Sacred Heart Shows in Class D Comeback
March 15, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – A high school senior known statewide finished an incredible career Saturday during the MHSAA Class D championship game at the Breslin Center.
But it was the lone senior on the other side of the floor who accepted the winner’s trophy as her classmates chanted “Thank you Sara” for another job well done.
Crystal Falls Forest Park’s Lexi Gussert will pick her career back up again on this same floor next season for Michigan State. But Saturday belonged to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart and its lone senior, Sara Hansen, as they finished up an incredible comeback with a 56-53 win and the Irish’s first MHSAA title.
Unranked Sacred Heart finished on a 14-3 run over the game’s final three minutes to edge past the top-ranked Trojans and Gussert, this season’s Miss Basketball Award winner.
“We were down by nine. We didn’t give up on anything,” Hansen said. “Once we got closer, it was really exciting. And once it ended, it hit me that it was my last game and we won a state championship.”
“Being the only senior, it’s fun in a way but also kinda tough because you’re the only one going through that. I was really glad we made it this far.”
This was only the second time Sacred Heart had reached an MHSAA Final, after also finishing Class D runner-up in 2008. The Irish made the Quarterfinals two of the last four seasons, including a year ago, but lost both of those games in overtime.
They broke through this week by upsetting No. 3 Frankfort on Tuesday. But there were more surprises in store; the Irish advanced to Saturday by downing No. 9 Marine City Cardinal Mooney in the Semifinal, and then handed Forest Park (26-1) its only loss.
“Wow. That’s all I can say,” Sacred Heart coach Damon Brown said. “It’s been an amazing journey. They found a way to get it done. This team has been in battles like this all season, and their faith in each other and faith in the program never cracked.”
Not even when Sacred Heart trailed 49-40 with 5:40 to play.
The Irish had done an incredible job containing Gussert – who averaged 29 points per game entering the week – to just three during Saturday’s first half. However, the 6-foot do-it-all guard scored eight during the third quarter and the jumper in the fourth to push the Trojans lead to nine.
At that point, Forest Park’s momentum appeared unbreakable – until Sacred Heart’s Riley Terwilliger began punching holes in the lead.
The Irish’s Semifinal star with 19 points, she didn’t score Saturday until dropping her first bucket at the third-quarter buzzer. She knocked down another to pull the Irish within 49-42 – and then finished the comeback with the two plays of the game.
Junior Lexie Methner scored with 1:16 to play to bring Sacred Heart within 50-47, and Terwilliger stole the ensuing inbounds pass and scored to make it a one-point game.
Forest Park made it to the other end of the court after that basket, but instead of holding the ball with a one-point lead launched a shot with 39 seconds to play. It missed, Hansen grabbed the rebound, and at the other end of the floor Terwilliger launched a 3-pointer from the corner that fell with 29 seconds to play.
“We hang our hat on defense, and we’re not going to go down just missing shots,” Terwilliger said. “We wanted to stay up and get them. It just builds off each defensive stop we get, and it builds up the adrenaline, and we just keep going and going and going.”
Sacred Heart made four free throws down the stretch and Forest Park missed two, with only a 3-pointer by Gussert with 3.7 seconds left keeping the score to its final margin.
Disbelief showed on both ends of the court – Forest Park that its lead disappeared, and Sacred Heart that it suddenly stood as champion.
“It’s unlike our team, but I think we cracked a little bit at the end,” Trojans coach Jeff Syrjanen said. “These kids are a veteran team, and they played with pressure the last three years. Sometimes things don’t work the way you wanted them to.
“It’s a really tough loss for us. We thought we could finish the deal this year."
Lost a bit in the comeback was how 6-3 sophomore center Averi Gamble kept the Irish in the game through the first three quarters. Daughter of former Boston Celtics forward Kevin Gamble, Averi had 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Brown recalled how he told Gamble it was her time after all-state honorable mention Erica Hansen graduated last spring. Gamble took it to heart, and took some advice from her dad: “Just to be strong with the ball, jump, pump-fake a little, and just make my shots,” she said.
Senior center Kendra Campbell scored 16 points for forest Park, and Gussert finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. She’ll end up in the MHSAA record book as one of the top scorers in girls basketball history – but wished for just a few more.
