Breslin Bound: Girls Districts in Review
March 4, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
District tournaments give teams the best kind of opportunity to pay back their neighbors for a disappointing loss (or two) from earlier in the winter.
Win, and the avenging team not only gets that revenge – but ends the opponent’s season.
A number of MHSAA girls basketball teams took advantage of those opportunities last week. And some of the more fortunate fought off a rival or two for the third time – another difficult task unto itself.
Below are four teams from each class that made impressions during the District tournaments. Regionals tip off tonight.
Class A
Haslett (22-1) – The Vikings have rattled off 22 straight wins since falling to another eventual Class B District champ, Eaton Rapids, on opening night. Haslett’s District title run included wins over East Lansing and Okemos followed by a third this season over rival DeWitt – a team that was capable as Haslett of making a run deep into this month if it had advanced instead.
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (18-5) – The Cougars finished a game behind Clarkston in the Oakland Activities Association Red standings, losing to the Wolves by 10 and five points. But Stoney Creek won their third matchup, the District Final, 47-37. Not a bad way to step back up after finishing the regular-season on a 4-4 streak.
Waterford Kettering (20-3) – Friday provided some redemption for the Captains. They won the Kensington Lakes Activities Association North title by a game over Waterford Mott (also 20-3), then lost to Mott during the league tournament before beating Mott in the District Final 55-52 in overtime. The District sweep also came after Kettering finished the regular season with two straight losses.
Wyoming (21-2) – The Wolves now have won 21 games in each of their first two seasons as a school (created by the merger of Rogers and Park). And this season, they haven’t lost since Dec. 16. Wyoming’s opponent that night was Holland West Ottawa – and it avenged that 55-35 defeat by downing West Ottawa 48-46 in the District Final after surviving Grandville 58-57 in the Semifinal.
Class B
Ionia (18-5) – The Bulldogs finished third in a Capital Area Activities Conference Red that featured Class A contenders Haslett and DeWitt, and that no doubt prepared them well for last week’s run that included beating CAAC White co-champ Portland in the District Final. Ionia also had beaten Portland by six during the last week of the regular season before winning Friday 57-32.
Menominee (14-7) – Winners of 10 games last season, the Maroons opened the District with a 55-45 win over league mate Gladstone, which it split with during the regular season. But the victory that resonated louder came in the Final, a 48-39 upset of 2013 MHSAA Semifinalist Houghton – which finished this season 19-3.
Parchment (21-2) – The Panthers have challenged to join the elite for a few seasons, but opened the 2013 District by falling by seven to Marshall – which went on to reach the Quarterfinals. But Parchment opened last week’s District with a seven-point win over Marshall and finished with a 35-29 edging of Battle Creek Harper Creek (15-7).
Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (20-3) – The Gators moved from Class C to B this school year, and this team is already two wins better after falling to eventual C champion Manchester during their second game in last season’s tournament. Arbor Prep took on a strong variety of opponents this season with wins over Benton Harbor, Southfield-Lathrup and Detroit Country Day, plus Manchester early.
Class C
Adrian Madison (19-1) – Madison was another powerful team that fell to Manchester during the latter’s championship run, but the Trojans might be the one to contend with this time. They followed a 10-point win over Addison with a 45-34 victory over previously-undefeated Pittsford in the District Final.
East Jackson (18-4) – Last week’s District at East Jackson looked to be pretty competitive, and the host beat two strong contenders to emerge with the title. East Jackson came off its Cascades Conference championship by beating 16-win Michigan Center by 18 and then frequent Class C contender Concord 46-43 in the championship game.
Grandville Calvin Christian (18-5) – Calvin Christian edged Kent City by a win to claim the O-K Silver championship during the regular season, and then ended the winter for the 17-5 Eagles with a 44-33 win in the District Final. Calvin Christian earned that one after eliminating River Valley Conference champion Grand Rapids Covenant Christian 59-37 in the District Semifinal.
McBain (19-2) – The Ramblers finished a perfect run through the Highland Conference and then won all three District games by double figures. They eliminated 17-win Traverse City St. Francis 57-42 in the District Semifinal and 16-win Maple City Glen Lake 57-35 in the championship game.
Class D
Bellaire (20-3) – The Eagles finished one game back of champion Gaylord St. Mary in the Ski Valley Conference standings, despite handing the Snowbirds their only league loss this season. But Bellaire made it two straight over St. Mary with a 44-32 win in the District Final.
Fowler (16-6) – These Eagles have had some solid teams over the last decade plus – but have spent most of that time in the shadow of rival Portland St. Patrick, a regular at the MHSAA Finals. Fowler fell to St. Patrick by seven on Feb. 15 – but came back to edge the Shamrocks 62-60 in the District Final.
Frankfort (21-1) – The Northwest Conference champion kept rolling last week, defeating 14-win Onekama and then 18-win Bear Lake in the District Final. Bear Lake had beaten Frankfort 47-26 in last season’s District championship game.
