Goodrich Finishes Winter Season with Perfection, Completing Undefeated Title Run
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2026
EAST LANSING – Kayla Hairston approached the Division 2 bracket poster with two hands on the Goodrich nameplate, getting it positioned on the final line in the only way she and her teammates knew how to do things – perfectly.
The Martians defeated Tecumseh 55-44 on Saturday in the night’s concluding Girls Basketball Final at the Breslin Center, finishing off a 29-0 season.
“Playing Tecumseh, the team that knocked us out last year, and beating them for the state championship felt amazing,” Hairston said. “We came to Breslin and we emphasized that we don’t want to be at Breslin, we want to be here for a state championship, and that mindset is what got us here.”
It was the third title for the Goodrich girls team, and first since the program won back-to-back Class B titles in 2012 and 2013. The Martians’ victory also prevented Tecumseh from repeating as the Division 2 champ.
“It’s definitely special,” Goodrich senior Tanner Schramm said. “Coming out and getting this win today against Tecumseh is big, because we lost to them last year thinking we could win it all last year. Coming out and winning today feels even better.”
Hairston finished with 21 points in her final game at Goodrich, while Baylor Lauinger had 14 and Schramm had eight. Lauinger added five rebounds and four steals, both team highs.
Avery Zajac led Tecumseh with 19 points, while Addi Zajac had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Everything was difficult for Tecumseh, however, as it was held to its third-lowest scoring output of the season.
“I thought our kids were just awesome today,” Goodrich coach Jason Gray said. “Tecumseh’s a very good team, and we thought there were certain things that they had advantages on, and certain things that we had advantages on, and we really kind of leaned on our advantages tonight. All year, our defensive pressure has been a key. We don’t always trap and run all over the floor like that, but we do press to the ball. Tonight was probably one of the best (games) we played all year long.”
Goodrich’s unrelenting defense had Tecumseh sped up throughout the first half, as the returning champ had as many turnovers as points through 16 minutes and trailed 29-14 at the break.
Three Martians – Kat Federick, Baylor Lauinger and Kaylee Eickhoff – had three steals apiece by halftime, and the team had scored 22 points off turnovers.
All of that success came despite star senior Schramm being saddled with foul trouble and spending a majority of the half on the bench.
“We really couldn’t run anything,” Tecumseh coach Kristy Zajac said. “We were really trying to pound it into the post to Addi, and our guards were getting pressured so much, and we kept turning the ball over. You can’t turn the ball over in big games like this. That kind of made our offense struggle all together.”
Tecumseh (26-3) settled down in the second half, but the hole was too deep. Even when it did get the game back to a 10-point deficit in the final seconds of the third, Schramm hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the lead and wipe away any Tecumseh momentum heading into the fourth.
“That was tough,” Kristy Zajac said. “We were working our way back little by little, then they hit that 3, and that was the dagger. This crew never gives up. I told them in the timeout that we were down to Chelsea by 11 with a minute to go and we came back and won that game – they fight and they fight, and they battle and battle until the last buzzer sounds, and I thought they did that tonight. They just made more shots than we did and played a little bit better.”
Schramm’s shot came off a set play for the Martians, even though Gray didn’t have to call a timeout or even signal to Hairston and Schramm to run it.
“Kayla knew exactly where she was going to go: She was either going to get a layup or she was kicking it to Tanner,” Gray said. “Tanner knew that ball was coming, and Tanner knew that shot was coming. It really gives the kids a lot of confidence when they know they’re supposed to be taking the shot and they’re not questioning it. That 3 was huge, but it was by design. Our kids were ready for that moment.”
From there, Hairston and the Martians left no doubt. The senior scored eight points over the quarter’s first 1½ minutes as Goodrich built a 19-point lead and put the game away.
“It feels great, but I give it all to my teammates,” Hairston said. “I’ve been struggling a little bit with my 3-point shot, so them just having my back and telling me that’s my shot and not to give up on myself, even though I’ve been missing, it just means a lot. For them to set me up and get me those open shots, it means a lot.”
