Marshall Believes, Earns Title Game Trip
March 18, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Believe it. Marshall will play Saturday for its first MHSAA girls basketball championship.
But only because the Redhawks believed they would – all the way through two free throws with 1.4 seconds to play that made it so.
Junior Nikki Tucker was “a little nervous” when the future of her team’s best season in more than 30 years fell to her ability to make a free throw – and hopefully two – with Marshall trailing by a point and barely a second left on the clock.
What transpired next cemented the final few moments of Friday’s Class B Semifinal against Bay City John Glenn among the series of finishes that are remembered annually this time of year, and sent Marshall into Saturday’s championship game with a 43-42 win.
“My teammates talked to me and my coach talked to me, and I realized that I could do it,” Tucker said. “Jill (Konkle) told me, “Nikki, you do this every day in practice.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I do.’ I knew there would be no doubt I was going to put them in, and we were going to win, because that’s what I needed to do to win and that’s what we were going to do.”
Marshall (25-1), ranked No. 7 heading into the postseason, will take on No. 3 Grand Rapids South Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday in its first Final since finishing Class B runner-up in 1981.
Redhawks coach Sal Konkle was a player on that team, and her words before and during Friday’s game prodded her players to believe they could make it to Saturday, even if, as she said after, “almost every other fan in here, any basketball junkie, would say that Marshall wasn’t going to win.”
That may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s tough to argue with her assumption. Although both teams had only one loss entering the postseason, John Glenn (25-2) had beaten the top-ranked team in Class A, Southfield Lathrup, and went on to beat three top-10 Class B teams on the way to Breslin. The Bobcats’ only loss before Friday came against Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, which will play Saturday for the Class C title.
And John Glenn featured three players who could star on most teams in Michigan, including Miss Basketball finalist Cassidy Boench – who nearly ended the Semifinal as the crunch time hero.
“She was huge. I don’t know how many of (her rebounds) were in that fourth quarter, but quite a few,” said John Glenn coach Cory Snider of the 6-foot-3 Boench and her 16 rebounds, including six during the final period. “I thought that she had to play with a little bit of a different attitude early on in the game when she got in foul trouble. That took away some of her aggressiveness, her ability to go get rebounds. And then when she made it through the third quarter with still only three (fouls), she was able to become a little more aggressive and I thought that that showed in her rebounding.”
Neither team led by more than four points over the final 14:53 of the game, with John Glenn holding that advantage with 3:56 to play. Junior guard Taryn Long made a 3-pointer to pull Marshall within one, and Tucker’s basket with 42 seconds left put the Redhawks ahead by a point.
But Tucker's foul with 14 seconds left sent Boensch, attempting a putback, to the line for two free throws – and she made both to give the Bobcats the one-point advantage at 42-41.
“We practice those all the time in our gym, and I just cleared my head I guess,” Boensch said. “I knew that my team had my back no matter what, so (I) just focused.”
Marshall’s ensuing inbounds pass fell back out of bounds off a John Glenn player. The Redhawks eventually got the ball into Jill Konkle’s hands, and her last-second layup attempt bounced in and out of the basket – but Tucker was there to gather the rebound and draw a foul, this time from Boensch who was going for a block.
The rest is Finals history.
“I told the girls, ‘After Nikki makes these, don’t foul.’ Plain and simple,” Coach Konkle said. “I was confident she was going to make them. And honestly, if we wanted anybody at the line, it’s Nikki.”
John Glenn’s final shot of the game fell short.
Tucker, only a 61-percent free throw shooter heading into the week, made 5 of 6 Friday and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Long added 10 points.
Senior guard Jenai LaPorte, who will graduate as John Glenn’s all-time leading scorer, added 16 points to her total. Boensch had 14 points.
“It’s been a crazy run in the tournament this year. I think it’s even better knowing that we’re going to the state finals and a lot people didn’t think we could do it,” Tucker said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, where’s Marshall?’ Well, we’re in the state finals now.”
“You just want your kids … to experience what you experienced in high school,” Konkle added. “Going to the state finals was one of the best experiences I ever had. Mind you, we lost, and these guys are going to see to it that we don’t lose. … (But) the fact that we’re in the state finals is something these guys have dreamed about forever. I’ve dreamed of it for them, and now they’re making it come true.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marshall players surround Nikki Tucker after her free throws sent the Redhawks to the Class B Final. (Middle) John Glenn guard Kalle Martinez (11) looks to get past Marshall’s Jill Konkle.
C-D Preview: Perfection & Possibilities
March 15, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
One of the state’s most impressive winning streaks in any sport this decade will take the main stage again this weekend at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Reigning Class D champion Pittsford will attempt to finish a second straight undefeated season and build on a run that has seen the Wildcats win 101 of their last 103 games over the last four winters.