Martin (16-4) – Martin won 10 games a year ago but did advance to the District Final before losing to Climax-Scotts – which went on to the Class D Semifinals and just missed knocking off eventual champion St. Ignace. Martin and Climax-Scotts met again in the District Final last week, and this time the Clippers moved on with a 41-37 victory.
PHOTO: Haslett (white jerseys) defeated rival DeWitt last week for the third time this season to claim a Class A District championship. (Photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal).
Blissfield's Miller Set for Senior Success After 3 Junior-Year Finals Trips
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 15, 2023
BLISSFIELD – Last fall, June Miller raced for an MHSAA cross country title at Michigan International Speedway. During the winter she played in the Division 3 Basketball Final at the Breslin Center. In the spring, she competed at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 track & field championships in Kent City.
As she embarks on her senior year at Blissfield Community Schools in southeast Michigan, Miller isn’t concerned about an encore.
“I don’t worry about topping my junior season,” she said. “I don’t feel the need to. I’ll fight for it to the best of my ability, but if I don’t make it that’s okay. There were a lot of factors that went into last year, and I can’t control all of them this year.
“I’ll leave my best out there and know that I gave it my all, and in the end that’s the true accomplishment. If it takes me that far or further, then great. If not, that’s okay.”
Miller’s remarkable run to MHSAA Finals in three sports remains even more impressive when considering she had eight goals and five assists playing defense for the Royals soccer team.
“Shows up to work, busts her tail every practice, every game,” said Blissfield girls basketball coach Ryan Gilbert. “Never have to worry about June Miller.”
Miller is as steady an athlete as they come, never getting too high or too low in pressure situations. In basketball, Gilbert said Miller never met a shot she didn’t like. Miller started all 29 games last season, leading the team in 3-pointers.
Gilbert said Miller is even-keeled.
“It takes a while to get into the ‘June Miller circle,’ but I’m almost in,” he said. “This is her senior year; this is my year. She’s very funny when you get to know her and has a brilliant mind.
“She wants to win over everything,” Gilbert said.
Miller wasn’t the fastest runner on the cross country team last fall – that spot would belong to her younger sister, Hope. June has no problem with that.
“I love running with my sister,” she said. “She’s an amazing and incredibly kind person. Her dedication to running inspires me and keeps me fighting for it. We train together sometimes and she’s the one that pushes me, and I love that.
“I always knew she’d be faster than me someday, and I couldn’t be prouder of how fast she’s become and how much she’s achieved. (People might) think I’d hold some resentment for her beating me while I’m older, but she’s lived in my shadow for years and I’m so glad she’s been able to find her place that she can dominate.”
Blissfield is eyeing a big season in cross country after winning a Regional and just missing the top 10 at the Final a year ago. The Miller sisters are a big reason for the giddiness.
“I’m ready to leave it all out there,” Miller said. “It’s my senior season, and I want to go out strong. I think the end goal for all of us is to really push it this season and improve with each race so by the time we hit Regionals we’re in the best shape physically and mentally so we can leave it all on the course to get to states again.”
Because of her work schedule this summer, Miller missed some of the team workouts but was able to get the details from her sister and went out on her own time and trained to build up her mileage in preparation for the season.
“I think the experience from last year will give us something to fight for,” she said. “It allows us to look at the season with our end goal being the state meet. It gives us a passion and something to fight for.”
Blissfield cross country coach Ryan Bills called Miller a strong competitor.
“She is fun kid,” he said. “You never know which June you’re going to get – funny, chatty June or serious, no-nonsense June. Either way she always gives it her all during competition, which is why she has seen so much success the past year.”
The four-sport athlete spent the first couple of weeks of summer refreshing her body before kicking it into high gear.
She did take some time to reflect on all the places she got to play and compete last year and is grateful to be part of a team that helped her reach those places.
“It was a unique experience,” she said. “When I’m playing basketball or running track and cross country, I’m not focused on where I am physically – instead I’m in my head focused on what I need to do.
“Once you get to someplace, you stop thinking about getting there and you move on to the next step of being there and doing what you need to there.”
Miller is one of the top students in her class. She’s currently trying to decide whether she wants to pursue playing soccer in college. She wants to major in business and minor in sustainability, eventually getting a master’s degree in architecture.
“I want to be a sustainable design architect,” she said, “who can better the world through the art of architecture.”
Miller’s future looks bright, as does the outlook for this athletic year. In all three sports for which she reached the Finals last year, the Royals have enough returning talent to make lengthy runs again.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Miller said, about four days before the first cross country event of the season. “I want to make it to all those state tournaments again, but I want to do it with my teammates because they’re the ones that make it memorable and something to remember forever.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Blissfield’s June Miller (750) races during a cross country meet last fall. (Middle) Miller pulls up for a jumper during last season’s basketball postseason run. (Cross country photo by Deloris Clark-Osborne; basketball photo by Gary Sullivan.)