Pittsford Earns Title Game Return
March 17, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Pittsford’s girls basketball team returned to the Breslin Center on Thursday only a few players different than the team that fell in overtime of the Class D Final a year ago.
But the Wildcats set themselves up to show much difference a year can make with a 62-43 win over Waterford Our Lady in the evening’s first Semifinal.
Three starters and six of eight players who saw the floor in last season’s championship game were among 10 who got time against the Lakers in a rematch of last season’s 57-26 Pittsford Semifinal win.
When a team hasn’t lost a regular-season game in three seasons, what goals are left? Only one, and now the Wildcats have the opportunity to achieve it.
“It’s just an amazing opportunity to play here at the Breslin Center, to play for a state title,” Pittsford junior guard Jaycie Burger said. “To already have been here to play for a state title, and to know what it feels like to lose; I don’t want that to happen again. I would definitely like to be able to win this time.”
Top-ranked Pittsford (26-0) will face No. 3 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Semifinal win brought the Wildcats to 74-2 over the last three seasons.
And they didn’t let Thursday’s game remain much of one past the midway point of the second quarter.
Junior center Maddie Clark nearly pulled a repeat of last season’s Semifinal performance. She made 9 of 10 shots from the field for 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds – after tallying 26 and 15, respectively, against Our Lady a year ago.
The Lakers tried to find a way to draw a second defender to help on Clark, but Pittsford made enough shots from the perimeter to give their top post player room to do her work.
A 3-pointer by senior Laura Smith with 1:47 to play in the second quarter pushed Pittsford’s lead to 10 – and it never dropped back to single digits.
Wildcats coach Chris Hodos said the No. 6 Lakers were the best his team has seen this season.
But Pittsford was plenty prepared.
“Everybody always says ‘unfinished business,’ but this is a totally different team,” Hodos said. “But it’s been on our minds the whole year. We worked all summer, took all 15 of our dates, played everybody we could play. … We looked this year to get those games to be ready for this time right now.”
Burger added 15 points and three steals for Pittsford. Sophomore Tiffany Senerius had 20 points for the Lakers, and senior Alex Troy had seven and 10 rebounds.
The return to Breslin also added to a nice comeback for Our Lady (20-5). The Lakers made the Semifinals last season but still finished 12-13 after an even more uncharacteristic 8-13 in 2013-14.
This season’s run gave the Our Lady six 20-win seasons over the last eight and provided valuable experience for 10 players who should return next winter seeking the team’s fourth MHSAA title since 2010.
“It’s incredible, really, what’s happened in that last nine years,” Our Lady coach Steve Robak said. “This senior group wasn’t part of those first classes, obviously, but what’s happened at our school is they certainly saw what was going on. And when they got their chance, they were excited to put their mark on the school and get to Breslin and prove to people that first group of girls were not the only basketball players at the school.
“Last year (was) unexpected, but this year they came back very confidently because of that experience.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Pittsford’s Laura Smith works to get by Our Lady’s Alex Troy on Thursday. (Middle) Maddie Clark shoots surrounded by defenders during the Class D Semifinal.
King Rises Again to Reach Class A Final
March 18, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Micaela Kelly was a big fan of the Detroit Martin Luther King football team in November when it won its first MHSAA championship since 2007.
Now she and her teammates are receiving that support in return as they pursue a first Class A title since 2006.
The Crusaders earned the opportunity for the first time since that championship season with a 56-48 Semifinal win over St. Johns on Friday at the Breslin Center.
King will next face Warren Cousino in the noon Final on Saturday seeking a sixth MHSAA championship – but first in nine seasons.
“It’s my last year of high school and I’ll never get this chance again. And I want to go to college with something,” said Kelly, who will continue her career next season at DePaul University. “(The football players) talk to me all day. They said, ‘We’ve got one. You should get one too.’ I look up to them; they worked hard.”
King (24-1) entered this postseason ranked No. 4 and always is in the conversation of the state’s elite. The Crusaders have made Quarterfinals four of the past five seasons and advanced to the Semifinals a year ago before falling to eventual Class A champion Bloomfield Hills Marian.
But they looked tough to beat Friday.
Kelly said because she’d never played St. Johns, she hoped her team would get off to a quick start – and she played a big part, making two 3-pointers as junior Tia Tedford drilled a third to give the Crusaders a quick 9-6 lead after their first three shots from the floor.
King ended up making half of its 3-pointers – nine total, and kept a 7 to 10-point lead most of the third and fourth quarters until St. Johns made a last run late to get as close as six during the final minute.
The Redwings had defeated three other top-10 teams during the tournament run and another twice during the regular season.
“We’ve played a lot of different styles, but King was a little different in the fact they shot really well from the perimeter consistently,” St. Johns coach Mark Lasceski said. “And shots that normally went in for us the past three weeks went off the front of the rim, rattling out, those types of things. In a game like this against a top-10 team like that, they have to go down for you to have a chance to win.”
Kelly led King with 18 points, hitting 5 of 7 shots from the floor including a pair of 3-pointers. Junior guard Alicia Norman made all three of her 3-point attempts and finished with 14 points, and sophomore guard Erica Whitley-Jackson also made three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
“If you’re a 3-point shooting team, you’re always going to have those highs and those lows. We always expect that, and hopefully our defense would hold up until we started hitting again,” 33-year King coach William Winfield said. “We wanted to make sure they were taking good shots, and that was the difference. They played with poise, very sure of themselves.”
St. Johns – playing in its first Semifinal since 1997 – got offensive contributions from a number of players. Sophomore guard Maddie Maloney led with 12 points and six assists, but five others scored at least five points.
Junior forward Jamie Carroll and junior guard Erika Ballinger each added eight. Senior Brooke Mazzolini had seven points, six rebounds and six assists, and with forward Jessica Hafner was one of only two seniors on the team.
“I felt we had a chance to win all game long,” said Lasceski, who completed his 20th season leading the program. “They hit shots, and we struggled at times.
“These kids … made this an outstanding season, for the St. Johns community, for the basketball program and for them. … Through this run, they grew together, as I would say, family. They’ve been one of the closest group of kids that I’ve coached.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Martin Luther King’s Alicia Norman drives past a St. Johns defender Friday. (Middle) St. Johns’ Jessica Hafner looks for an open teammate as Jasmine Flowers (55) and Micaela Kelly defend.