Saints Survive to Earn Repeat Try
March 13, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – St. Ignace senior Kelley Wright set an MHSAA record by being part of her 102nd high school basketball victory Thursday at the Breslin Center.
This had to be one of the ugliest – but could end up one of the most meaningful as well.
Wright and the Saints earned an opportunity to play for a second-straight MHSAA championship and third in her four season with a 34-30 Semifinal win over Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett.
St. Ignace improved to 24-2 this winter after finishing 27-0, 25-1 and 26-1, the last three seasons, respectively. Redford Bishop Borgess’ Aiysha Smith formerly held the record with 101 wins from 1994-97.
“All I know is I’ve lost four times. I never really thought about all the times I’ve won,” Wright said. “I play for a really good team, and I can’t take credit for that just because I moved up freshman year. All of us deserve it, and fortunately we’re all getting the benefits from it.”
Wright said after she expects to “feel sick and little nervous” before her team takes on Saginaw Nouvel in Saturday’s 4 p.m. Final.
Saints coach Dorene Ingalls joked about firing husband Doug as the team’s shooting coach after a performance that left both teams at least in some disbelief, if not feeling a little ill as well.
St. Ignace made a meager 19 percent of its shots from the floor. Liggett connected on 25 percent. Still, the Saints led by seven heading into the fourth quarter – but Liggett tied the score at 30-30 with 2:36 to play.
The Knights (20-4) had an opportunity to go ahead before St. Ignace senior Emily Hinsman gave the Saints back the lead with a put back with 1:37 to play. The teams then traded misses and turnovers as Hinsman stepped in to intercept a pass into the paint with 39 seconds. Junior guard Margo Brown made two free throws seconds later to push the lead to its final margin of four.
“It was frustrating at first. They’d just trap you as soon as you got the ball in your hands,” said Liggett junior Lauren Ristovski, who led the team with nine points. “They’d just jump out and trap you, making you throw the ball away.”
It’s not the kind of game Wright has been part of winning too often during the last four seasons and especially during this current 18-win streak. But the Saints made it go in part with 59-36 rebounding advantage, which included grabbing 28 on the offensive side. The Saints also had only 12 turnovers to Liggett’s 18.
Wright led the Saints with eight points and nine rebounds, while Hinsman grabbed 13 rebounds and sophomore center Abbey Ostman had seven points and 12 rebounds.
“Once we got back in January, our practices when we came back were intense. Just a different level,” Dorene Ingalls said. “Our team took over a different identity at that moment. Kelley and I were on the side, and (I told her) this is going to be really good.
“I’m glad we got an opportunity to show on Saturday that we’re better than we showed tonight. But you’ve got to give Liggett a lot of credit for that.”
St. Ignace also got a helpful and inspiring bucket late from junior Autumn Orm; she had four points total, despite being restricted to only 30-second spurts of playing time because of a neurological disorder that won’t allow her to be active for longer, Ingalls said. “She was getting deflections, getting rebounds. That was our inspiration. That’s why we won,” Ingalls added.
The Knights nearly pulled off the comeback despite all five starters playing all 32 minutes. The team’s rotation got down to that minimum in part because Liggett lost junior forward Haley Neuenfeldt to a knee injury in the final regular-season game.
But three of this season’s starters also started on the 2012 team that finished Class C runner-up. And they helped the Knights improve on last season’s run, which ended during the Regional.
“I expected for us to play hard enough to get through the District and do better than last year. That’s what we preached,” Liggett coach Omar Ahart said. “Once we got to the Regional Final, and got through that one, (I thought) someone has to win state. Why not us?”
Click for a complete box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Ignace’s Emily Hinsman (34) and Liggett’s Kendall McConico battle for a loose ball Thursday. (Middle) Saints junior Autumn Orm (10) drives against Knights senior Angelia Evangelista.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Autumn Orm takes a pass from Emily Hinsman and hits a jumper with 3:37 to play to give St. Ignace a 30-26 lead against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett. (2) Nia Ahart of Liggett ties the game at 30-30 with 2:36 to go on a nifty runner. St. Ignace won the game, 34-30.
