Hot-Shooting Country Day Wins for Coach O
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 18, 2017
EAST LANSING – As the final seconds of his 12th MHSAA title run at Detroit Country Day ticked away, legendary coach Frank Orlando was serenaded as his school's student section chanted: “We love Coach O.”
Orlando acknowledged the fans, wiped away some tears, and moments later accepted the Class B girls basketball championship trophy along with a group of girls that were extra special to him. And after their 59-48 win against Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at the Breslin Center, they made it very clear that he’s extra special to them as well.
“This season, I really wasn’t thinking about the loss (in the 2016 Semifinals); for me personally, I was playing for Coach O,” Country Day senior Destiny Pitts said. “During the offseason last year after we lost, Coach O had a stroke, so it just kind of hit me hard. This season, I’ve been playing for him, and just knowing how important it is for him. Coming into this, we just had extreme confidence because we just knew we wanted to take the state championship back to Country Day for the fans and our community.”
Country Day’s 12th title came two years after No. 11, which was won with many of the same players as the latest triumph. That one came as a bit of a surprise to Orlando – this one brought out plenty of emotion.
“When we won it when they were sophomores and freshmen, I was excited and I was very happy – I was kind of surprised,” said Orlando, who opened the press conference by stating he planned to come back in 2017-18 for his 37th season at Country Day and 51st overall. “This year, it was more emotional because they’re leaving me now. I like that they’re going, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kind of sad for me.”
Country Day’s shooting effort was the opposite of sad, as the Yellowjackets hit 22 of 34 (64.7 percent) shots from the field, including 7 of 12 (58.3 percent) from 3-point range. Pitts led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Tylar Bennett had 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting, and Kaela Webb had 13 points and nine assists.
“I think we did that by moving the ball,” Pitts said. “We weren’t forcing shots, we would just keep swinging the ball until we found the open person, and I think each individual player on the team did extremely well sharing the ball, and when they were open they shot it.”
The Yellowjackets (26-1) led for most of the game, moving ahead late in the first quarter and never relinquishing the advantage. They jumped out to a 27-15 halftime lead, holding Arbor Prep to 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) shooting during the opening 16 minutes.
“I thought Country Day played a real good game,” Arbor Prep coach Rod Wells said. “They made a lot of shots, and first half we didn’t make shots, and it was just hard to make up that gap. I’m truly proud of my girls, my girls brought effort, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t fall that way.”
Arbor Prep (27-1), which won the Class C title a year ago, pushed back in the second half, but every time it looked to get momentum and cut into the Country Day lead, the Yellowjackets had an immediate answer.
Ro’zhane Wells hit a pair of 3s on back-to-back possessions, but Country Day responded with a jumper from Webb the first time and a 3 from Pitts after the second. A Lasha Petree 3-pointer cut the Country Day lead to 11 early in the fourth quarter, but Maxine Moore’s putback halted the momentum. Another Pitts’ 3 on Country Day’s next possession pushed the lead back to 16 with less than six minutes to play.
Arbor Prep cut the lead to nine twice with less than three minutes to play, Country Day responded with a pair of press-breaking layups from Bennett, the second sparking a 9-1 run that put the game away for good. Webb assisted on all but one of those baskets during the run, the other being a 3-pointer she drained from straightaway.
“We played a lot better in the second half,” Rod Wells said. “It took us a while to adjust to the zone. Country Day played us man in the beginning, then they went to the matchup zone and they gave us some problems until halftime. But I’m really proud of my girls, three losses in two seasons. We beat the Class A state champs and the Class C state champs; we just didn’t beat the Class B.”
Petree led Arbor Prep with 15 points and six rebounds, while Wells had 14 points. Adrienne Anderson added seven points and five assists for the Gators, who were making their third straight trip to Breslin and had won 36 straight games.
“I think it’s been a phenomenal run,” Anderson, a senior, said. “I think we’ve pushed each other the whole time, and we’ve had a lot of fun. I love these girls to death. Even after we leave we’re still going to be close, because these are my sisters. Every day in practice we worked hard. I feel like everybody left everything they could’ve done on the court. Country Day just made shots.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day’s Maxine Moore (44) battles Arbor Prep’s Lasha Petree for a loose ball during the Class B Final. (Middle) Yellowjackets Kaela Webb (left) and Destiny Pitts celebrate the program’s latest title with coach Frank Orlando.
Sacred Heart Shows in Class D Comeback
March 15, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – A high school senior known statewide finished an incredible career Saturday during the MHSAA Class D championship game at the Breslin Center.
But it was the lone senior on the other side of the floor who accepted the winner’s trophy as her classmates chanted “Thank you Sara” for another job well done.
