Class B: Martians land in title game
March 16, 2012
EAST LANSING – Hugs and huge smiles dominated Goodrich’s side of the Breslin Center floor Friday night after a moment the Martians have worked for since losing in the Quarterfinals two seasons ago.
Avenging a loss to the reigning Class B champion made that moment a little bit sweeter.
Goodrich missed its first MHSAA Final last season by losing in double overtime to Dearborn Divine Child, which then went on to win the title. This time, the Martians will get their first shot ever at a championship, thanks to a 68-53 victory over Divine Child in Friday’s second B Semifinal.
“They always say revenge is nice. And I must say it was nice,” Goodrich senior Frankie Joubran said. “We came out with our heads straight on and we were ready to go.”
Top-ranked Goodrich (27-0) will face No. 10 Grand Rapids Catholic Central (24-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday in the final championship game of this girls basketball season.
The Martians have won at least 20 games in nine of coach Jason Gray’s 13 seasons, including the last three. But it was a 64-49 Quarterfinal loss to Detroit Country Day in 2010 that made Gray realize his program was ready to make a run at Breslin.
“Apparently I’m not really good at judging these sorts of things. I always don’t think we’re very good,” Gray said. “(But) when we got to the Country Day game two years ago, we had a lead early. We’re in the game at halftime. Down five in the fourth quarter. And then I recognized that I guess we’re as good as some of these top teams in the state. I guess that was the beginning of it.
“From that point on, we’ve been rolling pretty good. … That’s how you judge yourself, against those sorts of teams.”
Of course, include No. 6 Divine Child in that category as well. The Falcons (24-3) remained within two of the lead as late as 1:13 to go in the third quarter. But an 11-2 run over the first half of the fourth gave Goodrich some breathing room it didn’t relinquish.
“This is certainly a different feeling than last year. In my mind, we’re a great team that lost to another great team,” Divine Child coach Mary Laney said. “They definitely deserved this win. We turned the ball over one too many times and didn’t box out enough. It wasn’t a case of effort, hard work or heart. These girls wanted it just as bad. It came down to a few fundamentals that didn’t go our way.”
Although Goodrich outrebounded Divine Child only 36-34, the Martians grabbed 19 off the offensive glass – and scored 15 second-chance points to the Falcons’ seven. Goodrich also turned 24 Divine Child turnovers into 37 points.
“I think they had a lot more intensity. They were up in our faces more,” Divine Child senior guard Rosanna Reynolds said, comparing this Goodrich team to last season's squad. “They were just all over the ball.”
Junior guard Taylor Gleason led Goodrich with 18 points and five steals. Senior guard Destiny Stephens had 13 points, Joubran had 12 and junior guard Aketra Sullivan added 10. Senior forward Cara Miller had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Falcons, and Reynolds had 13 points.
Click for the box score. Watch the game and both teams' postgame press conferences at MHSAA.tv.
PHOTO: Goodrich freshman Tania Davis drives between Divine Child defenders Friday. (Photo courtesy of Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Arbor Prep's Defense Reigns Again in Repeat Low-Scoring Title Clincher
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 22, 2025
EAST LANSING — There is just something about Ypsilanti Arbor Prep and its comfort with playing low-scoring games in the MHSAA Tournament.
After winning the 2024 Division 3 championship game while scoring just 33 points, Arbor Prep didn’t score more than 32 in its final four postseason games this winter.
But that mattered not, as the Gators still managed to win all of them and capture their second-straight Division 3 title and third in four years.
The latest and final triumph of the 2024-25 season was a 32-21 win over Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest on Saturday at Breslin Center.
“We’re not a great offensive team, and part of that is we are playing five to six girls,” Arbor Prep head coach Scott Stine said. “We slow the ball down. We take time off the clock and when you do that, you’re not going to score a lot of points.”
Arbor Prep (17-12) entered the MHSAA Tournament unranked and with a losing record, but that was more a byproduct of playing a schedule filled with Division 1 and 2 opponents during the regular season.
“I knew this group was capable of doing what they just did,” Stine said. “I just didn’t know if it was ever going to click. The last week of the regular season, it did, and they continued this magical run.”
The Final against Lutheran Northwest was an offensive struggle for both teams.
Arbor Prep shot 35.5 percent from the field overall (11 of 31), 26.7 percent from 3-point range (4 of 15) and committed 17 turnovers.
Lutheran Northwest (21-7) shot 17.5 percent from the field overall (7 of 40) and went 1 for 14 from 3-point range, with the only made shot from beyond the 3-point line coming with 36.7 seconds remaining.
“We struggled getting into what we like to do,” Lutheran Northwest head coach Jimmy Mehlberg said. “We like to get into a quicker tempo. Credit to Arbor Prep. They did very well slowing it down on us.”
Arbor Prep held a 13-10 lead at halftime but started to gain a little separation in the third quarter when senior Eliza Bush hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Gators a 19-12 lead.
Arbor Prep took a 22-13 lead into the fourth quarter. Lutheran Northwest managed to cut its deficit to 24-18 with 4:31 remaining on a basket by junior Addie Troska. But a driving layup by Angela Meggisson with 1:51 remaining gave the Gators a 28-18 lead and all but wrapped up the game.
Meggisson finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Bush scored 10 points for Arbor Prep.
Troska scored eight points to lead Lutheran Northwest (21-7).
The Crusaders took solace in advancing to their first state championship game, and the fact that only three seniors will graduate from a program that has reached Breslin the last two seasons.
Lutheran Northwest lost to Arbor Prep in the Semifinals last year.
“It’s a great thing for our program to take this bigger step,” Lutheran Northwest senior Molly Griswold said, “and do something nobody else in school history has done.”
PHOTOS (Top) Arbor Prep’s Angela Meggisson makes a move toward the paint during her team’s Division 3 title-clinching win Saturday. (Middle) Lutheran Northwest’s Morgan Griswold (22) works to get up a shot over the Gators’ defense. (Below) Kylie Calabria (1) prepares to defend. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)