Countdown to Calvin: Girls Report Week 6
January 14, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As the midpoint of this Michigan high school girls basketball season approaches, most teams are focusing on league competition – and there are plenty of stories to tell.
Start with the top game in our “Week in Review” below – which saw the end of an 82-game conference winning streak. Three of our five games to watch over the coming week also have league title significance.
Of course, there are some epic nonconference matchups still on the way – and we highlight a few of those as well.
Expect to see District brackets added to the MHSAA Website this week and first-round games added to team schedules. 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 or fill in scores we’re missing, email me at [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Whitehall 67, Muskegon Oakridge 56 (3 OT) – Whitehall handed Oakridge its first West Michigan Conference loss since 2013, a stretch of 82 league games, to move into a first-place tie with the Eagles.
2. Saginaw Heritage 48, Flint Carman-Ainsworth 41 – Saginaw Valley League Red leader Heritage remained undefeated by downing Blue leader Carman-Ainsworth in the former’s second-closest game this winter.
3. Detroit Martin Luther King 56, Detroit Cass Tech 53 – The Crusaders held on to the top spot alone in the Detroit Public School League Midtown division by handing the Technicians their first league loss.
4. Detroit Edison 64, Muskegon 42 – The Pioneers won a star-studded matchup that featured multiple Miss Basketball Award hopefuls.
5. Kalamazoo Christian 48, Comstock 38 – The Comets bounced back from two straight losses to hand Comstock the only defeat of an impressive winter so far.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
• Saline (7-0) – The Hornets appear on their way to soon surpassing last season’s 11-11 finish. Their first game closer than 19 points came Friday in the Southeastern Conference Red opener, when Saline won a battle of unbeaten edging Temperance Bedford 57-56.
• Southfield Arts & Technology (8-1) – The Warriors are playing for a third straight Oakland Activities Association Red title, but that could be just the start. A&T beat reigning Class B champion Detroit Country Day 65-54 last week and owns a 13-point win over Flint Carman-Ainsworth, noted above. The defeat was by two points to reigning Class A champion Saginaw Heritage in the season’s second game.
DIVISION 2
• Armada (6-1) – Reigning champion Armada has won 19 straight Blue Water Area Conference games and is tied for first heading into Tuesday’s matchup with co-leader Croswell-Lexington (see below). The loss came to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in mid-December, but the Tigers haven’t had another game closer than 22 points since their season opener.
• Croswell-Lexington (6-1) – Croswell-Lexington tied for second in the BWAC a year ago and has five wins by double digits this winter including a 19-pointer over third-place Imlay City on Friday. The only defeat came by nine to Port Huron Northern, an annual power from one of the state’s best leagues.
DIVISION 3
• Gobles (7-0) – Two straight first-game MHSAA Tournament exits has taken Gobles out of the state spotlight some, but the Tigers are roaring back. They avenged last season’s District loss to Kalamazoo Hackett last week, and could earn another boost against also-unbeaten Martin on Friday in a matchup for first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore.
• Iron River West Iron County (6-2) – The Wykons may have started slowly, relatively speaking, at 1-2 this winter including a loss to still-undefeated Ishpeming Westwood. But they handed Negaunee its first defeat last week and followed that with a one-point win over Menominee. Both were nonleague victories, but West Iron sits first in the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Copper as well.
DIVISION 4
• Adrian Lenawee Christian (9-1) – The Cougars began their reign as last season’s Class D champion with an opening-night 59-54 defeat to Michigan Center, a strong Division 3 contender this winter. But that competition no doubt prepared Lenawee Christian as it has since beaten Country Day by five, one-loss Carleton Airport by six and one-loss Bay City John Glenn by 15 – and last week avenged last season’s only defeat by beating Monroe by 13.
• Mackinaw City (6-1) – The Comets are looking to build on last season’s 15 wins, a six-win improvement from 2016-17, and appear on the way with all double-digit victories this winter to go with a lone loss to Brimley. Mackinaw City is tied for first in the Northern Lakes Conference with undefeated Wolverine – Friday’s opponent – and last week doubled up reigning league champion Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian 66-32. The Comets lost three times last season to the Swordsmen, including in a Regional Semifinal.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Rockford (8-2) at Grand Haven (8-0) – These are two of three teams unbeaten early in Ottawa-Kent Conference Red play, and Rockford plays the third, East Kentwood, on Friday.
