Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 10
February 5, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Few other regular-season wins could ever produce the joy that comes with a championship-clinching victory. But avenging a loss comes pretty close.
Six teams on this week's list of high achievers enjoyed that feeling last week. The others just continued their impressive recent play -- good news with Districts beginning in three weeks.
Results and overall records below again are drawn from our MHSAA Score Center. The Breslin Bound report will not be published next week but will return Feb. 18
1. Freeland (14-1) – The Falcons became on Saturday the favorite to win Class B next month with one of the best wins of any team this season – 56-52 over reigning champion Goodrich, which hadn't lost to an in-state opponent in nearly two seasons.
2. Bloomfield Hills Marian (13-2) – Marian now has avenged both of its losses, two weeks ago earning a rematch win over Dearborn Divine Child and last week getting the rematch win, 49-34, over Livonia Ladywood.
3. Parchment (14-1) – The Panthers finished second to Olivet in the Kalamazoo Valley Association by a win last season and lost to the Eagles in their third game this winter. But Parchment evened the score last week with a 33-26 win over the Eagles to move into a tie for first place.
4. Midland Dow (16-0) – After being swept by rival Midland last season, Dow got one back last week, 50-45 over the Chemics, before then earning another win over solid Saginaw Heritage 53-38.
5. Battle Creek Harper Creek (12-1) – The Beavers’ only loss, to Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, came during the second week of the season; Harper Creek avenged that loss by beating Loy Norrix 32-29 last week.
6. Howard City Tri-County (11-5) – Only 5-18 a season ago, Tri-County keeps adding to its comeback and has won three straight including an impressive 49-43 upset last week of previously one-loss Kent City.
7. Kingsford (10-3) – The Flivvers already had improved on last season’s 9-13 finish, and by beating Crystal Falls Forest Park 52-51 last week avenged one of their few losses this winter.
8. Davison (14-2) – The Cardinals have won 14 straight since going 0-fer during the final week of November and hold a 3.5-win lead in the Saginaw Valley Association South standings.
9. Portland St. Patrick (14-1) – As stated previously, we don’t like to repeat teams on this list from week to week. But St. Patrick beat Pewamo-Westphalia 32-31 last week to avenge its only loss and move into a first-place tie in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference with only four league games to play.
10. Bronson (10-5) – The Vikings’ only loss since Dec. 27 came to a team from Indiana, and they get a chance to avenge one of their losses when they face Mendon on Friday.
PHOTO: Midland Dow's Kristine Mussell (10) defends during her team's win last week over Saginaw Heritage; Dow is 16-0. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Marian Wins Rematch of Top-Ranked in A
March 20, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Bloomfield Hills Marian is the reigning Class A girls basketball champion.
But sophomore guard Samantha Thomas admitted Friday the Mustangs were nervous the first time they faced Detroit Martin Luther King this season, on Feb. 26.
Marian didn’t see always-powerful King during its championship run. The Mustangs did win that first meeting this winter, but by only one point.
Nerves aside for their Class A Semifinal rematch, the story unfolded much differently – but with a similar ending.
Top-ranked Marian never trailed after the first five minutes and furthered its already-impressive body of work this season by downing the No. 2 Crusaders 57-37 at the Breslin Center.
“I think today we were ready for them. We actually played with confidence,” Williams said. “The last game we were nervous. We’d never played them. Today we went out and played the best we could.”
On Saturday, the Mustangs can prove for the second straight season that no other team in Class A can play better. They’ll take on DeWitt in the noon Final at Michigan State.
Marian’s surge in confidence was just one change from the first meeting. Coach Mary Cicerone made some adjustments to the Mustangs’ stingy man-to-man defense designed to make life a little harder on King senior point guard Janae Williams, who had 17 points in February.
Williams scored a game-high 18 points this time, but eight came on free throws as she had a tougher time driving to the basket against additional defensive attention.
“In this particular game, they were a little bit more aggressive,” King coach William Winfield said. “They took us out of what we wanted to do, which was good on their part. We did the same thing when we played them (the first time).
“They put a lot of pressure on my point guard, and that was it. Any time you have a situation when they take my point guard out of the game, now we have problems.”
Thomas scored with 36 seconds left in the first quarter to launch an 11-2 run that put Marian ahead 20-11 three minutes into the second. The Crusaders cut the deficit back to seven points three minutes later, but never got closer.
Thomas had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, plus three blocked shots. Senior guard Jaeda Robinson led Marian with 15 points and senior forward Brittany Gray added 14 as the team made 50 percent of its shots from the floor.
Senior center Malaysia McHenry added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Crusaders (24-2); she and Williams both were four-year varsity players for Winfield and led this first King run to the Semifinals since 2006.
Marian (25-1) is undefeated against in-state competition, its only loss to Chicago Whitney Young. The Mustangs are 50-3 over the last two seasons – and beat the team that handed them their 2013-14 losses, rival Farmington Hills Mercy, in last year’s Semifinal.
Four starters from last season’s championship game likely will be in the lineup Saturday, and Robinson was the team’s top sub a year ago.
“This is what we planned for. Nothing else would’ve been satisfactory,” Cicerone said. “I’m sure you’d see a lot of tears if we weren’t here. But they came to play today, and I’m very proud of them.”
Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marian’s Samantha Thomas works to get past King’s Leah Mathis during Friday’s Class A Semifinal. (Middle) King’s Janae Williams starts the offense; she finished with a game high 18 points. Bailey Thomas defends for Marian.