Flushing Celebrates 'Banner' Season
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 18, 2017
EAST LANSING – Breanna Perry was tired of looking at a lonely state championship banner in the Flushing gymnasium – especially one twice her age.
So the Flushing senior and her teammates went out and got another one.
The Raiders defeated East Kentwood 49-38 Saturday in the MHSAA Class A girls basketball championship game at the Breslin Center. It was the school’s first MHSAA Finals title in the sport, and first in any since winning a girls golf title in 1977.
“We had one banner, and it was how many years ago?” said Perry, who had 12 points and 13 rebounds in the win. “It’s nice to have another banner, and it’s nice that it’s recent. I’m going to have to come back like every day just to look at it.”
Flushing (24-3) was making its first appearance in a girls basketball championship game, and had just one run to the Semifinals (1976) in program history. It entered the postseason not only outside The Associated Press’ top 10 rankings in Class A, but also wasn’t listed in the “others receiving votes” category.
On the way to the title, the Raiders knocked off No. 4 Midland Dow – which had defeated them earlier in the season – and reigning Class A champion Warren Cousino.
“This whole tournament has been an out-of-body experience for me, and I think for all the other girls,” Flushing senior Carson Wilson said. “We’re just still trying to comprehend it all. It’s a lot to take in.”
While Flushing was a veteran team – with four seniors in the starting lineup – it was short on postseason experience, as the program had not made it out of the Regional since 2009. That didn’t seem to bother the Raiders on the biggest stage.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world right now, to be able to be part of what these guys have accomplished at Flushing,” Raiders coach Larry Ford said. “What they did today and throughout the whole tournament, I think was nothing short of special – almost, probably, divine in some respects. They’re a team that stays true to themselves, and they showed that today. Everything for these guys starts on the defensive end, and they let the offense take care of itself.”
Lauren Newman led Flushing with 19 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Shelby Morrow added 10 points and six rebounds, while Kamryn Chappell had five assists. Perry added four steals and three blocks.
Corinne Jemison led East Kentwood (26-2) with 12 points, while Mauriya Barnes had seven. East Kentwood shot 28.1 percent from the field, and was held to six second-chance points despite grabbing 18 offensive rebounds.
“We shot very poorly from the free throw line (36.4 percent) and we shot very poorly from the floor,” East Kentwood coach Jimmy Carter said. “You’re not going to win a game like that against a good team with that type of shooting.”
Flushing held a 19-17 lead at the half after getting points from six players, led by six points from Newman.
Aggressiveness on defense and the offensive glass kept the Falcons close in the half, as they shot just 21.4 percent from the field, compared to 47.1 percent for Flushing. East Kentwood grabbed 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, and forced 14 Flushing turnovers. East Kentwood had an 11-5 advantage in points off turnovers at the half.
But in the third quarter, Flushing cleaned things up, both on the offensive glass and in the turnover department, to start to pull away from the Falcons. Perry had seven rebounds in the quarter to spark the effort.
“I think we were a little bit more focused, and effort was part of it,” Ford said. “That first half was pretty physical, so we talked about what we had to do at the half – bear down and get a little more physical without fouling. We knew we had to take care of the turnover situation, and I think we cut down our turnover situation.”
The Raiders led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter, and as the clock ticked down, the student section sang “We Are the Champions,” and Ford was able to give his seniors a curtain call.
“I don’t think it’s really hit me that we are state champions,” Newman said. “It kind of just feels like another game in our season. But to achieve that goal and finally get a banner to put up, it’s an unreal feeling and it’s a great accomplishment for our team.”
While East Kentwood didn’t get to finish the season with the same feeling, the Falcons were able to lift their program to a place most didn’t expect it to be four years after winning just one game.
“I’m really proud of our team,” East Kentwood senior Andraya Johnson said. “We went from being an unranked team to being second in the state. That’s a pretty big deal even though we didn’t win.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Flushing’s Breanna Perry pushes the ball upcourt during Saturday’s Class A Final. (Middle) East Kentwood’s Andraya Johnson (21) gets a shot past the outstretched hand of Flushing’s Lauren Newman.
