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).
Freshman Flynn Has Harbor Springs Hoops Taking Flight Again
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
December 17, 2021
Kalkaska and the rest of the Lake Michigan Conference may not know much of the basketball family history of Harbor Springs point guard Olivia Flynn.
But likely they know all of her high school basketball history.
Flynn, just a freshman for the Rams, has already racked up three 30-point plus performances – over just five career games – entering tonight’s LMC game at home with the Blazers. The Rams are off to a 5-0 start under first year coach Amy Flynn, also the mother of the Rams’ emerging star.
And, the Harbor Spring boys are off to a 3-1 start under first year coach John Flynn, Olivia’s father. The boys suffered their first loss Thursday, to Kalkaska, 51-48.
Last year, Olivia was an eighth grader at Petoskey. She transferred to Harbor to be a part of the growing Flynn family basketball history. Her grandfather, Joe Flynn, is a member of the Harbor Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Joe Flynn began working for Harbor Springs schools in 1968 as a middle school social studies teacher. He left a lasting impression shaping and molding many Harbor student athletes’ lives during a career spanning more than 30 years.
John Flynn starred for the Petoskey boys basketball team for three years and coached the Northmen the last three seasons. He’s a member of the Petoskey High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Northmen went 43-16 under his guidance. But he grew up and spent most of his years in Harbor Springs.
The Rams girls varsity helm is Amy Flynn’s first high school head coaching job. But she’s no stranger to coaching youth basketball, and both she and John played at Grand Valley State. She and her husband also coached at East Grand Rapids High School.
Olivia urged her mom to apply for the Rams vacancy, knowing of her 1995-1999 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record-setting basketball career and all the knowledge she had gained from her mother’s previous experience.
“I wouldn’t want anyone else besides my mom coaching,” Olivia said matter-of-factly. “My mom’s always been there to help me get better.
“She has high expectations of me, so there is no other coach I would want.”
The 30-point performances, the most recent 38 in a lopsided win over Harbor Light Christian, is putting a little pressure on the freshman star. But the first-year coach is not feeling it.
“I don’t feel like there is pressure, just because when Olivia gets out there on the court it’s just so natural,” Amy Flynn said. “There is nothing forced. The game comes to her.”
Credit for Olivia’s fast start in high school also needs to go AAU coaches Rob Ruhstorfer, Jermain Smith and Jake Voelker, both Olivia and Amy noted.
“They had a huge impact on Olivia’s career,” Amy said. “The (Michigan) Mystics have been a great team for her and all the experiences.”
Amy Flynn has watched her daughter’s growth and feels blessed to have a team of players wanting to grow in the game of basketball. Athletes with a winning attitude and desire to learn were awaiting when she took over the Rams.
“Whether she continues to score 30 points or not, her game just will come along and she will bring her teammates along with her,” Amy said. “These girls are amazing – it was all there for me — already set more or less.”
Making the move to Harbor for the Flynn coaches was the best thing for their family, which also includes their second-grade son and boys team manager Johnny, fifth-grade daughter and girls team manager Alaina, and eighth-grade son and member of the Harbor middle school basketball team, Braeden. Another factor was the boys coach’s fond memories of playing for his father.
“I was apprehensive to take this position just because I didn’t know how Olivia would feel about it,” Amy Flynn said. “When she came to me a said, ‘Mom there is a girls opening in Harbor Springs and I want you to take it,’ I said, ‘You want to transfer from Petoskey and you want me to coach … are your sure about this?’ And she said, ‘Yep, and I will learn more from you and this is something we’ll never forget.’
“My husband (John) was on the same page,” the girls coach continued. “He said, ‘These are going to be four short years of her life and our lives. We’re going to do this as a family. If you want this, we’re all in.’”
So far, Olivia is loving high school basketball at Harbor. She’s expecting more difficult challenges ahead though, as she steps on the court each night sporting her No. 33 jersey.
“I am excited I started off on this foot, but I know we have some bigger games coming up too,” she said. “So I have to dial in and focus and get prepared for those games.
“They are going to be tougher competition, so I have to get ready for those.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Harbor Springs’ Olivia Flynn (33) has a spring in her step as she comes off the floor during last Friday’s win over Grayling. (Middle) The Flynn family, from left: Alaina, Amy, Olivia, Braeden, John and Johnny. (Below) Olivia and Alaina share a fun moment. (Photos by Sarah Sheperd.)