Powered Up for Another Title Run
March 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – There was a time, not long ago, when Flint Powers Catholic was expected to show up at the MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals just about every season.
And there’s been an expectation these last few years that the Chargers would soon return.
They needed overtime, but made good on that Friday by defeating Midland Bullock Creek 48-45 to advance to their first Class B championship game since 2001.
And it’s a run made all the more incredible given Powers’ 3-5 start this season, their Regional Semifinal upset of No. 1 Freeland – and that they came into this winter after posting an 8-13 record a year ago.
“We sort of had a weak start from the Ladywood game (on opening night), and from there we just started picking it up and playing as a team,” Powers senior Darbie Barkman said. “’We believe’ is a huge saying for us, and we just keep going and playing strong. No matter how many points we’re down; in the Freeland game we were down 16 points and came back from that. We just had to keep believing and keep going, and we just always have to push through as a team.”
Powers (21-6) will face either reigning champion Goodrich or Grand Rapids South Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday. Powers and Goodrich played in the same District last season, but found themselves on the opposite side of the bracket when lines were drawn for this season.
The Chargers are owners of four MHSAA girls basketball titles. And along with those banners, a message is posted in Powers’ gym, “We believe,” which became a necessary motto during the rough start against a tough slate including Class A Semifinalist Westland John Glenn.
Powers coach Thom Staudacher said the schedule was built so his team would know what it needed to improve on for the rest of the season. The Chargers now have won 12 straight.
But like in other wins during this run, it took a lot of small contributions from a number of players – and some big and small both from junior forward Michela Coury.
She scored, was fouled, and made the free throw to open overtime and give Powers a lead it would never relinquish. Coury finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds – including six on the offensive end.
But she also forced a travel during the final minute of the fourth quarter that helped preserve the regulation tie, and grabbed one of those offensive rebounds to ice the game after Powers missed two free throws with five seconds to go on overtime.
“We just knew it was going to come down to the last minute as far as who was going to make that last shot,” Staudacher said. “We’d been trying to feed (Coury) down low all game, but it was difficult to get her down there.
“To start that overtime, that three-point play was huge. That wasn’t the intention. We do a dribble drive, and we were working it right there. She was open, and we’ve got to feed her the ball."
Junior guard Sara Ruhstorfer led the Chargers with 16 points and junior guard Ally Haran added 12 with five assists and five steals.
Sophomore Halee Nieman led Bullock Creek with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, while freshman forward Alyssa Mudd had 12 points and sophomore guard Hannah Heldt had nine, five assists and six steals. But the Lancers (23-4) fired only four shots during the overtime, and made only one.
Still, as coach Justin Freeland said after, most of the time when a team is outrebounded 47-28 it should mean a double-digit loss. Instead, Bullock Creek hung on through 11 lead changes and despite 17 Powers second-chance points.
“One thing we learned as a team is to not give up,” Heldt said. “In the Clare game (Quarterfinal), we were down 15, and probably a lot of people lost hope in us. But we just kept going.”
Bullock Creek has had other strong teams under Freeland, including a 23-1 finisher in 2006 and a 24-1 squad in 2007-08. But neither of those advanced out of the Regional.
This team entered the tournament unranked, but beat No. 2 Ludington at the Regional and fell just shy of its first championship game berth. Only three seniors graduate, and four starters should return.
“There are a lot of athletes, from the pros to college to high school, who thought, ‘We’re young. We’ll be back next year,’” Freeland said. “I don’t want to come back one year older. We need to come back one year better. Our mentality this offseason is not going to be happy. We’re going to be hungry. And I know everyone’s going to be on board with that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Flint Powers Catholic guard Ally Haran pushes the ball upcourt during Friday's Semifinal against Bullock Creek. (Middle) Bullock Creek's Ellie Juengel (24) looks for a teammate while defended by Powers' Sara Ruhstorfer. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photo.)
Belleville Succeeds in Breslin Return, Earns 1st Trip to Championship Day
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2025
EAST LANSING – Belleville has been chasing history since the start of the MHSAA Tournament.
The Tigers overcame a giant hurdle in pursuit of it Friday.
Belleville knocked off 2024 champion and perennial powerhouse West Bloomfield 60-55 in the first Division 1 Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
The Tigers (27-1) will play in their first Final at 12:15 p.m. Saturday.
“It means everything,” said sophomore Sydney Savoury, who tallied game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds. “We felt the heartache from the loss last year so we really wanted to change the outcome and we knew from the beginning of the season that we had a chance to do it, and we knew that we could have a lasting impact on our school.
“It’s an exciting moment and we know the pressure that comes with it, but it’s a good pressure.”
Belleville, which lost to Grand Blanc last year in their first trip to the Semifinals, had defeated West Bloomfield by double digits during the regular season.
However, coach Jason Wilkins figured the rematch would be more difficult, especially against a program that had advanced to the Breslin the past four years.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Wilkins said. “They are two-time state champs, and they’ve been here four years in a row, so we knew Coach (Darrin) McAllister would come with a gameplan and they were going to play hard. We came out and made a quick run, but we knew they were not going to back down.”
Belleville jumped out to an early double-digit lead during the first five minutes as junior Se’Crette Carter knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a commanding 21-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
“That’s how we play,” Wilkins said. “In every game we make a run, it’s just a matter of when, and we made it in the first quarter. We knew we had to withstand their run, and us getting out to a big lead helped us.”
The Lakers (19-9) rallied in the second quarter and trimmed the deficit to 21-13 on a mid-range jumper by Sheridan Beal. Ava Lord drained a 3-pointer for West Bloomfield later in the first half to make it 28-23.
The Lakers continued to make a push in the third quarter. A driving lay-up by Breasia Gamble-Jones cut the Belleville lead to only two (31-29).
However, the Tigers responded with a 9-2 run and led 45-36 entering the final quarter. A three-point play from Paisley Stephens with 2:17 left sealed it for Belleville.
West Bloomfield, which returned only one starter from last year’s championship team, started the season 1-4 before winning 16 of their next 19 games.
“A lot of people counted us out,” McAllister said. “We lost four dynamic players, and we had players still understanding how to play their roles. Nobody thought we could get here, but the crazy part about it is we knew that we could get here.
“This has been an incredible journey just getting back here, and we had a slow start (today) and were like deer in headlights, but we had an opportunity to settle down and come together and showed we could play with the big boys.”
Beal and Gamble-Jones both finished with 17 points for West Bloomfield, while Londyn Hall had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Carter made four 3-pointers and added 18 points for Belleville. Stephens, a freshman guard, chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Rylan Buschell, one of only two seniors on Belleville’s roster, was thrilled to get over the hump and have an opportunity to play for the school’s first Finals title.
“We worked hard all summer and during the year, and we always wanted to come back here,” she said. “Last year was a heartbreak, but we just wanted to make it to the last day and make it count.”
PHOTOS (Top) Belleville’s Sydney Savoury places her school on the championship game line of the Division 1 bracket after the Tigers’ clinched their first Finals berth Friday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Belleville’s Jaida Quinn (5) and Iyana Stephens defend as West Bloomfield’s Breasia Gamble-Jones considers her options. (Photos by Keionna Banks/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)