Team of the Month: Midland Dow Girls Basketball
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 13, 2022
Coming off an undefeated regular season and trip to the Division 1 Semifinals, it might seem strange to consider Midland Dow’s fast start this girls basketball season . The Chargers never stopped the steam-rolling that carried them to the Breslin Center last April.
But the start of this winter certainly has been different for Dow – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for December – and in a way that could pay off big again this March.
Because of COVID-19 precautions, teams weren’t allowed to play their first games last season until Feb. 8, and Dow ended up with 13 of their 17 games against Saginaw Valley League opponents as teams emphasized their league schedules during the abbreviated season.
A return to a full schedule for 2021-22 has allowed the Chargers to make a trip west to face reigning Division 1 champion Hudsonville, bookended by appearances in the Ice Breaker Classic at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (against Goodrich) and Best of Michigan Holiday Classic at Belleville (against Grass Lake) – events that annually feature many of the state’s elite teams.
They made the most of those renewed opportunities, having handed Hudsonville and Goodrich their only losses and also defeating Grass Lake – the reigning Division 3 champ. Dow is 8-0, and that’s even more impressive considering the Chargers’ first five opponents this season all have winning records and are a combined 27-13.
“We talked about it before the season started, that we had scheduled a pretty hard December on purpose,” Dow coach Kyle Theisen said. “Pretty much every game was on the road – we’ve only had three home games so far – and all of our tough games are road games.
“That was kinda our focus, getting battle-tested early and figuring out where our weaknesses might be. We definitely found the weaknesses, but we were able to do it with wins.”
Those against Hudsonville and Grass Lake, predictably, were close – Dow defeated the Eagles 56-51 and the Warriors 44-40. No other opponent has gotten within single digits of catching the Chargers.
Dow’s 2020-21 season ended with a 22-1 record and its only loss in the Division 1 Semifinals to Hudsonville, 49-37. So doing the math, the Chargers are a combined 30-1 over the last two seasons, and 51-4 over the last three. Total, Theisen has led the team to a 151-22 records now into his eighth season as varsity coach, with this winter’s success following a similar pattern that has made his team one of the state’s best over his tenure.
Long-range shooting is Dow’s name of the game. Ellie Taylor drained 242 3-pointers – ranking eighth in Michigan history – during her four-year varsity career ending in 2017. Molly Davis also is on that record book list having made 174 from 2016-19. Maizie Taylor – Ellie’s younger sister – is on the single-season 3-pointers list after connecting on 65 as a senior in 2018-19. Jada Garner was among the team’s sharpest shooters and its leading scorer last season, and like those three has moved on to play in college. Leading the way this season are seniors Abby Rey and Alexa Kolnitys, who both are averaging 19.8 points per game with plenty of sting from the arc – Rey has made 23 3-pointers at a 39-percent success rate, and Kolnitys has 21 connecting on 35 percent of her attempts.
As a team, Dow averages 8.5 3-pointers per game on 30-percent shooting success. The Chargers’ 66 points scored per game are among the best outputs of the Theisen era, and the team’s 17 3-pointers in Tuesday’s win over Lapeer were a school record and tied for sixth-most in state history made by one team in a single game.
The team doesn’t work much in practices on set plays, but spends an hour or more daily on shooting. Future Chargers learn early. Theisen and his former assistant (and former college coach) Bob Taylor (also Ellie and Maizie’s father) created TRUE Shooting camps about five years ago, and their sessions draw students as young as kindergarteners who “get to high school having a pretty good foundation of shooting.”
“It’s definitely a feedback loop of girls see the success of it, and girls come in and want to improve (on the team’s past records),” Theisen said. “It’s just that cycle of the young kids see it, and we preach at the youth camps that if you want to play college basketball, you’ve got to be able to shoot. And they definitely buy in. … It’s cool to see when you’ve been here long enough to have the next group, and the next group, and the next group, and everybody keeps coming in and doing well."
Past Teams of the Month, 2021-22
November: Reese girls volleyball - Read
October: Birmingham Groves boys tennis - Read
Muskegon-Area Girls Hoops Builds Prestige
December 7, 2016
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Artrese Williams noticed something new at her basketball games last winter:
Big crowds.
Williams, now a senior leader and defensive stopper for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team, was blown away by the student sections, noise and just overall increased interest in girls basketball last season as the evenly-matched trio of Reeths-Puffer, Muskegon High and Muskegon Mona Shores battled for supremacy in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green.
“I love it when there’s a big crowd and the students are getting crazy,” said Williams. “That’s all the motivation I need.”
The Meijer Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Classic took notice of the growing buzz surrounding the girls games along the lakeshore – driven by a spike in talent, particularly at the area’s larger schools – and this year for the first time will feature a girls varsity opening game at its one-day, three-game event Dec. 28 at Reeths-Puffer High School.
Reeths-Puffer will tip off at 5:30 p.m. against perennial power Muskegon Oakridge in a showcase that has become a Muskegon-area tradition over Christmas break. The event is in its 15th year.
“Our committee has noticed much more interest in girls hoops, no question about it,” said Mack, a longtime boys and girls basketball coach at Mona Shores, who has served as the Hall of Fame Classic director since its inception in 2002. “They have earned the right to be part of this event.”
Mack expects an outstanding girls game leading into a clash of Top 10 boys teams in Grand Rapids Christian and Holland West Ottawa, followed by the traditional boys finale of Muskegon against East Kentwood.
Williams can’t wait to get the crowd going as a senior on her home floor, where she leads a veteran team that includes fellow seniors Elysia Mattos (guard) and 6-foot twin towers Brooke Larabee and Delaney Bolles.
As juniors, those four helped the Rockets knock off Muskegon and Miss Basketball runner-up Mardrekia Cook (now at Michigan State) during the regular season but came up just short in three tough losses to OK Green champion Mona Shores, including a season-ending 47-38 defeat in the Class A District title game. Reeths-Puffer finished the season 15-6.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone is really talking about us this year, but we have experience and I think our conditioning has been a lot better, plus we have the motivation,” said Williams, a speedy, 5-4 guard whose older sister Camaryia Williams and cousin Kalisa Williams also were standout players for the Rockets and now play at Muskegon Community College.
Mona Shores is the league favorite again with the return of Miss Basketball candidate Jordan Walker and junior Alyza Winston, while Muskegon also boasts a deep, experienced team. The sleeper along the lakeshore could be the O-K Red’s Grand Haven, which is only four years removed from back-to-back Class A championships.
“There’s just a really special group of girls players in the Muskegon area right now,” said ninth-year Reeths-Puffer coach Brandon Barry. “I think it’s great that was recognized.”
Reeths-Puffer’s matchup with Oakridge, which boasts a stellar backcourt in senior sharpshooter Hannah Reinhold and sophomore point guard Sophia Wiard, has special meaning for the veteran coach. Barry has taught at Oakridge since 1989 and in July was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame after his 25th year as the Oakridge baseball coach.
“I’ll cheer for them every other night,” Barry said of the Eagles, who have won 50 consecutive games in the West Michigan Conference under coach Terry DeJonge. “We have had some great games with them the past few years, and this should be another one.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Coach Brandon Barry and his Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team get ready for introductions before an O-K Black conference game last year at Muskegon High School. (Middle) Artrese Williams (5) is one of four senior starters for the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team, which will play Muskegon Oakridge on Dec. 28 in the opening game of the 15th annual Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Classic at Reeths-Puffer. (Photos by Tim Reilly.)