Crystal Falls Forest Park’s Lexi Gussert will pick her career back up again on this same floor next season for Michigan State. But Saturday belonged to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart and its lone senior, Sara Hansen, as they finished up an incredible comeback with a 56-53 win and the Irish’s first MHSAA title.
Unranked Sacred Heart finished on a 14-3 run over the game’s final three minutes to edge past the top-ranked Trojans and Gussert, this season’s Miss Basketball Award winner.
“We were down by nine. We didn’t give up on anything,” Hansen said. “Once we got closer, it was really exciting. And once it ended, it hit me that it was my last game and we won a state championship.”
“Being the only senior, it’s fun in a way but also kinda tough because you’re the only one going through that. I was really glad we made it this far.”
This was only the second time Sacred Heart had reached an MHSAA Final, after also finishing Class D runner-up in 2008. The Irish made the Quarterfinals two of the last four seasons, including a year ago, but lost both of those games in overtime.
They broke through this week by upsetting No. 3 Frankfort on Tuesday. But there were more surprises in store; the Irish advanced to Saturday by downing No. 9 Marine City Cardinal Mooney in the Semifinal, and then handed Forest Park (26-1) its only loss.
“Wow. That’s all I can say,” Sacred Heart coach Damon Brown said. “It’s been an amazing journey. They found a way to get it done. This team has been in battles like this all season, and their faith in each other and faith in the program never cracked.”
Not even when Sacred Heart trailed 49-40 with 5:40 to play.
The Irish had done an incredible job containing Gussert – who averaged 29 points per game entering the week – to just three during Saturday’s first half. However, the 6-foot do-it-all guard scored eight during the third quarter and the jumper in the fourth to push the Trojans lead to nine.
At that point, Forest Park’s momentum appeared unbreakable – until Sacred Heart’s Riley Terwilliger began punching holes in the lead.
The Irish’s Semifinal star with 19 points, she didn’t score Saturday until dropping her first bucket at the third-quarter buzzer. She knocked down another to pull the Irish within 49-42 – and then finished the comeback with the two plays of the game.
Junior Lexie Methner scored with 1:16 to play to bring Sacred Heart within 50-47, and Terwilliger stole the ensuing inbounds pass and scored to make it a one-point game.
Forest Park made it to the other end of the court after that basket, but instead of holding the ball with a one-point lead launched a shot with 39 seconds to play. It missed, Hansen grabbed the rebound, and at the other end of the floor Terwilliger launched a 3-pointer from the corner that fell with 29 seconds to play.
“We hang our hat on defense, and we’re not going to go down just missing shots,” Terwilliger said. “We wanted to stay up and get them. It just builds off each defensive stop we get, and it builds up the adrenaline, and we just keep going and going and going.”
Sacred Heart made four free throws down the stretch and Forest Park missed two, with only a 3-pointer by Gussert with 3.7 seconds left keeping the score to its final margin.
Disbelief showed on both ends of the court – Forest Park that its lead disappeared, and Sacred Heart that it suddenly stood as champion.
“It’s unlike our team, but I think we cracked a little bit at the end,” Trojans coach Jeff Syrjanen said. “These kids are a veteran team, and they played with pressure the last three years. Sometimes things don’t work the way you wanted them to.
“It’s a really tough loss for us. We thought we could finish the deal this year."
Lost a bit in the comeback was how 6-3 sophomore center Averi Gamble kept the Irish in the game through the first three quarters. Daughter of former Boston Celtics forward Kevin Gamble, Averi had 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Brown recalled how he told Gamble it was her time after all-state honorable mention Erica Hansen graduated last spring. Gamble took it to heart, and took some advice from her dad: “Just to be strong with the ball, jump, pump-fake a little, and just make my shots,” she said.
Senior center Kendra Campbell scored 16 points for forest Park, and Gussert finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. She’ll end up in the MHSAA record book as one of the top scorers in girls basketball history – but wished for just a few more.
“The third quarter we had a really good run, with a lot of nice passes and a lot of nice looks, but I feel like in the fourth quarter I tried to do too much,” Gussert said. “My team did everything it could possible. I feel bad. I didn’t finish, and that’s the truth.”
Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart celebrates with its first MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Forest Park’s Lexi Gussert attempts to drive past Sacred Heart’s Megan English.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Off the steal, Crystal Falls’ Lexi Gussert passes downcourt to Sierra Robarge, who kicks out to Kendra Campbell for the 3-pointer and an early lead for the Trojans. (2) Coming out of a timeout, Sacred Heart's Riley Terwilliger hits a 3-pointer to give the Irish the lead for good in the Class D Final.