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.”
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.
Hovey's Elite Talent on Track Helping Hart Hoops Continue to Fly High
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
January 10, 2025
HART – Addi Hovey has certainly shown she's built for speed – not only in track & field, but on the basketball court as well.
Hovey won three individual events at last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Girls & Field Track Finals (leading the Hart girls to their third-consecutive team championship), and now the senior is using her unique blend of speed, jumping ability and aggressiveness to wreak havoc on the hardwood.
“All of us have grown up playing that style of basketball, just running all the time,” explained Hovey, who is the reigning LPD3 champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters and high jump.
“We are a short team, but we make up for it with speed. That’s our game.”
Hart, which has averaged better than 19 wins per season over the past three years, improved to 7-1 on Tuesday with a 62-42 win over Ravenna, led by a game-high 23 points from Hovey.
“We have great basketball players, but more than that, we have great athletes who can run and trap,” said seventh-year Hart coach Travis Rosema. “Addi is a huge part of that. We are undersized, so sometimes I need her to play post, and she is willing to do that.”
Hovey, a 5-foot-10 left-handed guard/forward, first made her mark on the state stage two years ago as a sophomore when the Pirates took on No. 1-ranked and heavily-favored Buchanan in a Division 3 Quarterfinal game.
Rosema needed someone to guard Buchanan’s 6-4 senior center Faith Carson, who now plays for Ohio State. Hovey, then a 5-8 sophomore, drew the assignment and battled Carson all night, making her work for all of her 22 points in Hart’s upset win (and Hovey also knocked down four free throws over the final 30 seconds).
Last week, she was assigned to a smaller player, Mason County Central guard Mallory Miller, and held her to 10 points – eight points below her average.
On Tuesday, Hovey was back to playing all over the court: trapping, cutting off dribblers with her speed and getting into passing lanes with her long arms.
It is that incredible athleticism which led Hovey, who already holds Hart school records in the 100 (12.27), 200 (25.51), high jump (5-11) and 400 relay (50.13), to receive offers from a variety of schools for both basketball and track. In August, she announced she would join her older sister Jayd at Indiana Wesleyan, an NAIA school in Marion, Ind., and play both sports.
“My family is very important to me, and basketball is something that brings us all together,” said Hovey, 17, the daughter of Jeff and Staci Hovey. “I felt like God was calling me to play at IW with my sister.”
Indiana Wesleyan is currently 16-0 and ranked No. 2 nationally in NAIA. Jayd, 21, is out for the season with an ACL tear after missing most of her senior basketball season at Hart with a torn ACL in her other knee.
Parker, 19, the only boy in the four-child family, is a 6-5 starting forward at Hope College, where he is having a strong season at nine points and seven rebounds per game.
The final piece of the Hovey puzzle is Mia, a 12-year-old seventh grader at Hart who serves as the varsity team’s manager – and will be a player to watch in the very near future.
Hart finished 17-6 last year and lost to Ludington in Districts after moving to Division 2. The Pirates have all five starters back from that team and are back in Division 3, sparking hope for another long tournament run.
The Pirates looked sharp in the first half Tuesday, when all five starters and several key reserves were involved in the scoring.
“I tell the girls all the time that we are a team of 10,” said Rosema. “I want to rotate through and wear the other team down, continue to press and keep that pressure on all game.”
Hovey is the tallest Hart starter at 5-10, followed by senior Kelsey Copenhaver (5-9), who averages seven points and six rebounds per game. The other senior in the starting lineup is guard Breslyn Porter, who averages five points and four rebounds.
The Pirates’ other starters are sophomores. Breslyn’s younger sister, point guard Rilynn Porter, who is off to a great start with nine points and 5.5 assists per game. Reese Smith does a little bit of everything for the team, contributing 8.7 points, 2.8 steals, 2.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds.
But when push comes to shove, just like in the high jump, Hovey is the one best-suited to elevate her game.
Ravenna, which is having a strong year and dropped to 6-2 with the loss, outscored Hart in the third quarter to get within 10 points. That led to Hovey taking over at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring 10 consecutive points off a variety of steals and deflections to put the game away.
Last year, Hovey became the third player in Hart girls basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points. Ironically, all three of those players – Amy Pickard Contreras, Landyn Lorenz and Hovey – are left-handed.
Hovey leads the Pirates in most statistical categories, averaging 16.3 points, nine rebounds, six steals, three assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game.
The one question which Hovey had difficulty answering was to name the individual highlight of her Hart basketball career.
After a pause, she instead began talking about some of Hart’s many team breakthroughs over the past three seasons – such as finally breaking through and defeating Kent City in Regionals two years ago, which was followed up by the monumental upset of Buchanan that gave the Pirates their first-ever berth in the Semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
“Basketball is my first love because it’s a team sport,” said Hovey, who is considering a career in teaching and coaching. “I don’t care about stats. I just want to do everything I can to help my team win.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Hart’s Addi Hovey (24) brings the ball upcourt during a game. (Middle) Hovey competes in the high jump during the spring. (Photos courtesy of the Local Sports Journal.)