Tuesday – Grosse Pointe North (7-1) at Port Huron Northern (8-2) – Both are unbeaten in the Macomb Area Conference Red and carry statewide intrigue as well.
Friday – Schoolcraft (8-0) at Centreville (7-0) – These two Division 3 powers both have won all of their games by double digits this winter.
Friday – Farmington Hills Mercy (6-1) at Bloomfield Hills Marian (7-0) – This continues to be one of the best hoops rivalries in the state, and they’re tied early atop the Detroit Catholic League Central standings after sharing the title last season.
Saturday – Detroit Edison (9-1) vs. Detroit Mumford (9-1) at Warren Fitzgerald – The PSL West-Town leading Mustangs are a two-point loss to St. Ignace from unbeaten, and Edison hasn’t lost to an in-state opponent in a calendar year.
Second Half’s weekly “Countdown to Calvin” reports are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division. Click for more information and connect with MI Student Aid on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO: Sandusky held on to its share of the lead in the Greater Thumb Conference East on Thursday with a 36-29 win over Harbor Beach. (Click to see more from Varsity Monthly.)
Marian Wins Rematch of Top-Ranked in A
March 20, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Bloomfield Hills Marian is the reigning Class A girls basketball champion.
But sophomore guard Samantha Thomas admitted Friday the Mustangs were nervous the first time they faced Detroit Martin Luther King this season, on Feb. 26.
Marian didn’t see always-powerful King during its championship run. The Mustangs did win that first meeting this winter, but by only one point.
Nerves aside for their Class A Semifinal rematch, the story unfolded much differently – but with a similar ending.
Top-ranked Marian never trailed after the first five minutes and furthered its already-impressive body of work this season by downing the No. 2 Crusaders 57-37 at the Breslin Center.
“I think today we were ready for them. We actually played with confidence,” Williams said. “The last game we were nervous. We’d never played them. Today we went out and played the best we could.”
On Saturday, the Mustangs can prove for the second straight season that no other team in Class A can play better. They’ll take on DeWitt in the noon Final at Michigan State.
Marian’s surge in confidence was just one change from the first meeting. Coach Mary Cicerone made some adjustments to the Mustangs’ stingy man-to-man defense designed to make life a little harder on King senior point guard Janae Williams, who had 17 points in February.
Williams scored a game-high 18 points this time, but eight came on free throws as she had a tougher time driving to the basket against additional defensive attention.
“In this particular game, they were a little bit more aggressive,” King coach William Winfield said. “They took us out of what we wanted to do, which was good on their part. We did the same thing when we played them (the first time).
“They put a lot of pressure on my point guard, and that was it. Any time you have a situation when they take my point guard out of the game, now we have problems.”
Thomas scored with 36 seconds left in the first quarter to launch an 11-2 run that put Marian ahead 20-11 three minutes into the second. The Crusaders cut the deficit back to seven points three minutes later, but never got closer.
Thomas had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, plus three blocked shots. Senior guard Jaeda Robinson led Marian with 15 points and senior forward Brittany Gray added 14 as the team made 50 percent of its shots from the floor.
Senior center Malaysia McHenry added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Crusaders (24-2); she and Williams both were four-year varsity players for Winfield and led this first King run to the Semifinals since 2006.
Marian (25-1) is undefeated against in-state competition, its only loss to Chicago Whitney Young. The Mustangs are 50-3 over the last two seasons – and beat the team that handed them their 2013-14 losses, rival Farmington Hills Mercy, in last year’s Semifinal.
Four starters from last season’s championship game likely will be in the lineup Saturday, and Robinson was the team’s top sub a year ago.
“This is what we planned for. Nothing else would’ve been satisfactory,” Cicerone said. “I’m sure you’d see a lot of tears if we weren’t here. But they came to play today, and I’m very proud of them.”
Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marian’s Samantha Thomas works to get past King’s Leah Mathis during Friday’s Class A Semifinal. (Middle) King’s Janae Williams starts the offense; she finished with a game high 18 points. Bailey Thomas defends for Marian.