Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 12
February 20, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Another Michigan girls basketball regular season will come to a close Saturday. But there’s still plenty to be determined as we prep for the start of the MHSAA Tournament.
A number of league titles still must be decided – some of those races are detailed below. The Detroit Public School League and Detroit Catholic League have a solid Operation Friendship doubleheader lined up as well, and a few more possible contenders next month will test themselves one more time before winning becomes a necessity to stay on the court.
Below is the final Breslin Bound girls report – powered by MI Student Aid – of the regular season. Next week we’ll switch things up to look at some of the most intriguing Districts from all four classes.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Saginaw Heritage 36, Detroit Country Day 35 – Heritage already was a favorite for the Class A title despite suffering its first loss to Midland Dow two weeks ago; handing Class B contender Country Day its first loss made the Hawks even stronger contenders.
2. Royal Oak Shrine 52, Waterford Our Lady 49 – Shrine had fallen to Our Lady by 20 last month, but most memorable was this Catholic League C-D Final win reportedly gave the Knights their first league title in 23 years.
3. Wayne Memorial 55, Northville 50 (OT) – The Zebras earned a birth in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Kensington championship game by handing KLAA South champ Northville its first loss since opening night, Nov. 29.
4. Grass Lake 59, Manchester 55 – With this win, Grass Lake clinched the Cascades Conference title outright, reportedly its first league championship in more than a decade.
5. Marquette 43, Houghton 40 – Ten days after falling to Houghton in a matchup of arguably the best in the Upper Peninsula, the two-loss Redettes handed the Gremlins their first defeat in the rematch.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Detroit Martin Luther King (18-1) – The Crusaders’ latest run to the Detroit Public School League title saw only Detroit Renaissance (nine) keep a game within 20 points. King also handed Hartland its only loss and has wins over Muskegon Mona Shores and Clarkston, with its only defeat to Country Day at the end of December.
Farmington Hills Mercy (17-2) – The Marlins have run off 13 straight wins since suffering their two losses before Christmas. They avenged that second loss, by 15 to Dearborn Divine Child, with a 15-point win over the Falcons. Mercy beat rival Bloomfield Hills Marian in last week’s Catholic League A-B Final after falling to Marian by 19 in last season’s title decider.
CLASS B
Birch Run (15-3) – The Panthers have won eight straight in addition to handing rival Frankenmuth its first league loss in more than 100 Tri-Valley Conference East games two weeks ago. The two losses were by a point to the Eagles and three to Hemlock in a league crossover – and with three more wins they would equal last year’s 18-4 finish.
Croswell-Lexington (15-3) – The Pioneers clinched their fifth straight Blue Water Area Conference title, and with two more wins this week can finish a second straight perfect conference run. The losses came to Class A Port Huron Northern and Lapeer and on opening night to now 17-win Marine City.
CLASS C
Pewamo-Westphalia (16-2) – The Pirates trail leader Bath by a win in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference after falling twice to the Bees, but did finish last week with a win over one-time Class C No. 1 Laingsburg. P-W also owns an early win over Ithaca, in Class B now but a C semifinalist a year ago.
Saginaw Valley Lutheran (15-4) – The Chargers opened 3-3 with three straight losses to end December, and then fell to TVC West rival Ithaca in mid-January. But they are on a nine-win run and avenged that loss to the Yellowjackets with a 39-35 win Friday. Valley Lutheran finished only 9-12 a year ago.
CLASS D
Crystal Falls Forest Park (16-3) – The Trojans will play Bark River-Harris on Thursday for the Skyline Central Conference West title (outright or shared depending on how the Broncos do with Powers North Central on Monday). Forest Park is 14-1 since dropping two games over the first two weeks, and avenged both of those losses against the Jets and Kingsford.
Pittsford (18-0) – The reigning Class D champion has won 45 straight and rarely has been challenged this season, with its closest wins by 12 over Manchester and 18 over Grass Lake – both Class C teams. The Wildcats have held opponents to fewer than 20 points nine times following an experienced group of leaders hoping to graduate with a repeat.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Thursday – Detroit Martin Luther King (18-1) at Farmington Hills Mercy (17-2) – The headlining Operation Friendship game is one of the biggest in Class A this regular season (see why above).
Thursday – Traverse City St. Francis (16-1) at Gaylord St. Mary (17-1) – This meeting of league leaders will be a nice test for both as they go separate ways (St. Francis to Class C, St. Mary to Class D) for the postseason.
Thursday – KLAA championship game – Wayne Memorial (14-3), Novi (14-4), Howell (16-2) and Hartland (17-1) play Monday to determine which will meet in the league tournament finale.
