St Francis Stands Tall in Run to 1st Final
March 17, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Regardless of the winner, a team from Thursday’s first Class C Semifinal was going to finish this weekend playing in an MHSAA championship game for the first time.
And Traverse City St. Francis – especially 6-foot-4 junior Juliana Phillips – was able to reach a little higher for that opportunity during the opener at the Breslin Center.
The Gladiators will play on the season’s final day for the first time thanks to a 53-40 win over Niles Brandywine, which was making its first Semifinal appearance since 2010 and also was seeking its first title game berth.
Phillips stood six inches taller than anyone on Brandywine’s roster, and it showed in her 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots – as did her athleticism, which helped her to four steals and allowed her to alter a number of other shots she didn’t reach.
“Both of our teams were struggling a little bit from the outside, so we just played into our strengths,” Phillips said. “They didn’t have a lot of height on their team, so we tried to play a little high-low and in-and-out, and it just started going for us.”
A lot has gone well this season for the No. 3 Gladiators (26-1), who have won 24 straight and will next face top-ranked Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Phillips has been St. Francis’ second-leading scorer at 12 points per game, but took on more of the offense Thursday as leading scorer Annie Lyman played through an illness and only a week after spraining both ankles, one each in successive games.
Despite struggles shooting from outside, Lyman still finished with seven points and six rebounds. Phillips scored her first points two minutes into the game and put up nine during the first half as the Gladiators took a 22-18 lead into the break. She made 7 of 12 attempts for the game.
Phillips’ impact was equally significant on the defensive end. Brandywine made only 32 percent of its shots during the first half and 26 percent for the game – partly because the Bobcats didn’t convert as usual on 3-point shots, but also because Phillips made for an obstacle if they tried to get to the basket.
“She’s obviously a tremendous shot-blocker, and after you get a couple (blocks) that does get into your mind,” St. Francis coach Keith Haske said. “I’m guessing they haven’t seen a 6-4 girl that’s athletic like she is, all year, so it’s tough. And she does such a great job of blocking without fouling; that’s just a great gift that she has.
Brandywine this season made 212 3-pointers – third-most in one season in MHSAA history. But they connected on only 3 of 21 tries in the Semifinal, and even three or four more makes could’ve shifted the game dramatically.
Senior forward Makenna Hartline did make eight of her 17 shots from the floor to lead Brandywine (24-3) with 17 points, and she also grabbed eight rebounds. Senior guard Emily Erwin added 11 points.
“We knew we’d have to shoot the 3 today. When (they) have a 6-4 and 6-1 post player with that kind of size, and with our size, you have to be able to knock them down from the perimeter,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “I think the effort was there. We had more offensive rebounds, more shot attempts; we did a lot of little things we had to do to win the game. (But) we need to shoot the basketball better. We were right there going into the fourth; it just didn’t work out.”
Sophomore Sarah Chouinard added 13 points and seven rebounds for St. Francis, and 6-1 senior center Lauren McDonnell had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Gladiators led by six heading into the final period before breaking away on a final 16-9 run.
Haske has won 643 games and brought seven teams to Breslin over 32 seasons as a coach, and his Charlevoix girls finished Class C runner-up in 2004 and were one of five teams he’s taken to an MHSAA championship game.
Already the St. Francis boys coach, Haske added the girls varsity this winter and had a feeling early on he might be with them for a long run.
“This kinda fits our year. We won a state championship in cross country, the boys were semifinalists in football, and if you look at our sports right now we’ve got great athletes,” Haske said. “I told the kids at the first assembly this year that this was the year of St. Francis, just because of the collection of people we have. And I think this just goes to that. For whatever reason, this seems to be our year.
“We put a banner up in the gym if you make it to a state final game, so they were excited about that. They’ll live up on our ceiling of our gym forever, which is pretty cool.”
Brandywine will graduate a memorable seven-player senior class that has been part of a 91-7 run over the last four seasons.
“That says enough, 91 wins. Pretty special,” Hood said. “We’ve been (here) seven years, and I think we’re at 162 wins. So we have a lot of girls coming, but yeah, we lose a lot.
“When you look at our program, we’ve got a lot of kids that take pride in what we do. And we’ll be back.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Francis’ Juliana Phillips celebrates Thursday’s Class C Semifinal win. (Middle) Brandywine's Emily Erwin shoots a free throw; she finished with 11 points.
Renaissance Rises Again in Detroit PSL
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
February 16, 2017
DETROIT – Detroit Renaissance has had one of the top girls basketball programs in the Detroit Public School League for some time.