“The third quarter we had a really good run, with a lot of nice passes and a lot of nice looks, but I feel like in the fourth quarter I tried to do too much,” Gussert said. “My team did everything it could possible. I feel bad. I didn’t finish, and that’s the truth.”
Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart celebrates with its first MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Forest Park’s Lexi Gussert attempts to drive past Sacred Heart’s Megan English.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Off the steal, Crystal Falls’ Lexi Gussert passes downcourt to Sierra Robarge, who kicks out to Kendra Campbell for the 3-pointer and an early lead for the Trojans. (2) Coming out of a timeout, Sacred Heart's Riley Terwilliger hits a 3-pointer to give the Irish the lead for good in the Class D Final.
Country Day Two-Time Champ Moore Building Perennial Winner at Harvard
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
July 16, 2026
Carrie Moore says her high school sports experience in Michigan has “left a lifetime impression on me.”
Back in the early 2000s, Moore certainly had a fulfilling one while starring as a two-sport standout at Detroit Country Day.
In basketball, she was a four-year varsity performer for legendary head coach Frank Orlando, helping guide Country Day to Class B titles in 1999 as a freshman and 2002 as a senior. During the latter, she was a first-team all-state performer and scored a team-high 18 points in a Semifinal win over Flint Powers Catholic.
Moore also was a standout soccer player on that Country Day varsity powerhouse for three years.
“Who I am as a leader, as a competitor, and a team player is because of what I learned about the process in high school as a student-athlete,” Moore said. “The pursuit of excellence isn’t always easy, but I learned at such a young age that I can do hard things. I was challenged because I was surrounded by the best on the court and in the classroom, but ultimately it brought out the best version of myself and I was so prepared for what came next after graduation.”
Make no mistake about it, Moore has continued to do great things since graduating from Country Day in 2003.
She is currently the head women’s basketball coach at Harvard, where she just completed her fourth season and has amassed an 80-41 record with the Crimson. This past season, she helped guide her team to a 20-12 record and the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.
Moore was a terrific college player at Western Michigan, finishing as the school’s all-time scoring leader with 2,216 points and earning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 2007 after averaging 25.4 points per game. But she initially wasn’t planning on being a coach once her time at Western was over.
After playing one season professionally in Poland and then being cut twice by WNBA teams during training camp, Moore had an opportunity to join the coaching staff at Princeton in 2010.
From there, the coaching bug bit her, so to speak.
“Being a part of that program allowed me to see the lasting impact I could have on young women in growing them as people and players, and ultimately, give back to the game that gave me so much,” Moore said.
Moore was on the staff for two seasons at Princeton, and then moved on to Creighton, where she spent five years as an assistant coach.
Following a second stint as an assistant coach at Princeton that lasted four years, Moore moved on to North Carolina, where she spent two years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the program.
A native of Lathrup Village, Moore then briefly returned to her home state for the 2021-22 season, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for University of Michigan’s team that went 25-7.
After that season, the opportunity at Harvard came about, and Moore has proved she can be successful running a program as well.
In her first season, Moore set a program record for most wins by a first-year head coach (20). Two years later, she guided the Crimson to its first Ivy League Tournament title and back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 18 years.
Even to this day, Moore is influenced by her time at Country Day and in Michigan. She speaks regularly to Orlando, picking his brain for advice or an answer to any other question that might come up.
“I keep in touch with Coach O as often as I can,” Moore said. “He reaches out after big wins or tough losses and always reassures his belief in me as a leader of young women. His mantra ‘Believe It’ is living on within our program at Harvard, and I hope he feels deeply connected to it because of it. I will always honor him in any way that I can, as he has shaped me greatly as a human and coach.”
Moore hasn’t had a player from her home state on her Harvard roster. But she said Michigan is an important recruiting area, and she’s keeping an eye out for prospects.
“I’m very hopeful that it will happen one day,” Moore said.
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Detroit Country Day’s Carrie Moore (33) celebrates with her teammates at the end of a Class B Semifinal win over Flint Powers Catholic in 2002. At right, Moore holds up the net after making the last cut this past season to celebrate Harvard’s Ivy League Tournament championship. (Middle) Moore enjoys a moment with her Crimson players. (Harvard photos courtesy of the Harvard athletic department.)