Thursday – Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (14-3) at Ida (16-2) – This is another great test as well, as the Class C Kestrels and Class B Bluestreaks look forward to Districts.
Friday – Saginaw Valley League final – Flint Carman-Ainsworth (17-2), champion of the SVL South, will face either Heritage (17-1) or Dow (16-2) from the North.
PHOTO: Greenville, here against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills, leads the Ottawa-Kent Conference White heading into this final week. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Zarycki Leaves as Top Scorer, Big Winner
March 25, 2019
By Wes Morgan
Special for Second Half
She didn’t envision 79 varsity victories, three District championships, three league titles or a program scoring record at the time.
As a young girl in her driveway years ago, Edwardsburg’s Kaitlyn Zarycki just wanted to master dribbling between her legs and behind-the-back passes.
Zarycki, who just completed her final basketball season as the Eddies’ electric point guard, likely will sit atop the school’s all-time list of scorers for many years to come after netting 1,609 career points in her four-year career. She also led the team to a record 23 victories this season following a one-loss campaign that ended with a 60-39 defeat to Hamilton in the Division 2 Regional Semifinals.
“It was really hard when Coach took me out in the last minute,” the four-year starter said. “It started to sink in that it was finally over. We had an amazing season, and I’m proud of all these girls. All the hard work we put in was worth it.”
Everything else she has accomplished is slowly starting to register as well. Zarycki, who already held the girls scoring record at Edwardsburg, was aware of the fact she was on the verge of passing Josh Kozinski as the school’s top scorer including both hoops programs. Kozinski ended his time with the Eddies with 1,580 career points in 2013.
In a District title game against Three Rivers, Zarycki poured in 27 points, setting a new record in the third quarter.
“I knew how many points I had, but when I hit it, I had no idea,” she said. “I was just more focused on the game. Afterwards, it felt nice. I am very proud. It makes me happy to see how proud I’ve made my family. I know I couldn’t be here without the program and my teammates as well.”
With a talented and cohesive group, led by a senior class with ample chemistry which also included guards Claire Alby, Bailey Anson, Chloe Bartz and Madison Robinson, the Eddies were able to secure back-to-back District championships for the first time.
Edwardsburg was a combined 79-14 over her four varsity seasons.
“We knew that if everybody played unselfishly and played for each other that we could do something special,” said coach Jon Pobuda, who took over the program four years ago. “We had a great season last year, and we thought we could take it to another level this year. Those girls are always together and enjoyed playing together. It is just a great group of young ladies.
“We went from not knowing if we could win (four years ago) to now expecting to win every game. You have to give credit to Kaitlyn Zarycki. She has taken our program to whole new level. She’s just an amazing talent, selfless and she makes everyone around her better.”
What’s even more impressive is Pobuda and Zarycki didn’t milk blowouts in order to set an individual scoring record. The Wolverine Conference champion’s average margin of victory was around 28 points per game, and Zarycki averaged only 23 minutes per game.
“It’s nice to see these girls who don’t normally get to play, play,” she said. “I’m not a selfish person. I just like to see them play. I knew when I was in that I wasn’t going to play the whole game, so I needed to make every minute count.”
Zarycki finished the year averaging around 22 points, four assists, six steals and five rebounds per contest.
Growing up a coach’s daughter – her father Mark has coached both the girls varsity and JV over the years – it comes as no surprise spending so much time in a gym has translated to accolades and opportunities. Zarycki, who signed to play at Saginaw Valley State University next year, was named to The Associated Press all-state second team as a junior in 2018 and has a good chance to make the first team this year. She was an honorable mention as a sophomore.
Saginaw Valley State had a rough winter, finishing 6-21 overall with all six victories coming in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. But it’s a program hoping to turn things around after seven losses by fewer than 10 points. Saginaw Valley State started two freshmen in all 27 games, which is a great sign for Zarycki next season.
On top of all that, Zarycki earned all-state after an eighth-place finish in the 400-meter relay at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Track & Field Finals at Zeeland Stadium. Along with teammates Jocelyn Hack, Alexa Markel and Cameron Cleveland, the Eddies logged a school-record time of 4 minutes, 9.72 seconds.
But her legacy will be that of a ball-handling dynamo who finished at the bucket, made eyebrow-raising plays, displayed court vision and tenacious defense on the basketball court.
“I’m glad she’s been with me the last four years,” Pobuda said. “I’m sure a lot of teams are OK with her not coming back next year. She didn’t really care about the stats; she cared about winning.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Edwardsburg’s Kaitlyn Zarycki gets a shot up despite being surrounded by three defenders. (Middle) Zarycki runs the offense against Three Rivers. (Photos by Michael Caterina/South Bend Tribune.)