Meanwhile, four of eight semifinalists in Class C and D are seeking their first championships ever, with a fifth playing for its first title in nearly four decades.
All four Class C and D Semifinals will be played Thursday, with all four championship games Saturday.
Semifinals - Thursday
Class C
Detroit Edison PSA (19-5) vs. Flint Hamady (19-5), 1 p.m.
Pewamo-Westphalia (23-2) vs. Maple City Glen Lake (23-3), 2:50 p.m.
Class D
Engadine (19-5) vs. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary (17-9), 6 p.m.
Pittsford (26-0) vs. Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (25-1), 7:50 p.m.
Finals - Saturday
Class A - Noon
Class B - 6 p.m.
Class C - 4 p.m.
Class D - 10 a.m.
Tickets cost $8 per pair of Semifinals and $10 per two-game Finals session. All Semifinals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv on a pay-per-view basis. All four Finals will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit, the Class D, A and C Finals on the network’s PLUS channel and Class B on the primary channel. Free radio broadcasts of all weekend games will be available on MHSAANetwork.com.
And now, a look at the semifinalists in Class C and D. Click on the name of the school to see that team’s full schedule and results from this season. (Statistics are through teams' Regional Finals.) The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
Class C
DETROIT EDISON PUBLIC SCHOOL ACADEMY
Record/rank: 19-5, No. 5
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Monique Brown, sixth season (80-35)
Championship history: Has not appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 58-42 over No. 10 Blissfield in the Quarterfinal, 43-39 over Flint Hamady 58-55 over Detroit Mumford, 57-56 over Class A No. 6 Southfield Arts & Technology, 57-45 over Chicago Whitney Young.
Players to watch: Gabrielle Elliott, 5-10 fr. G (17.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.2 spg); Rickea Jackson, 6-3 soph. G (17.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 3.4 spg, 2.3 bpg).
Outlook: It’s difficult to not point out immediately that Edison has no seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and nine freshmen – and that they’ve been tested this season against top teams from Classes A and B as well as C. All five losses came to larger schools, including two still alive this weekend. Elliott – one of three freshman starters – made the all-state first team and Jackson was named to the second, while Brown was named Coach of the Year by The Associated Press.
FLINT HAMADY
Record/rank: 19-5, unranked
League finish: First in Genesee Area Conference Blue.
Coach: Keith Smart, 15th season (332-44)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2010), two runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 38-36 over No. 1 Sandusky in the Regional Final, 75-67 over Dearborn Heights Robichaud, 51-46 over Goodrich, 81-27 over Lake Fenton, 55-50 over Flint Beecher in the District Final.
Players to watch: Deajah Cofield, 5-7 sr. G (15 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.0 apg); Sasha Penn, 5-7 jr. G (statistics not available for Penn).
Outlook: Hamady was unranked after taking losses to one Class A and three Class B teams, plus Detroit Edison. But Cofield was named Class C co-Player of the Year by The Associated Press and Penn and senior Krystal Rice earned all-state honorable mentions (although Rice is out for the season with a knee injury). This is Hamady’s third Semifinal this decade; the Hawks were Class C runners-up in 2015.
MAPLE CITY GLEN LAKE
Record/rank: 23-3, unranked
League finish: First in Northwest Conference.
Coach: Jason Bradford, ninth season (146-58)
Championship history: Class D champion 1978, runner-up 1979.
Best wins: 63-52 over No. 7 St. Ignace in the Quarterfinal, 50-44 over No. 2 Traverse City St. Francis in the District Semifinal, 55-40 and 42-38 over Kingsley.
Players to watch: Kelly Bunke, 5-6 sr. G (10.3 ppg, 4,4 rpg, 2.9 apg); Jennifer LaCross, 5-8 jr. F (10.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.0 apg).
Outlook: Glen Lake has won 20 games two seasons in a row for Bradford, with two league titles, and has shown it belongs among the elite in the postseason with two wins over ranked opponents, including avenging its opening-night defeat to St. Francis. The only other losses were to eventual Class B quarterfinalist Cadillac and in overtime to McBain. This will be Glen Lake’s first Semifinal since 1995. Bunek earned an all-state honorable mention.
PEWAMO-WESTPHALIA
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 6
League finish: Second in Central Michigan Athletic Conference.
Coach: Steve Eklund, eighth season (154-33)
Championship history: Class C runner-up 1983 and 1984.
Best wins: 40-31 and 38-31 over honorable mention Laingsburg, 50-27 over Ithaca, 55-34 over Springport in the Regional Final, 44-28 over Bath in the District Semifinal.
