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Jordan Walker stands with her class on the Breslin Center floor during the 2017 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony, and at right in 2023 after receiving her second master's degree from University of Tennessee. (Middle) Walker makes her move toward the basket during a game her senior season at Muskegon Mona Shores. (Below) Jordan Walker, middle, takes a photo with sister Jasmyn and brother Jarvis. (Graduation and family photos courtesy of the Walker family; Mona Shores basketball photo by Tim Reilly.)