Girls Basketball Finals Returning to Breslin
September 30, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals weekend could return to the Breslin Student Events Center as quickly as this upcoming 2019-20 season, with Michigan State University hosting the event this winter and in future seasons when the Spartans women’s basketball team is not selected as an opening-round host for the NCAA Tournament.
Breslin hosted the Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals from 2004-06 and 2010-17. However, the potential for a conflict with the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament led to the MHSAA moving the event for the past two seasons. The NCAA awards top-four seeded teams an opportunity to host the first two rounds of its Division I tournament, and the NCAA event falls almost annually on the traditional dates of the MHSAA girls basketball championship weekend – setting up the possible conflict of both events being scheduled to play at Breslin at the same time.
During an initial three-year contract beginning this winter, Breslin tentatively will be the host of the MHSAA Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals. If, beginning in 2021, the Spartans are seeded fourth or higher for the NCAA Tournament and selected to host first and second rounds, the MHSAA Girls Semifinals and Finals will be played at Read Fieldhouse’s University Arena on the campus of Western Michigan University. Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland will serve as the alternative site if Breslin is not available in 2020, as Read is hosting the Mid-American Conference Gymnastics Championships during the weekend of the MHSAA Girls Semifinals and Finals.
“We are thankful for the graciousness of all parties involved to allow for this opportunity to bring the Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals back to the Breslin Center,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “From the Breslin Center staff, to coach Suzy Merchant and the MSU women’s basketball program, to MSU law enforcement, ticketing and hospitality and then Western Michigan and Hope College and their facilities people for agreeing to reserve their arenas for us in case it’s needed – this agreement happens only because of the immense cooperation by everyone involved.”
The MHSAA Girls Basketball Semifinals will be played this upcoming season March 19-20, 2020, with all four championship games March 21. The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament’s opening weekend is March 20-23, with the bracket and seeds to be announced Monday, March 16.
The MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals traditionally are played at the Breslin Center the following weekend, this upcoming season March 26-28. All games for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament are played at neutral sites, and there is no possible conflict between the two events.
Read Fieldhouse, home to Broncos teams including the women’s and men’s basketball programs, unveiled a new basketball court at the start of the 2015-16 season among a variety of improvements to the facility over the last five years. The MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals were played at Read from 1983-85, and WMU also hosted the MHSAA Girls Volleyball Finals from 1996 through the 2007 winter season, the last before the MHSAA season for the sport moved to the fall.
DeVos Fieldhouse, the 2020 provisional site, is home to Hope’s hoops teams among other athletic programs and previously hosted the 2013 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four.
Hartland Sets Sights on Unprecedented Heights
January 14, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This season isn’t half over for the Hartland girls basketball team. And as impressive as they’ve performed over the first six weeks, there are lessons from the last few seasons they must continue to recall with expectations high this winter.
Take last week’s 50-40 win over Plymouth. The Eagles trailed early 14-1 – reinforcing coach Don Palmer’s message that every opponent is aiming to bring its best against a Hartland team with championship aspirations.
“I think a lot of times they’ve very focused and excited,” Palmer said of his team. “But … being teenagers, sometimes they’re complacent and take it for granted – and that’s just natural. That’s when we get upset, so we just kinda battle that a little bit.”
The hope is winning those prepares the Eagles for an unprecedented opportunity at the end of March.
The Hartland girls basketball team is the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for December, opening with four wins including victories over a pair of reigning MHSAA Finals champions – Division 4 Adrian Lenawee Christian (61-40) and Division 1 Saginaw Heritage (37-26) in the Eagles’ first two games. They closed the month with double-digit wins over Okemos and Bay City John Glenn, two more programs with high hopes this winter, and have since moved to 6-0 heading into Tuesday’s game against Howell.
Palmer has coached high school varsity basketball a combined 71 seasons, leading teams to 963 wins through Friday – the most in Michigan high school history. So when he says this season’s Hartland girls basketball team is the most talented he’s coached, that carries significant weight.
Palmer ranks seventh in MHSAA girls basketball history with a 616-311 record after leading Milford from 1977-2009 and then the Eagles since 2009-10. He quickly can recount the three athletes he sent on to Division I college athletics during those first three decades – before then offering context by describing how this Hartland team is led by University of Michigan recruit Whitney Sollom with at least five more players holding or on the verge of opportunities at the next level.
So talent isn’t a question. But will this also turn out to be Palmer’s best team?
Hartland has made the Class A/Division 1 Quarterfinals the last two seasons, finishing 22-4 a year ago. Sollom, a 6-foot-3 post, has been on varsity all four of her seasons, with the team a combined 70-12 during that time.
A likely Miss Basketball candidate, Sollom was averaging 11.4 points and 12 rebounds per game entering last Friday’s 44-point win over Salem. Leading the team in scoring is Nikki Dompierre at 12.6 ppg, while Madi Moyer adds 8.2 and 7.4 rebounds per game. All three are senior captains.
Junior Syd Caddell and sophomore Amanda Roach also are back as the team returned its entire starting lineup this winter.
The challenges will start locally. Undefeated Brighton and the one-loss Highlanders also both play in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West. Howell also is in Hartland’s District.
Palmer said his team’s unselfishness and support of one another have impressed him most. But of course there’s a long way to go this season – and the team is hoping to build to a big finish as it seeks its first MHSAA Finals championship in this sport.
“We’re really in a great cycle,” Palmer said. “When I got the job at Hartland, I had been in the same league at Milford, and we were beating their varsity by 1-2 points. But the lower levels, we could just seeing it coming. My comment to my staff is we’ll have no excuses for not winning.
“I’m very happy and thrilled about the success, but I also knew we’d have players.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2019-20
November: Bridgman girls cross country - Report
October: Allegan boys tennis - Report
September: Ishpeming Westwood girls tennis - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Hartland's Whitney Sollom puts up a shot during a December win over Okemos. (Middle) The Eagles celebrate with a team photo after the win over Bay City John Glenn. (Top photo courtesy of State Champs Sports Network; middle photo courtesy of the Hartland girls basketball program.)