Contenders Hope to Follow Saints' Path
March 14, 2016
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
The St. Ignace girls basketball team is obviously quite familiar with the Mackinac Bridge.
The Saints live at the Upper Peninsula's eastern connection to downstate, and they seem to make regular trips across the bridge in quest of MHSAA championships.
The Newberry and Stephenson girls basketball teams are virtual strangers to the glorious span that connects the two peninsulas. That is about to change, as Tuesday they face each other in a Class D Quarterfinal at Negaunee in hopes of earning a first downstate trip in decades.
Newberry has not crossed the bridge for girls basketball since 1990, while Stephenson's last trip to the mitten came in 1982. Newberry (23-1) claimed its Class D Regional title Thursday by clipping Pickford 44-34 while Stephenson (23-2) captured its Class D Regional by shelling Crystal Falls Forest Park 60-36.
St. Ignace, meanwhile, nudged Calumet 53-52 in a classic – and rare – showdown of reigning MHSAA champions. It was the first loss of the season for Calumet, which won the Class C title in 2015. The Saints won the Class D banner a year ago, then returned to Class C this season.
The Saints also won the Class D championship in 2013 and took Class C titles in 1999, 2000 and 2011. All five titles came with Dorene Ingalls as head coach. St. Ignace (23-2) faces Traverse City St. Francis on Tuesday in Gaylord.
St. Ignace edged Calumet when Natalie Lee hit a free throw with 1.1 seconds left to play at Marquette High School. Lee scored 10 points and had six assists, while all-state candidate Abby Ostman had 22 points and nine rebounds and Linnie Gustafson had 10 assists, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals.
Ingalls said Gustafson and Jade Edelman have been "stepping up" down the stretch. Ostman, who signed to accept a basketball scholarship to Michigan Tech University, is averaging 19.9 points and 8.9 rebounds this season.
"We have a different group of kids this year," said Ingalls, admitting to some roller-coaster performances this season. "They had to step up in different roles and they have been learning and learning. It's been a fun year, but it has been challenging at times. We've had to walk them through a lot of stuff. We really have been re-inventing the wheel some times."
Under Ingalls since 1999, the Saints are a lofty 360-67. That success continued this year because, as the 2016 Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame inductee said, "We try to raise the bar at a high level. How good do we want to be? We want to get to a certain level every day."
Ingalls said losses to Newberry and Sault Ste. Marie were beneficial. "They really made us dig deep. It was a good lesson for them," she said.
The Saints are accustomed to playing in pressure situations, and Ingalls said this year, "They put the pressure on themselves. I couldn't be more proud of this group. It's taken a while to click, and we're still clicking. We're getting closer together and becoming more of a family.
"I'm very proud of where we've been, where we've come from and where we're going."
She said slipping past Calumet was special, because the teams bonded last year at the bridge when the Saints greeted Calumet upon their trip back from East Lansing. She said it was hard to see Calumet lose "in a game that was played the right way, just a good basketball game, a clean basketball game."
While crossing the bridge is old hat for the Saints, none of the Newberry or Stephenson players were even alive the last time their schools made it downstate. "That is pretty cool," said Newberry coach Fred Bryant, who has been coaching these players since third grade and is in his second year with the varsity.
A member of that 1990 Regional title team was Chris Nance, perhaps the school's best player. She was at Thursday's game and talked to the team after the game. "She told the kids they were a lot of fun to watch and that they remind her of her team," said Bryant, who added that Nance said both clubs did it by "hard work and determination."
Bryant's daughter, junior point guard Taylor Bryant, averages 18.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, six assists and five steals per game. Senior Bridget Stoetzer averages 11.5 points and 5.5 rebounds.
The Indians lack size, with no one taller than 5-foot-7. They like to press and use an up-tempo offense, averaging 53 points while allowing 36. "We try to push the tempo as much as possible," said coach Bryant, noting they are used to playing against bigger teams, which will be the case again Tuesday.
Playing against St. Ignace over the years has helped this unit develop, highlighted by a split of the regular-season series this season and three losses by a total of 11 points last season.
"They have learned how they (St. Ignace) carry themselves and they have learned how to finish games and not panic," Bryant said his team’s growth from the St. Ignace showdowns. "We've had five really good games with them. We've gotten as much from playing them as they have gotten from playing us."
The Indians learned those lessons well, persevering several times this season, highlighted by erasing a 10-point District deficit against Engadine, overcoming a couple of deficits to edge Posen in overtime and then coming back from a 10-point halftime deficit against Pickford on Thursday.
"I don't think it sunk in until after we left the restaurant in St. Ignace after the game Thursday," Bryant said, indicating the final 45 minutes on the bus were quite lively.
Bryant said the players have been working hard to reach this point. "It is nice to see them realize their potential. I hope this resonates through the program, I hope this lights a fire. We haven't had any sustained success in our program."
Although Stephenson has not been downstate since 1982, the Eagles have enjoyed more success than Newberry. They have taken five District titles since then, including in 2010 and 2014, and this year stunned favored Bark River-Harris 57-56 in overtime in a District test at BR-H.
"Our regular-season game (with BR-H at Stephenson) was the turning point of our season," said second-year coach Shanna Beal. Noting the Eagles had only six players available because of illnesses, she recalled having to finish with three players because of fouls. BR-H won 61-56 but Beal said, "They realized what they could do. Bark River is the team we tried to compare ourselves to."
The District game provided "a championship game atmosphere. It was just crazy," said Beal. "It was kind of shocking, and it was a great feeling (to win). Their kids had such high expectations, and we had such a good halftime lead (32-17).
"We had prepared for it so much and we used a different game plan to try to shut down their post players. We were fortunate to come out on top."
