Goodrich Gains Spot in All-Flint Final
March 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – On paper, at least, there were a few semi-viable reasons to not forecast Goodrich returning to Saturday’s Class B championship game at the Breslin Center.
Most of them centered on multiple injured starters, including Penn State recruit Aketra Sevillian, who never got on the floor. And after a perfect 2011-12 season, the Martians lost three games this winter – fantastic for most teams, but just a cut below what Goodrich had accomplished before.
But senior Taylor Gleason never bought any of it. She knew all along how this month would play out.
She and her teammates took another giant step in that plan Friday, downing No. 7 Grand Rapids South Christian 57-43 to advance to the title game for the second straight season – and this time set up an all-Flint Final against Powers Catholic.
“I didn’t once doubt it, even though we had three starters go down,” Gleason said. “I knew we could do this for them, we could do this for our community, We could do this, no doubt.”
“I wasn’t as sure as Taylor,” Goodrich coach Jason Gray added, Gleason and sophomore guard Tania Davis at his sides. “But these two really make it easy. They make so much happen for us. They make it so easy for their teammates. They stepped up to completely another level this year.”
The No. 3 Martians will face Powers at 6 p.m. in the day’s final championship game. The two met in District play a year ago, but found themselves on opposite sides of the bracket when lines were drawn for this season.
Goodrich’s 2012 championship further affirmed the program as one of the state’s current elite. But Powers has won four titles and long ruled Flint basketball. Late Friday night, the social media buzz already was beginning to heat up.
As they have throughout this season, Gleason and Davis led the way in their Semifinal as the Martians never trailed after the game’s first five minutes. Davis finished with 23 points and five steals, despite a hard fall that resulted in a bruised knee and a few jammed fingers. And Gleason – the Miss Basketball runner-up this week and an Illinois recruit – had 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals.
The pair has played together since Gleason was in eighth grade and Davis in sixth, and their deep-rooted on-court chemistry has paid off all the more this season – as has been necessary.
“My mindset coming in (to the season) was to feed off Taylor and Kiki (Sevillian’s) energy. When Kiki went down, my whole mindset went from supporting them to stepping up and creating for myself and making my team feed off my energy,” Davis said. “I’ve really stepped into my leadership role. ... Me and Taylor both, we’re just doing an awesome job. And both of our mindsets have changed from just scoring to we have to score for us to win.”
Senior forward Anna Timmer led South Christian with eight points, nine rebounds and four assists, and the Sailors as a team outrebounded Goodrich 35-26.
But other numbers being equal or close (both had 19 field goals and South Christian just five more turnovers), Goodrich took a definite edge on free-throw shooting making 15 of 23 compared to South Christian's 2 of 5.
“We knew who their players were. They’re gamers. We tried to stop (Gleason). We tried to make things happen. We just kinda came out slow,” South Christian coach Jim DuBruyn said. “Maybe we had nervous jitters out there. They got a little lead, pulled to 5-4, and before I knew it, it was 8-4 and then it was 11-4. We had too many lulls in there. Defensively, we’ve held most teams to 33 points, but they were just a step quicker at times.”
South Christian finished 24-2, increasing its win total for the third straight season and also winning its Regional for the first time since 2004.
Ties between Saturday’s championship game opponents came to light quickly after Friday’s last game was done. Gleason’s aunt Aimee Pearson was a standout at Powers from 1995-98 and is tied for 14th-most career rebounds, with 1,009, in the MHSAA record book.
Although they don’t know each other well, Gray and Powers coach Thom Staudacher live in the same neighborhood. And Saturday surely will feel like a neighborhood clash between friendly rivals from one of the state’s traditional basketball power bases.
“We’re the two elite programs in our county, and we look to them as … they’ve won a few more state titles than we have,” Gray said. “They’re still the big dogs in the long run."
“We have a nice healthy rivalry. We’ve got rabid fans on both sides. This has the opportunity to be a real special environment (Saturday) night.”
