Canton Corrals Comets in Class A Semi
March 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The way Canton wins would be easy to overlook, if not for the key word in that statement.
It’s become impossible to ignore the defensive-minded Chiefs, who entered this postseason as only an honorable mention in the final Associated Press Class A poll – and advanced to their first MHSAA Final on Friday at the Breslin Center.
Canton prides itself on defense, giving up only 28 points per game this season.
And the Chiefs made that average stick in handing No. 4 Grand Ledge a 35-28 defeat to advance to Saturday’s championship game against Bloomfield Hills Marian.
“Sometimes we haven’t been thought of as a leading team or whatever, underestimated,” Canton senior center Taylor Hunley said. “It’s great to work so hard to make the final day of the season and be able to spend as much time with each other as possible.”
The Chiefs just missed advancing to the Class A championship games in both 2009 and 2010. But this team is different in that its run is a bit unexpected.
Canton’s only losses were to Marian, Mercy, and a couple more contenders in Grosse Pointe South and Waterford Mott. But it was lack of flashiness in their wins that maybe made this team easier to forget – and yet now, unforgettable.
“We always talk about playing on the last day. The first two (Canton) teams that came, that was sort’ve expected because they were ranked in the top three all year and there was a lot of pressure to get here,” Canton coach Brian Samulski said. “These guys have really been able to enjoy this run they’ve put us on. There’s no real pressure. No one talked about them. But we refuse to lose and keep plugging away, and go from there.”
The first few minutes Friday ended up a good indicator of what was to come; Grand Ledge scored the game’s first basket, but not until more than three minutes had been played.
The Comets entered the week with three players averaging double figures scoring – senior sisters Hannah (15 ppg) and Lindsay Orwat (13.4) and 6-foot-3 junior Cori Crocker (10.7). As a team, Grand Ledge averaged nearly 58 points per game before Friday.
But the trio combined for only 21 points, led by Lindsay Orwat’s nine.
“Me and my sister love to shoot off ball screens, but they were right there in our faces,” Hannah Orwat said. “We’d dump it in to Cori, and there would be five girls on her. We couldn’t get in a flow.”
The teams identically took 39 shots, both making 11. But whereas Canton has been used to this kind of game, the Chiefs could sense by the second quarter that the Comets were getting frustrated.
They were knotted 19-19 heading into the fourth quarter before Hunley and senior Paige Aresco keyed an 8-0 run that seemingly put this low-scoring game out of reach for Grand Ledge.
“A lot of great teams are focused on offense, offense, offense. And then they come up against us,” Aresco said. “We’ve done a great job shutting them down, and it’s been kinda shocking for them, I think.”
The Comets, who will graduate six players, were in their first Semifinal appearance. They finished 24-3.
“This group of Grand Ledge girls has been going to school together their whole lives, and we kept focusing on that as the year went on,” Grand Ledge coach David Jones said. “Experiencing this together, being together, we’re proud of accomplishing getting this far. And a lot of the credit goes to this senior class.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Canton’s Paige Aresco (14) works to drive against Grand Ledge’s Hannah Orwat. (Middle) Orwat searches for an open teammate as two Chiefs converge.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Grand Ledge grabs a 17-15 third-quarter lead against Canton on a pull-up jumper by Lindsay Orwat. (2) Canton scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to break the game open. This layup by Aresco starts the run.
Turner Leaving Her Mark at Port Huron with Leadership, Scoring Record
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 6, 2026
Putting her name atop the single-season scoring list at Port Huron High was a proud moment for Mariah Turner.
But it took a note from her father to realize the magnitude of breaking a record that had stood for 29 years.
“I didn’t really think about that, but my dad texted me before he went to sleep one night, and he was saying how proud he was of me, and how great it is to do something like that that had lasted over so many years,” Turner said. “That kind of made me think more of it, that it is more important.”
Turner finished the regular season with 442 points, averaging just over 20 points per game. Her total passed Kesha Bradford, who scored 429 points during the 1997 season before going to play at Valparaiso and Purdue-Fort Wayne.
A 3-point shot in the regular-season finale against Croswell-Lexington, a 63-39 win for the Red Hawks, gave Turner the record.
“As soon as I shot the 3, Coach called a timeout and we celebrated as a team,” Turner said. “It felt really great and relieving. It made me realize how much work I put in, both in-season and the offseason, to make history.”
During her senior season, Turner has led Port Huron to a 14-9 record and a spot in the Division 1 District Finals. The Red Hawks will play New Baltimore Anchor Bay tonight at Macomb Dakota.
As this season progressed, breaking a 30-year-old record wasn’t on her mind.
“It was later into the season, my coach (Jermaine Drake), he must have had his eye on it,” she said. “Because he was telling me, ‘You need 70 more points to beat the school record,’ or whatever. But I couldn’t let it affect me. I had to let it come to me and play my normal game.”
Turner’s normal game is being a do-everything guard for the Red Hawks. Not only did she set the school record for points this season, but also had a record 82 steals during the regular season. She had an eight-steal game, as well, which is tied for best in school history.
“She’s our best defender, our best scorer, third in assists, first in steals, first in 3s, top three in rebounds – she kind of just does everything for us,” Drake said. “She has a motor and never gets tired. She’s kind of like the whole engine of the team.”
Drake, who is in his first year as varsity coach, moved Turner off the ball to the wing this season – as she had shared point guard duties before – opening up the Port Huron offense.
But much of the Red Hawks’ offense is created through its defense, and the transition game is where Turner really shines.
“We press a lot, and she plays the passing lanes and kind of double teams if she’s able to,” Drake said. “Even off defensive rebounds, she’ll read it and leak out and get up the court. I try to implement us getting out as quick as possible to not let the defense set up.”
Turner’s combination of speed and smarts fits perfectly into what Drake wants to do. She’s one of the Red Hawks’ top performers on the track, an all-Macomb Area Conference performer in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.
She’s also a 4.0 student and four-year varsity player.
“She leads by example every single time she’s on the court,” Drake said. “I don’t think she’s lost a sprint in conditioning this year. She hasn’t missed a practice. She’s like the perfect player you can ask for as a coach – no attitude, doesn’t complain.”
Turner plans to continue playing after high school. Basketball will likely be the deciding factor for the school she attends, as she wants to be a flight attendant, which will require training after she’s done with college.
“I like to travel a lot,” she said. “I went on a plane in like eighth grade for the first time, and I was watching the flight attendant the whole time. They help people, and they get to travel.”
Before she takes off, there’s still business to finish during what's been a rewarding season for Turner and the Red Hawks.
“We had some ups and downs and we had to figure each other out as a team, because we had a lot of people from JV come up this year, and we’re younger,” she said. “It was hard to adjust, but we just had to work on it and take practice seriously to bond more and learn how each player plays.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Port Huron’s Mariah Turner (10) goes to the basket against Utica this season. (Middle) Turner warms up prior to a game. (Photos by Ryan Dowd/Blue Leprechaun Photography.)