The Phoenix reached an MHSAA Final (Class B) for the first time in 1996. In 2005, Renaissance won its only title (also in Class B) with Diane Jones serving as head coach and current head coach Kiwan Ward a member of her staff. Renaissance reached the Class A Final in 2010 and 2011, also with Ward as an assistant coach.
The Phoenix are 14-3 this winter, having lost to Detroit Martin Luther King in a PSL semifinal 56-47 on Feb. 8. They are enjoying another successful season even after graduating one of the top players in the state in 2015-16, now-Penn State freshman Siyeh Frazier, and despite the challenges of a changing landscape in PSL girls hoops.
While Ward believes the distance between the PSL’s most and least successful programs has grown in recent years, Renaissance remains stable. In her sixth season as head coach, Ward has 11 varsity players and continues to field a competitive junior varsity while others in the league are having a tough time doing the same.
“We have good chemistry,” senior Victoria Wright said of this year’s team. “It’s our defense that helps us win. The bond we have on and off the court is special. We always have a good time together.”
All eight of the Phoenix's league wins this winter were by double figures, and in six of those wins they held opponents to 25 or fewer points.
Renaissance’s only other losses this season were twice to Detroit Mumford, which will play King for the PSL title Saturday. (Renaissance and Mumford both finished 8-2 in league play to tie for first in the PSL West Division 1, but Mumford because of its sweep of the Phoenix earned the league title and a top seed in the PSL Big D Tournament.)
Despite graduating Frazier, the Phoenix returned three starters from last season’s 14-5 team and are more balanced this winter. They are led by seniors Wright and Nina Reynolds; Wright is averaging 14 points and eight rebounds per game, and Reynolds is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds.
In addition to its PSL success, Renaissance also owns a 15-point win from December over Southfield Arts & Technology, the leader in the Oakland Activities Association Red and another expected Class A contender.
A game of that caliber has helped the Phoenix as the degree of parity in girls basketball in the PSL has shifted of late, creating challenges for some of the strongest programs.
It’s the drop-off in many others that has hurt teams like Renaissance, Detroit Cass Tech, Detroit King and Detroit Mumford that remain the most competitive. There are just four PSL programs that sponsor a junior varsity, which leads to scheduling difficulties, as Ward has seen players leave for schools outside the city.
Ward said she doesn’t blame parents for sending their children to other Wayne County schools with open enrollment. Ward said uncertainty within the Detroit Public Schools as to which schools will remain open and which will close has parents on edge.
It’s reported that as many as 24 schools in DPS will close this year. Rumors abound which schools will close, but at this time they are just that: rumors.
“Look at it from a broader point of view,” Ward said. “The talent is watered down (in the PSL). I remember when I (played) at Detroit Benedictine. We looked forward to playing PSL teams. Every game was competitive. No disrespect to anyone, but it’s hard for the girls to get geeked-up when you beat someone 74-11.”
That was the score when Renaissance won in the first round of the PSL playoffs, defeating a former league power now in the midst of a tough run.
It’s different for the boys, where competition remains high. Sure, there aren’t powerhouse teams like Detroit Southwestern and Detroit Cooley of the late 1980s and early 1990s (although Detroit Western and Henry Ford both won their first MHSAA boys titles over the last two seasons), but there aren’t nearly the number of one-sided games in league play as there are for the girls.
“There are eight to 10 teams on the boys side that are good,” Ward said. “With Cass Tech being down this year, we have like three good teams.”
Wright said she hopes to continue playing at the next level, possibly at Coastal Carolina. She said playing teams like King, Mumford and Southfield Arts & Technology brings out the best in her and her teammates.
Last season King defeated Renaissance in the PSL final, 68-66, to win its fifth consecutive league title.
“When you win by so much, it’s tough to play those games,” she said. “The competitive nature just isn’t there. It’s not that we’re not trying hard.
"It makes a big difference when you play those tougher teams."
Still, the top of the PSL remains strong – Renaissance included. King is expected to contend for its sixth Class A title under coach William Winfield and after finishing runner-up a year ago. Mumford also could make noise again in Class B.
Ward isn’t concerned about her program. It’s the others she’s worried about.
The Phoenix will finish their regular season next week against Detroit Country Day and Romulus before starting District play.
“The future in the PSL is uncertain,” Ward said. “For us, we’ll continue to get better.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Renaissance starters are introduced during a game this season. (Middle) Nina Reynolds (left) and Victoria Wright. (Below) The Phoenix set up their defense. (Photos courtesy of the Detroit Renaissance girls basketball program.)