Players to watch: Emily Spitzley, 5-10 jr. F (13.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.2 spg); Hannah Spitzley, 5-10 fr. F (8.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.5 spg).
Outlook: P-W is returning to the Semifinal for the first time since 2002, avenging its two losses by beating CMAC champ Bath to open the postseason. The Pirates start two seniors but also two freshmen – guard Ellie Droste adds 8.6 points and 2.5 steals per game. Defense is this team’s strong point; Schoolcraft (19) in the Quarterfinal marked the 15th time this season P-W held a team under 30 points, and the Pirates have given up more than 31 only twice (in those losses to Bath). Emily Spitzley made the all-state second team.
Class D
ENGADINE
Record/rank: 19-5, honorable mention
League finish: Second in Eastern Upper Peninsula Athletic Conference.
Coach: Roger French, seventh season (79-64)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 44-41 over No. 8 Crystal Falls Forest Park in the Quarterfinal, 50-48 (Regional Final) and 40-39 over honorable mention Pickford in the Regional Final, 60-55 and 63-57 over No. 10 Cedarville
Players to watch: Olivia Vaughn, 5-9 sr. F (18.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.2 spg); Aubrey Simmons, 5-10 jr. C (12 ppg, 12.7 rpg).
Outlook: Engadine is playing in its second Semifinals after also making the final weekend in 2005. The Eagles were one of three Class D teams from their EUP conference to receive state poll votes and emerged with eight wins over their last nine games. Vaughn and starting forward Keely Fuller are the only seniors, while freshman guard Sophie Vaughn – Olivia’s sister – adds 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Engadine won only four games four seasons ago, but has upped its win total every season since.
MOUNT PLEASANT SACRED HEART
Record/rank: 25-1, No. 2
League finish: First in Mid-State Activities Conference.
Coach: Damon Brown (ninth season (178-41)
Championship history: Class D champion 2014, runner-up 2016 and 2008.
Best wins: 48-37 over Frankfort in the Quarterfinal, 52-25 over Fruitport Calvary Christian in the Regional Final, 23-17 over Carson City-Crystal.
Players to watch: Scout Nelson, 5-9 soph. G (13.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.1 apg, 4.0 spg); Sophie Ruggles, 6-0 jr. F (14 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.4 spg).
Outlook: Few Class D teams would have this kind of success the year after graduating an all-state center and three-year starting guard. But the Irish rose again in a league featuring 19-win Class C Carson City-Crystal, and Frankfort was the only playoff opponent to score more than 30 points. Nelson and Ruggles made the all-state first team and with junior Hadyn Terwilliger (8.3 ppg) started in last season’s Class D Final.
SAGINAW MICHIGAN LUTHERAN SEMINARY
Record/rank: 17-9, unranked
League finish: Fifth in Tri-Valley Conference West
Coach: Brian Blaine, first season (17-9)
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 56-48 over Waterford Our Lady in the Quarterfinal, 44-39 over Portland St. Patrick in the Regional Semifinal, 56-34 over Bay City All Saints in the District Final, 45-39 over Hemlock.
Players to watch: Meghan Blaine, 5-10 soph. F (12.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.7 apg); Rylee Pankow, 5-10 sr. C (10.ppg, 9.1 rpg, 3.0 spg).
Outlook: MLS may not have been the pick to advance farthest from the mostly Class B-C TVC West that had four teams total win at least 16 games. But the Cardinals have won 10 straight games and did make the Quarterfinals as recently as 2012, although this will be the program’s first Semifinal. Meghan Blaine can also score from the outside, with 46 3-pointers entering the week, and total six players have scored at least 12 points in a game this season.
PITTSFORD
Record/rank: 26-0, No. 1
League finish: First in Southern Central Athletic Association East
Coach: Chris Hodos, fifth season (117-8)
Championship history: Class D champion 2016, runner-up 2015.
Best wins: 62-19 over No. 6 St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran in the Quarterfinal, 59-47 over Manchester, 59-33 over Bellevue, 57-39 over Grass Lake.
Players to watch: Maddie Clark, 5-9 sr. F (16.4 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 3.4 spg); Jaycie Burger, 5-9 sr. G (19.2 ppg, 5.3 apg, 3.2 spg, 62 3-pointers).
Outlook: Pittsford’s 53-game winning streak is just short of making the MHSAA record book list, and it’s four-season run of 101-2 can’t have many rivals although that statistic hasn’t been kept. Clark was named Class D Player of the Year by The Associated Press and Burger also a first-team all-stater as both continued to star in leading their team to Breslin for the third straight season. Junior guard Marissa Shaw adds another 8.6 points and 6.2 steals per game, and she’d made 56 3-pointers entering this week.
PHOTO: Pittsford celebrates last season's Class D championship at the Breslin Center.