DEPSA Finishes Championship Beginning

March 18, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

EAST LANSING – Rickea Jackson was the freshman last year, an all-stater in the making, but also the player getting triple teamed by opponents as the most immensely talented of Detroit Edison Public School Academy’s lineup.

On the sideline, coach Monique Brown almost couldn’t watch as her star kept getting “smashed” by opponents. But Jackson wouldn’t let her get down.

“I’d be looking to the side, and she said, ‘Coach, next year,’” Brown recalled Saturday after their season ended in a way neither could have fully expected. “She knew she had eighth graders who were going to be ninth graders who would be able to help her out.”

They sure did.

A program that had never won a District title before this winter won this season’s Class C championship edging Pewamo-Westphalia 46-44 with freshmen combining to score half of those points to follow Jackson’s game-high 21.

“Our dream has finally come true,” Jackson said. “(Coach) would get frustrated on the sideline. But when I was hugging her (Saturday), I told her, ‘I’ve got you, and I will always have your back – no matter what.’”

DEPSA finished this season 21-5, and as players piled onto each other in hugs and screams on the Breslin Center floor, there was only one question left to ask:

Was this just the first of celebrations to come?

In addition to playing numerous freshmen, the Pioneers blazed this trail without a senior – paced also by two juniors to go with Jackson, the lone sophomore and an all-state second teamer this winter.

“People are saying the season is over," said DEPSA freshman Gabrielle Elliott, who made the all-state first team, “but it’s just beginning.”

For these players, yes. But the program’s beginnings were far more humble.

DEPSA’s team is six years old, and Brown has led it from the start. The Pioneers have had winning records every season, but played the first with only six players – and finished their last game that winter, a District Final, with only three on the floor.

A loss Saturday wouldn’t have made this season less successful – something Pewamo-Westphalia coach Steve Eklund also emphasized to his players as they fell into heartache after just missing on a first championship as well.

DEPSA pushed its lead to nine just more than a minute into the fourth quarter, but P-W – which trailed for all but 14 seconds of the game when the score was tied – whittled the advantage down to one point with 1:19 to play. 

The Pioneers drained most of the clock before P-W was forced to foul, and the Pirates looked to catch a break after a missed free throw – but a scramble that saw at least three players dive to the floor ended with the ball back in DEPSA’s hands. Another P-W foul and another Pioneers missed free throw, and the Pirates got the ball back for what looked to be a final attempt to take the lead – but a 3-point attempt from the corner was enveloped by DEPSA freshman Shaulana Wagner and tossed out of bounds.

“As I was going, I was just like, don’t make them score because then we’ll be down,” said Wagner, who has been working through a left ankle injury and seemed to re-aggravate it earlier in the half. “The energy from the crowd and my team picking me up, it gave me the energy to get that.”

The Pirates had one last chance then inbounding the ball with 3.4 seconds to play – but the pass from the corner never made it safely in, knocking off the leg of a DEPSA player and then off P-W on the deflection.

“They’re long. Their arms were everywhere,” Pirates junior Emily Spitzley said. “It was just a blur."

“Five seconds after that inbounds play I told myself I should’ve run the other one. It’s amazing a whole season comes down to just five seconds,” Eklund added.

“I just told the girls no regrets. You’ll have a lot of people come up and tell you what an awesome game it was. You’re going to get tired of saying thank you, but mean it.”

P-W will continue to be a force as well, as freshman Hannah Spitzley led this time with 17 points as her all-state second-team sister Emily had 15.

Jackson added nine rebounds and three blocks to her game-high 21 points, and Wagner had 12 points and two blocks.

“It definitely started off a couple years ago with our middle school program,” Brown said. “To get them to stay with me was a little tough, so when they came over (to high school), when they decided, yes, we will continue to stay here with you and continue this roll with you, we started in August running on the track and in the weight room. We were just trying to build our bodies because I knew we would have to go against seniors going off to college.

“When they committed themselves to that, I knew we had something. But not until the 9 o’clock p.m. practices on Friday nights – then I thought we might have a championship team. And the 5 in the morning practices … everyone showed up, and I commend the ladies for that.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) DEPSA’s Rickea Jackson rises above a pair of P-W defenders to launch a shot Saturday. (Middle) Pirates junior Emily Spitzley drives around a Pioneers player during the Class C Final.

Performance of the Week: Hemlock's Regan Finkbeiner

March 24, 2023

Regan FinkbeinerRegan Finkbeiner ♦ Hemlock
Senior ♦ Basketball

The 5-foot-6 guard capped her high school career at Breslin Center over the weekend with team highs of 24 points and four steals in Thursday’s 57-26 Division 3 Semifinal win over Hart and the team-leading 19 points and four assists in the 59-43 win over Blissfield on Saturday that clinched the Huskies their first MHSAA Finals championship in girls basketball.

Finkbeiner played all but four minutes of 64 total over the two games, and she made a combined 15 of her 27 shots from the floor and 9 of 10 free throw attempts, plus four 3-pointers in the Final. She had entered the season’s final week averaging 17.1 points, 3.5 assists and 4.8 steals per game and in February became the program’s all-time leading scorer breaking the previous record of 1,302. A standout in multiple sports, she’s committed to continue playing softball after high school at Madonna University. Her basketball team finished 26-3 this winter.

@mhsaasports 🏀POW: Regan Finkbeiner #performanceoftheweek #basketball #champion #congrats #huskies #hemlock #letsgo #moana #MHSAA #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #TikTok#mistudentaid #fyp ♬ Beat Automotivo Tan Tan Tan Viral - WZ Beat

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2022-23 Honorees

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March 9:
Braeden Davis, Dundee wrestling - Report
March 2:
Gabriel Sanchez-Burks, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Feb. 23:
Grace Sobczak, Marquette swimming - Report
Feb. 16:
Kaitlynn Demers, Gibraltar Carlson competitive cheer - Report
Feb. 9:
Indya Davis, West Bloomfield basketball - Report
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Kayla Tafanelli, Warren Woods-Tower bowling - Report
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Brenden Paden, Riverview Gabriel Richard hockey - Report
Dec. 16:
Tuff Scott, Holton bowling - Report
Dec. 9:
Macey Fegan, Standish-Sterling basketball - Report
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Treyton Siegert, Gladwin football - Report
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Lily Witte, Dexter diving - Report
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Owen DeMuth, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood tennis - Report
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Hannah Smith, Temperance Bedford swimming - Report
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Helen Sachs, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
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Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
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PHOTO Hemlock's Regan Finkbeiner drives to the basket during her team's Semifinal win over Hart. (Photos courtesy of the Hemlock girls basketball program.)