Lumen Christi Starts Fast, Surges Ahead to Earn 1st Finals Appearance
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 19, 2026
EAST LANSING – Jackson Lumen Christi showed in Thursday’s Division 3 Semifinal that it isn’t just a two-person team.
Titans first-year coach Scott Stine anticipated that Niles Brandywine would try and take away his two talented sophomores, Kenna Hunt and Lucy Wrozek, so he turned to a senior starter to provide an early spark.
Lily Ganton buried a pair of 3-pointers during a 14-0 run to start the game, and it paved the way to a convincing 51-33 victory.
“The first 10 minutes of play we played lights out, we made shots,” said Stine, who guided Ypsilanti Prep to three Division 3 titles over the last four years before taking over at Lumen Christi this school year. “They came out in a kind of a funky defense and if you read the newspaper, you guys can change that narrative. We are more than just two players.
“Lily and I had a conversation that if they came out and tried to do a triangle (defense) or something similar, I let her know that I had all the confidence in the world in her and to let it fly. She came out there and really showed that she's a great basketball player.”
Ganton finished with 13 points, with three 3-pointers total.
“You never know how the game is going to go, but it’s great when Coach puts that confidence in you and my teammates trusted me to go out and knock down shots,” Ganton said. “If they leave me open then I’m going to shoot the ball, and it was nice to get that early lead and some cushion in a game like this.”
The Titans (24-3), who were making their first appearance in the Semifinals, now will play in their first Final at 4 p.m. Saturday against Pewamo-Westphalia.
“It’s pretty amazing, but it really shows all the hard work that we’ve put in is paying off,” said Hunt, who filled the stat sheet with 16 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and seven steals.
“We still have one more game so we are going to lock in on that game, but it is truly a blessing to be able to be in this position and get this opportunity to play at an amazing place with this team and coaching staff. It’s the best thing I could ask for.”
Lumen Christi led 18-3 after the first quarter and stretched it to 29-10 at the half.
The Titans, who led by as many as 22 during the second half, registered 17 steals and scored 24 points off turnovers.
“Since the day I've had them they said they wanted to be champions,” Stine said. “And we are still one game away from that, but I told them I know what it takes and I’ve been here and I know what it looks like to win. They have done every single thing I've asked of them.”
The Bobcats, who were making their third-straight trip to the Semifinals, had previously won all of their tournament games this winter by double digits.
However, the slow start, coupled with 23 turnovers, was too much to overcome.
“Rough start, probably bad coaching, but it’s really hard to contain Kenna and Lucy and there’s a reason they are Division I prospects,” Niles Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “They’re tough to defend, but we could’ve thrown in the towel in the second half and we didn’t.
“We battled, and I’m proud of the girls. Three times in a row here is pretty impressive.”
Freshman Zaya Price led the Bobcats with 18 points and nine rebounds.
PHOTOS (Top) Lumen Christi’s Kenna Hunt works to get to the basket with Brandywine’s Lily Gill (11) defending Thursday. (Middle) Lucy Wrozek (14) looks for an open teammate while Mackenna Price (10) pursues. (Photos by Lilanie Karunanayake/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
2005 Miss Basketball DeHaan Cherishing Newest Title: 1st-Time Mom
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
July 25, 2022
JENISON – Allyssa DeHaan-Clark remains one of the greatest shot blockers in national high school and college basketball history.
Recently, the former Grandville High School and Michigan State University standout became a mother for the first time.
DeHaan-Clark, and her husband Aaron, adopted a baby girl last September.
Bradley Noelle Clark was born on Sept. 29, 2021, at 36 weeks.
When the Clarks found out about the impending delivery, they drove straight to the hospital from their vacation in Tennessee to meet her. They took her home a few days later.
“Parenthood is awesome, hard, wonderful and beautiful,” DeHaan-Clark said. “She’s 9½ months old, and she just lost her first tooth and is starting to crawl. She says, ‘Da, Da’ a lot, even though I’m with her most of the time during the day.”
DeHaan-Clark, who turned 34 last month, married in 2012. She and her husband had aspirations to raise a family.
Unfortunately, the road to parenthood was more difficult than they envisioned.
“We tried to get pregnant for six years,” DeHaan-Clark said. “We went through a lot of testing and different fertility procedures, but nothing took. We never had one positive pregnancy test.”
Although disappointed and frustrated, the Clarks pursued another avenue.
“Adoption was always in the back of our mind, and it came to a point where I didn’t know what to do,” DeHaan-Clark said. “One night we prayed to God for clarity and wisdom and just some direction. He answered that prayer the next morning with a text message, and that put us on a fast track to adoption.”
The Clarks went through the application process last June. Four months later, Bradley was born. She officially became a Clark in May.
“It was awesome for God to answer that prayer so quickly,” DeHaan-Clark said. “After six years of struggle, she was meant to be in our family. We love her so much and adore her to pieces.
“She’s loved by so many, and we are very thankful that the birth family chose us. After all that pain and suffering, God made something beautiful through that.”
DeHaan-Clark was a four-year towering presence at Grandville. As a junior in 2004, she set the MHSAA record for blocks in a single season with 236 and averaged nearly a triple-double (27 points, 13 rebounds and 9.5 blocks per game).
