Nouvel Takes Next Step as Class C Champ
March 15, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Saginaw Nouvel holds daily school Mass in its gymnasium, allowing Rachel McInerney and her teammates to reflect on a few things – including photos of the Panthers’ 2006 and 2008 MHSAA championship teams staring back at them.
“And every day in practice, we’d say our picture is going to be up there no matter what,” McInerney said.
In her final opportunity Saturday, Nouvel’s 6-foot-2 senior center more than did her part to make that true.
With lingering regrets from last season’s Class C championship game defeat to Manchester, McInerney seemed to take them out on St. Ignace with one of the most impressive statistical performances in MHSAA Finals history – 22 points, 23 rebounds and five blocked shots – as the Panthers broke away for a 62-40 win and the their third title.
“I just left it all the floor. I wanted to remember this game as a great thing,” McInerney said on the topic of redemption. “We more than achieved that.”
But it wasn’t as simple as a reigning runner-up returning to take the final step.
Nouvel entered this tournament ranked only No. 10 and after assistant Mary Jo Skiendziel was promoted to head coach with only two games left in the regular season.
But she couldn’t be more familiar. Skiendziel also is a Nouvel graduate and coached the freshmen basketball team for six seasons in addition to helping the varsity at the start of this winter. And she inherited some key leaders, including three who started in the 2013 Final.
“From the beginning, we knew our team would stick together through anything,” said Nouvel sophomore guard Laurel Jacqmain, one of the other two returning starters. “Our goal was to get back here, and we knew we could with each other. That’s what we were going to do.”
After handing Gobles its only loss of the season in Thursday’s Semifinal, the Panthers faced an even more imposing obstacle in St. Ignace – last season’s champion in Class D, which brought four starters back this weekend and was playing in its third championship game in four seasons.
That’s what made how Nouvel won a little shocking. Aside from 4-2 after the first minute, the Panthers never trailed – and led by as many as 26 after holding a one-point advantage at halftime.
“We came out in the second half on fire, and that’s exactly what we’ve done all season,” Skiendziel said, the championship trophy sitting beside her. “Nothing’s different except we have new wood to take home.”
McInerney also did her part as a leader, making sure her teammates soaked in the value of the moment during the game and reminding them to have fun. “Just because I experienced it last year, I know what it’s like to let it go by. I did not have fun last year,” McInerney said.
And her 23 rebounds were the third most in an MHSAA Final, fewer than only Kelly Rose’s 25 for St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic in the 1988 Class C championship game and Paula McGee’s 24 for Flint Northern in the 1979 Class A Final.
“She just intimidates,” St. Ignace coach Dorene Ingalls said. “She had maybe struggled a little bit, didn’t score like she usually does in the Semi (three points). But we knew what she was capable of, and she showed it today.”
McInerney had only four of her points during the 24-7 third-quarter run, but did grab six rebounds and block four shots during that 8-minute span. Jacqmain did most of the offensive damage during the period, scoring 13 of her game-high 23 points.
Junior guard Margo Brown scored a team-high 16 points for St. Ignace, and with sophomore center Abbey Ostman will attempt to lead the Saints back to Breslin for the sixth straight season in 2015. Senior Kelley Wright, who set an MHSAA record playing in her 102nd varsity win Thursday, had eight points and four steals in her final high school game.
“I don’t take losing very well, and I don’t know how long it will be before I take a look at these last two films,” Ingalls said. “But I wouldn’t want to be up here with another group of kids. It’s not the stuff on the floor. Everyone who meets them, gets to know them when we visit people, they become Saints fans for life. They wear their uniforms from the inside out.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Saginaw Nouvel’s Rachel McInerney (30) looks for an open teammate as St. Ignace’s Margo Brown defends. (Middle) Brown looks to drive against Nouvel’s Lindsay Stroebel on Saturday.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Lindsay Stroebel of Saginaw Nouvel makes a steal with time running out in the first quarter and beats the buzzer to give her team a 13-9 lead against St. Ignace. (2) Margo Brown led St. Ignace with 16 points. Here she cans a 3-pointer late in the first half to pull her team to within a point of the lead.
Haslett Again Meets Great Expectations
March 20, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Expectations for Haslett’s girls basketball team were set during a run to the Class A Regional Finals a year ago keyed by a lineup that would remain mostly intact for this winter.
Those expectations were fulfilled again Friday at the Breslin Center as the Vikings took a step deeper into the MHSAA Tournament than any team in their program’s history.
Haslett advanced to its first MHSAA Final with a 63-52 win over Benton Harbor, never trailing during the second half while building a lead as large as 14 points.
The Vikings had made the Semifinals only one other season, in 1995. And this return seemed unlikely when one of the core four of seniors was injured midway through the winter.
“To us, it just means the world, to play for a state championship,” said forward Makenna Ott, who missed nine games with a leg injury. “It’s us. It could’ve been another team here. We’ve worked so hard for this."
Haslett (22-5) will face Detroit Country Day in the Class B Final at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Ott, the team’s leading scorer at 13.2 points per game, missed four of Haslett’s five losses this winter, and wasn’t at full strength when the Vikings fell to Country Day 57-43 on Feb. 26.
But if this tournament run has shown how strong the team is at full strength, Friday’s win showed how potent the rest of Haslett’s lineup is as well.
Ott led with 18 points. But senior forward Karson Tripp added 14 and seven rebounds, senior guard Adrianna Stolicker had 13 points and junior guard Megan Mowid had 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Senior point guard Kenzie DeCook added seven points and a team-high four assists, and as a group they played 154 of a possible 160 minutes.
And yet, they sensed they might be tiring Benton Harbor out with a pace the seemed especially frenetic for a team subbing so rarely.
“Their team had so much firepower, I would’ve liked to see us get a bigger lead earlier so we could relax more and not be quite so worried about every possession,” Haslett coach Bob Currier said. “(But) I kept looking behind me at my assistant coach, and I said I think they’re more tired than we are. We kept pushing the ball, and that separated us.”
The teams played point for point until Stolicker’s 3-pointer with 2:36 left in the first half ignited a 9-0 run to finish the second quarter. Tripp hit a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to start a 12-2 run that put Haslett up 14 points with eight minutes to play.
Miss Basketball finalist and Michigan State recruit Kalabrya Gondrezick scored 20 points and junior sister Kysre had 17. But Benton Harbor (20-6) shot only 35 percent from the floor – compared to 47 percent for Haslett – and never cut the lead below nine points.
“I don’t know if the atmosphere was euphoric for some. Kysre and Kalabrya are used to this atmosphere as such, but it was the first trip to the final four for this group of young ladies,” said Benton Harbor coach Lisa Harvey-Gondrezick, who also is the mother of Kysre and Kalabrya. “We were a little stifled offensively, and I don’t think we executed our gameplan well enough.”
Haslett entered the postseason ranked No. 8 in Class B and has eliminated three top-five teams over the last three weeks.
The thought that the Vikings had the potential to finish number one may have seemed daunting at times this winter – but giving themselves an opportunity always was part of the plan.
“We’ve wanted this from the beginning,” Stolicker said. “We knew we were going to do whatever it took to get to this point. It’s always been a goal."
Click for the full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Haslett huddles after advancing to its first MHSAA Final. (Middle) Benton Harbor’s Kysre Gondrezick works to get around Haslett’s Megan Mowid.