4-Sport Standout Salenbien Stacking Varsity Letters, Leading Adrian's Hoops Rise
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 8, 2026
ADRIAN – Ella Salenbien is very competitive.
And maybe a little stubborn.
Salenbien didn’t want to have to choose which sports to concentrate on at Adrian High School – so she picked them all. Salenbien is on track to graduate this spring with 16 varsity letters for the Maples – four each in volleyball, swimming, basketball and soccer.
“Sometimes a coach, even college coaches, would ask me if I was going to concentrate on swimming and I would say no,” Salenbien said. “I didn’t want to choose. I wanted to play them all.”
Salenbien hasn’t just played sports at Adrian; she’s set records and excelled. This winter, she’s leading something of a re-birth of basketball for the Maples, who are off to a 6-1 start, the best for the school in more than a decade, maybe two.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “We are definitely playing as a team. This is the third or fourth year that a lot of us have played together. We are all very close.”
Salenbien is closing in on 1,000 career points in basketball and is likely to set the Maples career rebounding record.
In volleyball, she finished with more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. She holds five school records in swimming. Last spring she set the Adrian assists record in soccer with 17.
Playing four sports requires a lot of time management, communication and cooperation between coaches, which Salenbien says has been great.
“I send out a weekly schedule to my coaches and parents just so everyone knows what’s going on,” she said. “There are days where I might have swimming practice and volleyball practice, so I split my time. It’s never been a problem. I feel like it was a lot my freshman year, but after that I got the hang of it.”
Swimming evolved into her top sport and something she did year-round for years between varsity swimming with Adrian and club swimming, both outdoor and indoor.
“I’d swim for the (Lenawee County) Gators after my high school season,” she said. “I’d train and compete for the state meet, zone meet and national meet, which is in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then I would come back, take a short break, and go into soccer. There’s not a lot of breaks in between seasons. I don’t have a lot of down time.”
Salenbien isn’t one to ask for down time.
“I’m pretty competitive and like to stay busy,” she said.
She started swimming with the Maple Pride program at the age of 7.
“I picked it up fast and enjoyed it,” she said.
She’s developed into a sprinter in the pool. Salenbien finished third in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in November.
“I love the pace and jumping in the water and going as fast as I can,” she said. “I’m not a distance swimmer. There is a rush you get. I love anchoring a relay. I love it when I am one or two lengths behind when I dive in and I catch up and pass someone. I am swimming and I can look over and think, ‘I got this.’”
She committed to Hope College for swimming.
“My (college) coach even asked me if I was interested in talking to the volleyball coach,” she said. “I told him that I didn’t think so. I am kind of excited to have the chance to focus on swimming in college and see how I do.”
The daughter of Eric and Sarah Salenbien of Adrian has two younger siblings, both of whom are already deep into athletics. Ella likes to spend the summer at her grandmother’s lake house in the Irish Hills, especially in the water.
“I love tubing,” she said. “I sometimes will take a swim across the lake and back. It’s about two miles.”
Salenbien also works at a nursing home in Adrian and recently received her Certified Nurse Assistant certification.
The 17-year-old is happy to be focusing on basketball right now, especially with the Maples off to such a great start under second-year coach Caylie Boehmer, an Adrian graduate.
“She’s been great,” Salenbien said. “She played college basketball, so she has us practicing like they do in college. She leads us well.”
Boehmer called Salenbien an outstanding athlete and even better human being.
“She has been a huge asset to all the programs at Adrian that she has been a part of, and we are lucky to have her,” she said. “She is an extremely hard worker, fierce competitor and as tough as they come.”
Friday the Maples take on their biggest rival, Tecumseh, the reigning Division 2 champion and heavy favorite in the Southeastern Conference White.
“It’s going to be tough,” Salenbien said. “They are very good. I know a lot of the girls on the team. They are tough, but we have nothing to lose. We are just going to go out and do our best. We’re not going to back down.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Ella Salenbien swims a race this past season. (Middle) Salenbien (21) elevates for the opening tip at the start of a game against Dundee. (Photos provided by Salenbien family.)