Class D Final: Lakers complete 3-peat
March 17, 2012
EAST LANSING – In the first quarter it was Ava Doetsch. In the second, Lexie Robak.
And at the end of Saturday’s third quarter at the Breslin Center, when Waterford Our Lady was strengthening its grip on its next MHSAA Class D title, Tori Duffey came through.
Unlike their first two title runs, this season’s Lakers didn’t have a proven star like 2011 grad and current Oakland University freshman Lauren Robak to take every big shot. The time, they had many.
Our Lady’s 53-37 win over Athens capped a third-straight Class D championship season in the same way the Lakers had won all season – with help from a variety of contributors who took on changed and increased roles this winter.
“People ask us, ‘How do you get excited? You’re going there again.’ The second time they were still saying how is it still exciting,” said Doetsch, who has played on all three MHSAA champions. “Not a lot of people get to come and play under these circumstances. To be with the same people … it’s really exciting to me. For this game, I was more excited than my freshman year.”
Our Lady, which entered the tournament ranked just No. 7 in Class D, finished 23-4 this season. Over the last four, the Lakers have a record of 90-16, with four District and Regional championships to go with three wins at the MHSAA Finals.
Juniors Lexie Robak and Jessica Parry have joined Doetsch on all three championship teams.
“You don’t believe it the first time. You don’t feel like it’s real,” Parry said. “Who does that, three in a row? It’s a crazy feeling.”
It began to set in with some big shots by Robak at the end of the second quarter, and took solid hold after Duffey’s barrage to finish the third.
The Lakers led Athens by just a basket, 21-19, with 2:49 to play in the first half when Robak drained consecutive 3-pointers and another shot to push the advantage to 10 heading into halftime.
Athens (21-6) cut the lead back to eight before Robak hit a jumper and Duffey, a senior, knocked down two 3-pointers and nabbed a steal as Our Lady closed the third quarter up 42-26.
For the game, the Lakers made 56 percent of their shots from the floor including 6 of 12 tries from 3-point range. Athens made just 28 percent of its shots, and 2 of 10 from behind the arc.
“They had really good shooters. That’s something we haven’t seen a lot of this season,” Athens sophomore guard Payton Wood said. “Some teams have had definite 3-point shooters than we knew we had to stay on. But they are just all-around a great shooting team, and (that’s) just something that took over the game.”
Duffey and Doetsch both scored 13 points to lead Our Lady. Doetsch had nine points, two rebounds and a steal in the first quarter to help the Lakers keep pace before beginning their break-away in the second. Robak finished with 12 points.
“Instead of having to always go to one player, we had five or six we always get the ball to, to count on them to score that lay-up or basket,” Doetsch said. “The other team didn’t know who we were going to pass it to, and that made it a lot more fun … because no one knew who we were going to get the ball to to score.”
Athens – making its first MHSAA Final appearance – had just two seniors this season. Sierra Stevens capped her high school career with a game-high 15 points.
Click for the box score. Watch the game and both teams' postgame press conferences at MHSAA.tv.
PHOTOS: (Top) Waterford Our Lady celebrates its third-straight Class D championship. (Photo courtesy of Terry McNamara Photography.) (Middle) Athens guard Leo Plaisir drives around Our Lady guard Anna Robb. Plaisir scored four points Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
East Kentwood Holds On, Earns Title Shot
March 17, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Few opponents this season had played East Kentwood as close as Southfield Arts & Technology did during Friday’s Class A Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
But Falcons coach Jimmy Carter wasn’t worried. And his players were only a little bit cautious as they set themselves up to play for the school’s first MHSAA basketball title.
East Kentwood led by as many as 20 and by 11 into the final quarter. But although Southfield A&T cut the deficit all the way to two points with 4:45 to play, the Falcons held on for a 55-51 win to earn their first championship game berth.
They’ve claimed 22 of their 26 wins this season by 12 or more points, so their experience in close games is limited.
“Basically, I think we pulled through because I thought we were better than they were, and the kids believed they were better than they were, and everyone else we’ve played we thought we were better than,” Carter said. “That’s not confidence; it’s just a little bit of a fact.
“It may sound a little conceited, but I thought we were underrated all year. We weren’t even ranked in our own area, so we had something to prove that we’re better than what people think. I really like being the underdog, and I think my kids do too.”
East Kentwood, ranked No. 9 in Class A heading into the postseason, will face unranked Flushing in Saturday’s noon championship game. Neither has won an MHSAA championship or played for one.
But the Falcons have been building to this point. East Kentwood won one game in 2012-13, but since have increased that victory total to seven, 11, then 14, and this season sit 26-1 with that only loss in its second game to Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Moving on Friday seemed all but a done deal after the Falcons’ lead reached 20 with 3:47 to go in the third quarter. But No. 6 Southfield A&T – which beat top-ranked Detroit Martin Luther King on the way to the Semifinals – wasn’t about to go that quietly.
The Warriors – a product of the merger between the former Southfield High and Southfield-Lathrup in the fall – launched a 15-0 run with Miss Basketball finalist Deja Church scoring 10 of her game-high 26 points to lead the way. A Church basket with 4:45 to play pulled A&T to within 44-42.
“In the locker room (at halftime), we went in there, and basically I just started (saying) the game isn’t over. We were down 15 points. That’s nothing,” Church said. “So we just tried to shake off the first half, and the third quarter we came out playing really hard, cut the lead down to four or two, and at that point I felt like we could get it.”
A 3-pointer by junior D’Layna Holliman put the Warriors behind only 52-49 with 1:03 to play. After East Kentwood senior Amari Brown made one of two free throw attempts, A&T had two chances to get within two. A foul put Falcons sophomore guard Mauriya Barnes on the line for two free throws with 25 seconds left – and she connected on both, pushing the lead back to six and the game out of reach.
Carter noted after that his team missed a number of layups and connected on only 9 of 24 free throws. But Barnes showed some necessary poise knocking down her pair at crunch time.
“We were confident, but we couldn’t get too cocky. We can’t ever underestimate a team, because when we do, what happens happened,” Barnes said. “We get overconfident, they make a run, and we have to really humble ourselves and we have to play our game no matter what.”
Barnes scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds for East Kentwood, and junior center Corinne Jemison also shined in the clutch with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Church added 12 rebounds, four assists and five steals for A&T (22-5). Sophomore forward Alexis Johnson added 13 points and 17 rebounds and freshman guard Cheyenne McEvans grabbed 10 boards.
Even with the loss Friday, Southfield A&T turned what could have been an awkward situation this season into an overall win. Church (Lathrup) and Holliman (Southfield High) recalled after how they didn’t care for each other much before becoming classmates and then teammates this school year. Coach Michele Marshall – who led Lathrup for 21 seasons and to the Class A title in 2005 before taking over this new program – offered lasting praise.
“D’Layna spoke about the fact that a lot of people think this is an upset that we even got here. But the thing I love about the kids I inherited from Southfield High is they play with a chip on their shoulder and they believe anything is possible,” Marshall said. “And so after we started to blend together, and we understood that we were going to be one as a team, my coaching staff and I felt we could get to Breslin.
“We fell short of the state championship, but make no mistake about it: I’m more proud of this team than probably any team I’ve coached.”
PHOTOS: (Top) East Kentwood’s Mauriya Barnes cuts through traffic during Friday’s Class A Semifinal. (Middle) The Warriors’ Deja Church glides in for a shot.