Click for a full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Goodrich's Tania Davis prepares to shoot a free throw during Friday's Semifinal win over Grand Rapids South Christian. (Middle) Goodrich's Katrina Ellis works against South Christian's Kayla Diemer (right) for rebounding position. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Senior Sailors Find Way to Final
March 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Both teams playing in the first MHSAA Class B Semifinal on Friday had learned valuable lessons from their trip to the Breslin Center – and Semifinal defeat – the year before.
But only one could move on to Saturday night’s championship game.
Midland Bullock Creek, with only two seniors, plans on using a few more helpful pointers from this season’s trip in 2014-15. But Grand Rapids South Christian, with seven seniors, will lay it all on the line this time after downing the Lancers 52-47.
The top-ranked Sailors will attempt to win their first MHSAA title since 1988 and finish a perfect 27-0 at 6 p.m. Saturday against Eaton Rapids.
“Coming into this with five seniors starting helped a lot with experience. Last year … I remember walking into this big building like, “Wow,” with all the nerves,” South Christian senior Cassidy Vredevoogd said.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. Getting so close last year was unbelievable. Getting to the Finals now, it’s unreal.”
That’s not to say there weren’t some jitters among the Sailors at the start. But veteran calm won out by the end, a good thing considering one key stat that made it almost surprising that South Christian came away with the win.
The Sailors turned the ball over 33 times – after doing so only five in its Quarterfinal win over Parchment on Tuesday – but balanced that with a 44-25 rebounding advantage and by making 82 percent of their free-throw attempts. Bullock Creek made only 54 percent of those tries and watched their chances dissolve with a 4 for 21 performance from 3-point range.
The Lancers made only 2 of 10 trey tries during the fourth quarter as a one-point lead with 6 minutes left turned into the final deficit.
“Some were a little deeper than we normally would like to see, and that was a combination of their length and then fatigue a little bit,” Bullock Creek coach Justin Freeland said. “But I thought the best course the last 4-5 minutes was to encourage them. … And I truly believed we would hit the final two and go home and be playing (Saturday).”
Bullock Creek may have had a chance to create some space during the second quarter, if not for the key performance of Sailors sophomore sub Markaya Vander. She scored all 11 of her points plus grabbed four rebounds as South Christian’s first-quarter lead turned into only a three-point halftime deficit.
Morgan Torres scored as well to finish that second quarter for the Sailors, and finished tying for the team high with 11 points including seven during the second half. Twice she either tied the score or gave the Sailors a lead.
Vredevoogd added eight points and seven rebounds and senior forward Renee Broekhuizen had six points, eight rebound and three assists. Seniors scored 10 of the points during the Sailors’ closing 12-6 run.
“We have seven seniors who were all here last year, and that experience has been a key factor in our terrific season,” South Christian coach James De Bruyn said. “They set the tone with their leadership, and when crunch time came down they found a way. And they found it again tonight.”
Bullock Creek (24-2) should find itself with a similar opportunity next winter. Only two seniors graduate, and all five starters plus three top subs should return.
Junior center Halee Nieman led the Lancers on Friday with 18 points and seven steals. Junior guard Hannah Heldt added 16 points, five rebounds and five steals.
“It burns really badly, especially right now. Tonight’s going to be tough, but it only motivates us to work harder in the summer, harder in the postseason, harder in the regular season next season,” Heldt said. “We learn from these experiences. We learned from last year, and we did a lot of things better than last year. We definitely improved, and this is a motivator for next year for sure.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) South Christian’s Jennifer DeBoer goes after a loose ball as multiple Bullock Creek players also pursue. (Middle) Bullock Creek’s Ellie Juengel launches a jumper over the Sailors’ Morgan Torres.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Midway through the first quarter, Bullock Creek's Halee Nieman scores on a putback of her own missed free throw against South Christian. (2) With 1:41 left in the fourth, South Christian's Dani Oeverman hits a big jump shot to give the Sailors a five-point lead.