PHOTOS (Top) Goodrich’s Kayla Hairston (12) drives to the basket as Tecumseh’s Addi Zajac (40) goes for a block during Saturday’s Division 2 Final at Breslin Center. (Middle) Goodrich’s Kaylee Eickhoff (10) makes a move on the baseline with Avery Zajac defending. (Photos by Keionna Banks and Lilanie Karunanayake/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Still #1: Heritage Lands 2nd Straight Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2019
GRAND RAPIDS – Not often is the reigning champion the hunter and not the hunted. But that’s how the Saginaw Heritage girls basketball approached this season.
With the graduation of some key members from the 2018 Class A title team, the Hawks felt they were being overlooked.
On Saturday, they re-established themselves as the top team among the state’s largest schools, now classified as Division 1.
Behind a stifling defense, Heritage earned a second straight MHSAA title by defeating top-ranked Southfield Arts & Technology 55-40 at Van Noord Arena on the campus of Calvin College.
“If anything, we kind of felt underestimated, like a lot of people didn’t think we were going to get right back,” Heritage senior Shine Strickland-Gills said. “We lost two players, and they scored a lot … and it didn’t look like we had much coming in through the tunnel after them, so they didn’t really think we were going to go back again. But we wanted to prove them all wrong, and our whole thing was to stick together. Our end goal, everybody’s end goal, was to play in the last game and win. We just knew what we had to do, and we made sure that got done.”
It was the third MHSAA championship for the Hawks (25-2), and it seemed fitting it was this senior class that spearheaded these last two. Strickland-Gills and classmates Moira Joiner and Mallory McCartney have been playing together for more than a decade, and had predicted they could accomplish this before they got into high school.
“They were eighth graders the last time we were in a Final Four, and they all cut school and came down to the Breslin Center and watched Heritage,” Hawks coach Vonnie DeLong said. “We lost that day, and they told me that day, ‘We’re getting back here and we’re winning it, Coach.’ They made good on their promise to me.”
Heritage looked like a team that knew it was supposed to be playing in Saturday’s moment, taking control early and remaining calm and composed while clinically finishing it off.
The Hawks were hitting 50 percent of their 3-pointers at one point in the third quarter, and finished the game with 19 assists on 20 made baskets. Joiner led the way with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, nearly matching the triple double she had in Friday’s Semifinal against Wayne Memorial. Strickland-Gills added 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six blocks, while junior Keyonie Champion had 12 points. McCartney added seven points, five rebounds and five assists.
“Having them be seniors, not just seniors, but having been in this game before – having been in these big games is huge,” DeLong said. “Today they just knew. I talked to them this morning and told them, ‘This is it, last time you’re ever going to play together – you're going to keep playing, but not together – and this is the last chance you got. I’m going to tell you right now, last game senior year, if you can go out a winner, that’s absolutely the way you want to go.’”
While Heritage didn’t have much trouble settling in, the Hawks made it hard for the Warriors (24-2) to do so, especially on the offensive end. They played zone and closed down on everything in the paint, forcing Southfield A&T into its worst offensive performance of the season.
It was only the second time all year the Warriors – who shot 16 of 47 (34 percent) from the field – were held below 50 points. The other time was a 45-43 loss to Heritage in the second game of the season.
“They were in a zone, and the zone packed it in a little bit, and we were struggling to find some gaps to attack,” Southfield A&T coach Michele Marshall said. “We play inside-out, and it just appeared the gaps were not there. If they were, when we tried to attack, we were just a little bit hesitant.”
Zone isn’t the typical defensive setup for Heritage, but DeLong said possible fatigue from the previous night’s Semifinal and the importance of keeping Strickland-Gills out of foul trouble pushed her to make the change.
“I don’t think we’ve played a full game of zone all year this year,” DeLong said. “We played it a couple times last year, and it worked in the Final. We talked about it last night, watched some film today and did some walkthrough at a gym this morning. Most of them have played our zone enough, so they know what to do, but a couple of our kids are a little shaky. But we got them through, and it worked.”
The Warriors shot 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) in the first half, and just 2 of 8 (25 percent) in the second quarter. They played more than six minutes of the second quarter without star forward Alexis Johnson, who was sidelined with three fouls.
Heritage was able to take advantage during that span, stretching its lead to 11 points by halftime and never looking back.
Soleil Barnes led Southfield A&T with 14 points, while Cheyenne McEvans had 13.
PHOTOS: (Top) Heritage’s Mallory McCartney looks for open teammates Saturday during the Division 1 Final. (Middle) A&T’s Cheyenne McEvans directs her team’s offense.