In the District finale, freshman Autumn Rasner hit six 3-point baskets and scored 21 points in the first half as the Eagles defeated Powers North Central. Rasner had 17 points and four triples against Forest Park in the Regional finale.
Beal said the team had a police and fire squad escort out of town Thursday and again when the team returned from the Regional finale.
She said she made more strategic adjustments this season and the Eagles "took it game-by-game. We weren't disappointed with our losses (to BR-H and Norway) because they played their hearts out."
The Eagles rely more on their senior-dominated size, with 5-8 center Tori Wangerin averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds per game. Twin sisters Kelsey Johnson (14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) and Karley Johnson (11 points, five assists) share point guard duties and other spots, helping the Eagles average 60 points while yielding 40.
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTO: (Top) A Stephenson guard calls out a play during last week’s District game against Chassell. (Middle) Newberry and St. Ignace split a pair of regular-season matchups this season. (Photos by Paul Gerard.)
Next Coach, Same Success as Gobles Drives On
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
March 9, 2021
GOBLES — One coach retired and one coach was hired, but both have one reason in common: family.
After 18 years leading the Gobles girls basketball team, John Curtis hung up his whistle.
“My two boys are the biggest reason,” Curtis said of Kellen, 13, and Gibson, 11.
“I just wanted to spend more time with them. Instead of being in a gym coaching on Tuesday and Friday, I would rather be with them studying or just having some Friday night fun.”
Greg Barber took over the position after coaching the junior varsity girls for five years.
That gives him more time to spend with his daughter, Amanda, a junior in her third year on varsity.
His other daughter, Erica, is an eighth grader who also plays basketball.
“I brought my daughters up through the youth program, so I was involved in that when they were in the third grade on up,” Barber said. “I just like coaching.”
One goal for the 8-3 Tigers is continued success in the MHSAA postseason which begins March 22 with District play.
Last year, Gobles won their District and then lost a 42-41 heartbreaker to Schoolcraft in a Division 3 Regional Semifinal. (Soon after, the season was put on hold and final rounds eventually canceled due to COVID-19.)
Last year’s success was actually another factor that prompted Curtis’ retirement.
“I didn't want to be one of those coaches that retired when the program was struggling,” he said.
“We have a great group of young ladies back and some solid young talent that helped in my decision as well.”
He said handing the coaching reins to Barber was easy.
“He has been in the program for a very long time as a youth and JV coach and has a great rapport with the team,” Curtis said.
“Having (current junior varsity) Coach V. (Marc VanHeukelum) around was a big help as well. He's been by my side forever, and they will keep the program at an elite level.”
Junior guard Amanda Barber, who joined the varsity midway through her freshman season, did not see much of a change when her father took over as coach.
“They have different coaching styles, I would say, but overall they both are good coaches so it’s not hard to be coached by one or the other,” she said.
“Mr. Curtis is probably a little more in-your-face, and he’ll tell you how it is. My dad’s a little more laid back.”
The 5-foot-4 Barber leads the team in points, averaging 16 per game, and assists with three per game. Senior Karlee Henderson leads with seven rebounds per game.
“Amanda’s put hours and hours in the gym working on her game and her shooting,” he dad said. “Just countless hours of work.”
Other juniors on the team are Madi Brady, McKenzie Lisowski and Emily Baxter.
Other seniors are Keaghan Kelly, Abby Sandahl and Deven Thompson. The lone sophomore is Kaya Huizenga.
Moving Up, Staying Together
Kennadi Killeen made the jump from eighth grade hoops to varsity without playing a game of JV.
That took a bit of adjustment.
“The game just got a lot faster and the girls got a lot bigger,” the freshman guard said. “You don’t have as much time between shots to think about everything, so you just have to know what you’re going to do before you do it.”
The pandemic restrictions limiting fans in the stands actually helped Killeen.
‘It did make the transition a lot easier because there weren’t a lot of people watching,” she said. “There weren’t as many people to be afraid of making a mistake in front of,” she added, laughing.
Killeen has worked her way into the starting lineup.
“She’s averaging five or six points a game and about five rebounds as a freshman, so she’s doing real well,” Barber said.
Deanna Wood is the other freshman on the team.
The coach said team unity is a key to their success.
“The junior class has played together since third grade so they’ve played the travel ball, some AAU stuff,” he said. “They’ve stuck together.
“It’s a very talented, athletic group. A couple young freshmen on the team this year have played a lot of basketball.”
Barber said working with the girls when he coached the JV team helped him with the move to varsity.
“I’ve coached them all through their JV years, so it was a pretty simple transition,” he said.
“They know what we do, they know what we want, they know what we like, so it went pretty smooth.”
Impressive numbers
In his 18 years as head coach, Curtis’ teams compiled a 304-107 record, won 10 conference, eight District and two Regional championships, making it to the Semifinals once.
There are a few things Curtis will not miss.
“If I’m going to be 100 percent honest,” he said, “I won't miss dealing with all of the aspects off the court. The players and parents are changing just like society, which can make the job really tough.
“I've realized that as a coach you can't make everyone happy, and not too many people can see the entire picture these days.”
But since retiring, “the one thing I miss is those tough Friday night road games,” he said. “There is nothing better than going to an opponent's gym with a buzz in the gym and silencing their crowd with a win.
“I always took pride in how mentally tough my teams were, and that competitive feeling after those types of wins will be missed.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gobles junior McKenzie Lisowski looks to break a trap against Allegan this season. (2) Gobles varsity girls basketball coach Greg Barber. (3) Tigers junior Amanda Barber makes her way through Coloma's defense. (4) Gobles freshman Kennadi Killeen. (5) Recently retired Gobles varsity coach John Curtis with sons Gibson and Kellen. (Action photos by Gala Rock. Head shots by Pam Shebest. Curtis photo courtesy of Curtis family.)