Lumen Christi Rises to Historic Occasion, Marks it with Milestone Victory
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2026
EAST LANSING – Jackson Lumen Christi girls basketball coach Scott Stine thought the moment got to his team early Saturday during the Division 3 Final at Breslin Center.
But he knew eventually the Titans would rise to meet it, and as the moment became even bigger, they did just that.
Lumen Christi pulled away from Pewamo-Westphalia in the fourth quarter, winning 52-36 in a game that was tied after the third.
“We went in at halftime, regrouped, and did what we needed to do,” Stine said. “They’ve been challenged all year, so being tied up going into the fourth quarter, it wasn’t anything new for us. As I told them coming into the game, when we get into that moment I have complete confidence in them, because they’ve been there and done that.”
While the Titans have been there and done that this season, they had never been here or done what they did Saturday, as the title was the first in program history. Prior to this season, Lumen Christi had never been to Breslin, or anywhere else, for a Semifinal.
“I think it means a lot to all of us. We’ve dreamed of this ever since we were freshmen,” Titans senior forward Paige Lefere said. “We haven’t had the best teams our freshman and sophomore year. Last year, we got pretty close (Quarterfinals), so being able to do it this year means a lot to us. We knew if we worked together, we could get here.”
While the final weekend of the season was new for the Titans, it wasn’t new for Stine, who coached Ypsilanti Arbor Prep to three Division 3 titles over the past four years.
When he arrived at Lumen, he said the team did not shy away from big goals, as making history as the first girls basketball team to win a title was the aim.
“I think from the beginning we knew this was going to be special,” Lumen Christi senior wing Lily Ganton said. “That’s credit to Coach Stine, Coach Jibri (Taylor), Coach (Don) Ward, Coach (Andy) Hawley, Coach Brenna (Wrozek). They’re special. They’re a special group of coaches, and they really push us to be our best. You don’t get that from a lot of teams. As a senior and a three-sport athlete, I’ve been on a lot of teams and this is something special. They really came in and it was all gas, no brakes.”
Sophomores Kenna Hunt and Lucy Wrozek led the way for Lumen Christi on Saturday, playing all but the final seconds when all five starters were pulled for a curtain call. Hunt had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Wrozek had 14 points.
They combined for 12 of the Titans’ 16 points during the fourth quarter, starting with a Hunt 3-pointer 18 seconds in that gave them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I thought it was pretty big, it really was just a momentum shift,” Hunt said. “We got momentum right off the start of the fourth quarter, which was awesome. I gotta give credit to my teammates (for) making me available for that type of shot.”
Pewamo-Westphalia coach Steve Eklund said he knew Hunt would find her points Saturday, but his Pirates were focused on not letting someone else join her. Unfortunately for them, Wrozek did.
“We knew one player wasn’t going to beat us,” Eklund said. “At halftime we went in incredibly happy; I think Wrozek had two or three points. None of their other players had really gotten involved offensively. I thought we were getting a little shaky offensively turning the ball over, but I thought, ‘We’re in a good spot.’ So, fourth quarter, Wrozek got it going a little bit. She’s a real nice complementary player to Hunt.”
The fourth quarter explosion went well beyond the sophomores for the Titans (25-3), who didn’t miss a shot (4-of-4) from the field in the final frame, and were 9-of-12 from the free-throw line, while the Pirates were 0-of-9 from the field.
Lumen Christi also had three steals and forced five Pirates turnovers.
“I think they stopped thinking so much and started playing like pitbulls,” Stine said. “The effort on the glass in the second half was much better. We just settled down a little bit. It’s hard to stop these two guards (Hunt and Wrozek) in man-to-man, so we were able to create some matchups even in the third quarter. We just stuck with it, and the kids made great plays.”
Senior Elly Bengel scored 12 points to lead Pewamo-Westphalia (26-3), which was trying to pull off the same double it did in 2019, when both the boys and girls won Finals titles in the sport. The PW boys won the Division 3 title a week ago.
“It’s been so amazing,” Bengel said. “This team is so special to me, and I’ll never take this for granted.”
PHOTOS (Top) Lumen Christi players meet on the floor in celebration of their Division 3 championship Saturday. (Middle) The Titans’ Lucy Wrozek (14) makes a move around a P-W defender. (Photos by Keionna Banks and Lilanie Karunanayake/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)