Countdown to Calvin: Girls Report Post-Break
January 8, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The girls basketball holiday break over the last three weeks featured some shaking up among the usual powers in Flint, Midland and Detroit.
It will be especially intriguing to see if that early re-ordering was a sign of things to come as the first full week of 2018 is loaded with opportunities for recent risers to take over top spots.
Countdown to Calvin is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. To offer corrections, email me at [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Flint Beecher 52, Flint Hamady 39 – The Buccaneers had seen the last four seasons end against Class C power Hamady, having suffered three losses to the Hawks in 2016-17 alone.
2. Midland 49, Midland Dow 37 – Dow had owned this rivalry with seven straight wins over the last three seasons.
3. Detroit Edison Public School Academy 70, Detroit Martin Luther King 42 – The reigning Class C champion is considered perhaps the best team in the state regardless of class, and downing the Class A Crusaders helped that argument.
4. DeWitt 40, Howell 36 – This pair of Class A contenders is a combined 16-2, with this the Highlanders’ only defeat this season.
5. Jackson Northwest 66, Coldwater 64 (OT) – Both have only one loss and should be in the mix in the ultra-competitive Interstate 8 Athletic Conference race.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Ann Arbor Huron (8-1) – The River Rats are undefeated since falling to DEPSA in their season opener. They got past always-solid Grand Haven by six at the Motor City Roundball Classic and are tied for first in the Southeastern Conference Red in part because of a one-point win over Temperance Bedford (6-2). Huron won the league and made the Quarterfinals last season.
Saginaw Heritage (7-0) – The Hawks are playing for a fourth straight finish with at least 20 wins, and have allowed two opponents to get within 16 points so far this winter. Heritage handed losses to both Flint Carman-Ainsworth and Freeland (both 6-2), the two teams that have gotten the closest to matching up.
CLASS B
Jackson Northwest (6-1) – With the top four teams in the Interstate 8 a combined 25-3, and annual Class B power Marshall not among them, the league is stacking up as potentially one of the state’s strongest. Northwest, last season’s I8AC runner-up, has fallen this season only to also one-loss Battle Creek Harper Creek, by three.
Kalkaska (7-0) – The Blazers didn’t get their first real scare last season until suffering their first loss, in February, but survived a two-point win against Lake City to finish 2017. Coming up Friday is Traverse City St. Francis, which joined Kalkaska as last year’s Lake Michigan Conference co-champion.
CLASS C
Negaunee (9-0) – After finishing second to Norway in the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference last season, the Miners are surging and don’t have to deal with the Knights, now in the Skyline Central Conference instead. Not that it would matter; Negaunee has won all of its games by at least 14 points, Ishpeming getting the closest in suffering its lone loss.
Pittsford (8-0) – Now in Class C, and after graduating all-state pair Maddie Clark and Jaycie Burger, Pittsford just keeps winning. The two-time reigning Class D champ has won 63 straight games, building the sixth-longest streak in MHSAA history. Only Manchester has gotten within single digits.
CLASS D
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (7-0) – Sacred Heart, the 2014 Class D champion and 2016 runner-up, would have no problem moving into the spot Pittsford has vacated. Four wins of at least 40 points, including one against Class C Carson City-Crystal (6-2), make the Irish look geared up for a run already.
Waterford Our Lady (6-2) – The Lakers opened 1-2 with losses to reigning Class B champion Detroit Country Day and runner-up Ypsilanti Arbor Prep. They’ve since rattled off five straight wins including two over Class A Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – East Kentwood (9-0) at Caledonia (7-0) – East Kentwood beat Caledonia three times last season on the way to finishing Class A runner-up, but by only five and four during the regular-season meetings.
Tuesday – Saginaw Valley Lutheran (4-1) at Hemlock (7-0) – These two tied for second in the Tri-Valley Conference West last season but hold the top two spots early this winter.
Thursday – DEPSA (6-0) at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (6-2) – With Arbor Prep moving into Class C this school year, this could be a matchup of the two best teams in that class.
Friday – Laingsburg (5-0) at Pewamo-Westphalia (7-0) – No one has challenged the reigning Class C runner-up Pirates so far, but Laingsburg could be the first; the Wolfpack was one of only four teams to come within single digits (twice) of P-W last season.
Friday – Kalkaska (7-0) at Traverse City St. Francis (3-1) – See explanation for Kalkaska above for why this could be pivotal in the Lake Michigan Conference race.
PHOTO: One of Saginaw Heritage’s closest wins of a perfect start came against Freeland at the end of December. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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.