As a senior, she helped lead the Bulldogs to a 25-2 record and their first Class A Semifinal appearance. She was named the 2005 Miss Basketball Award winner by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan.
DeHaan-Clark grew six inches during middle school and entered her high school freshman year at 6-foot-6. She was 6-9 as a senior before taking her talents to East Lansing.
“Middle school was tough for everyone, but it was extremely tough for me,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I was entering a new school system, and I had just started playing basketball a year or two before that and had a huge growth spurt. Learning how to be coordinated and play the game took a while.”
DeHaan-Clark was a part of three consecutive Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship teams. The Bulldogs won District and Regional titles in 2005 before defeating previously-unbeaten Benton Harbor in a Class A Quarterfinal. Grandville’s run ended with an overtime loss to Southfield-Lathrup in the Semifinal at Breslin Center.
“My senior year was the best,” DeHaan-Clark said. “It was so much fun with the championships and all the wins. Playing with the same girls for four years and then finally having a successful team was amazing.”
DeHaan-Clark made the MHSAA’s single-season scoring list as a senior with 710 points, having averaged 26.3 per game that fall. She also finished with 718 career blocks, setting an MHSAA record later broken by Kalamazoo Central’s Asia Robeson (723) in 2014. Still, DeHaan-Clark remains seventh all-time nationally for career blocks, with Robeson sixth on the list.
DeHaan-Clark arrived at Michigan State with high aspirations.
“I had big goals of playing in the Olympics and playing professionally, but obviously those didn’t come to fruition,” she said. “I learned to dream big, so I set big goals from the beginning.”
DeHaan-Clark emerged as a dominating shot blocker for the Spartans, and was Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2006-07 as she set the conference record with 145 blocks.
As a sophomore she re-established the Big Ten record for single-season blocks with 150. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2009-10.
She ended her career as Michigan State’s all-time blocks leader with 503 – with that total also second in Division I history at that time and now third on the NCAA DI list – to go with career averages of 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
“It was a big transition from high school to college, but I wanted to be a contributor,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I had amazing coaches and teammates, and my freshman year turned out better than I thought it would.
“My big goal was to be a key defensive player and break as many records as I could with blocked shots because of my height.”
In 2009, DeHaan-Clark was the catalyst in Michigan State’s run to the Sweet 16. The Spartans upset top-ranked Duke in the second round before losing to Iowa State, 69-68.
But DeHaan-Clark suffered a back injury during the Big Ten Tournament that winter which ultimately ended her hopes of playing beyond college.
“I never recovered from that, so I didn’t enter the WNBA draft,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I ended up having back surgery and finished my remaining classes before graduating.”
DeHaan-Clark returned home and worked in the medical field while also helping lead a sports ministry program at Grand Valley State University.
She received an intriguing opportunity to continue playing college sports as part of the Lakers volleyball program.
“I needed to take more graduate classes, and I had one more season of college eligibility other than basketball,” she said. “My skill level wasn’t to the level of basketball, but it was still really fun to play and compete and be a part of a team because those are things I still love doing today.”
DeHaan-Clark changed her focus from medicine to continuing her work in sports ministry, as well as for a non-profit organization.
She also got her real estate license in 2015, and she and her husband began flipping houses on the side.
“It brings me a lot of joy to cast a vision of what a home could look like after a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” she said. “I love that kind of work.”
The projects allowed the Clarks to spend meaningful time together.
“It was a lot of nights and weekends, and we just had to learn things as we went,” DeHaan-Clark said. “The one thing we learned is we cannot do drywall. It’s not our skill set, so in order to save our marriage and our relationship we would hire it out.
“We did a lot of it ourselves, and we like seeing the transformation from old to new. It’s really fun, and hopefully we can do it again.”
The Clarks currently reside in Jenison and have been embraced by their community and friends. They live on a lake, enjoying water sports in their free time. Allyssa was inducted into the Grandville High School Athletic Hall of Fame in March.
As for the future, DeHaan-Clark said nothing is set in stone.
“We take it one day at a time,” she said. “I still have my real estate license, so we’re hoping to renovate and invest. I’m sure in the future there will be more kids added to the Clark clan, but right now we’re very happy and content with just one.”
2021-22 Made in Michigan
July 21: Championship Memories Still Resonate with St. Thomas Star Lillard - Read
July 14: Portage Central Champ Rolls to Vanderbilt, Writing Next Chapter in Alabama - Read
July 12: Coaching Couple Passing On Knowledge, Providing Opportunities for Frankfort Wrestlers - Read
June 30: Hrynewich's Star Continuing to Rise with Olympic, Pro Sports Arrivals - Read
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Allyssa DeHaan puts up a shot during Grandville’s 2005 Class A Semifinal against Southfield-Lathrup. At right, the Clark family including Allyssa, husband Aaron Clark and daughter Bradley. (Middle) DeHaan looks for an open teammate while playing her high school finale at her future college home, the Breslin Center. (Below) The Clarks enjoy a moment together. (Basketball photos from MHSAA archives; Clark photos courtesy of Allyssa DeHaan-Clark.)