Team of the Month: West Bloomfield Girls Basketball
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 14, 2022
One of the compelling moments of this season’s Girls Basketball Finals at Michigan State’s Breslin Center came just after the final buzzer of the Division 1 championship game.
As his players rushed each other to celebrate midcourt, West Bloomfield coach Darrin McAllister first leaned forward, hands just above his knees, before moving down into a crouch, head dipped to his chest, obviously breaking down a bit in joy at what his Lakers had just completed.
McCallister had played college football and helped Wayne State’s women’s basketball program to multiple NCAA Sweet 16 appearances as an assistant coach. But what the Lakers did last month – finish reeling off 25 straight wins with their first MHSAA Finals girls basketball championship – made his “Mount Rushmore,” if not much more.
“This is probably at the top,” he said this week, after a month of the experience settling in. “Because I knew the sacrifices that these players made, I knew the sacrifices that the coaches and the parents made, and then for (our players) to speak it into existence that they want to win a state championship, it’s great.”
It was not as easy as the Lakers – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for March – frequently made it appear.
Yes, West Bloomfield’s players said on their first day of practice Nov. 12 that they planned on winning the Division 1 championship. And that seemed like a logical goal for a team that eventually will send at least four players to Division I college programs and had won a league title and finished 10-3 during the COVID-interrupted 2020-21 season.
But the Lakers also entered the preseason having graduated five players from that team and with a young but talented lineup needing to learn how to be cohesive and efficient in their roles. Add in that McAllister got a late start, taking over the program after all of the summer training and majority of preseason prep were done.
West Bloomfield lost its season opener 59-46 to Dexter (which would go on to finish 19-3). But a week later, the Lakers started to show what they could do in coming back from a 19-point deficit to defeat Illinois power Bolingbrook 48-47.
Just before the midpoint of the regular season, McAllister could see things taking shape.
“We had talented players, but they were young. So we kinda started it all over and identified our identity,” he said. “Every had to establish their roles and buy into their roles, so it wasn’t easy. I think for me, it makes me more appreciative and makes me enjoy this experience more than anything else.”
Along the way, West Bloomfield repeated as Oakland Activities Association Red champion. Two weeks before the start of the playoffs, the Lakers also accomplished what for a few seasons had seemed unthinkable to most – hand Detroit Edison a 65-62 loss, the Pioneers’ first to an in-state opponent since 2017-18 and after Edison had defeated West Bloomfield by nine and 28 points the season before.
Perhaps the least surprised were the Lakers, who had started believing they could defeat Edison after the Bolingbrook win. They also believed they could compete with every other team as well – and they would continue impressing with a championship run that included wins over Bloomfield Hills Marian (15-7), Farmington Hills Mercy (18-5), Grosse Pointe North (18-6), Troy (13-12), Rockford (23-3) in the Semifinal and Hartland (25-2) in the championship game.
The pair of wins at Breslin showed what West Bloomfield has transformed into this winter. In defeating the Rams 66-63, the Lakers received double-digit scoring from four players – led by sophomore twins Indya Davis with 24 points and Summer Davis with 16 and six assists – with junior Sydney Hendrix posting a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds and guard Myonna Hooper setting the high-energy tone along with scoring 14 points. At the same time, senior center Zaneiya Batiste didn’t score and shot only twice – but grabbed nine rebounds, nearly the difference in the Lakers’ rebounding edge.
West Bloomfield defeated Hartland 51-42 with Indya Davis and Hendrix both posting double doubles, Summer Davis again dishing six assists, Hooper again energetically chipping in and Batiste again helping out big on the boards. In both games, sophomores Destiny Washington and Kendall Hendrix came off the bench to provide valuable minutes.
“March was the month everything came together,” McAllister said. “At the end of the (championship) game, I shed tears because it was emotional seeing it come together.”
West Bloomfield felt like it was just trying to catch up much of the season due to McAllister’s taking over late. But now, with five of this season’s top seven players coming back next year, it also feels like the Lakers are just getting started.
“Now I’m excited and looking forward to our offseason,” McCallister said. “I can’t wait to get the players in June and start getting workouts in and going to team camps, because I know that’s only going to make us better for the upcoming season.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2021-22
February: Cadillac girls skiing - Read
January: Hartland hockey - Read
December: Midland Dow girls basketball - Read
November: Reese girls volleyball - Read
October: Birmingham Groves boys tennis - Read
Future Teammates Crow, Kamin to Face Off 1 Last Time
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 22, 2021
GLADSTONE — During the past four years, Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin and Gladstone’s Megan Crow have been teammates on the basketball court – except for high school games.
The senior standouts have played on the same travel team since eighth grade and will be teammates at Grand Valley State University next season.
They will be on opposing teams one more time tonight when Escanaba visits Gladstone for a Division 2 District opener at 7 p.m.
“I’d be very happy with that,” Crow said of facing off against Kamin, after Gladstone’s recent 57-40 loss to the Eskymos. “This would be our last time playing against each other. I think it’d be kind of fun.”
This will be the third meeting between the teams this season. The Eskymos also won 64-63 at home Feb. 15.
“When we’re shooting free throws, we sometimes throw a little jab in there,” said Kamin. “We have fun, although we get pretty intense when we have to. Once Meg gets the ball inside, there’s no stopping her. I’m not one who should be guarding a post player, but I have to do it. I try to keep the ball from getting to her. This will be the last time we play as opponents, which will be a relief because we won't have to play against each other anymore.”
Crow is aware of the challenges Kamin provides for opposing teams.
"I don’t guard Nicole, but once she gets past the free throw line, you need help right away,” she said. “She’s hard to defend. Her penetration makes it very challenging.”
Both joined the 1,000-point club recently. Kamin scored her 1,000th career point in this season’s first meeting between the teams, and Crow reached a thousand in a 59-36 triumph over Manistique at home March 11.
Kamin usually plays guard, but was the team's center in a 60-47 victory at Bark River-Harris on Friday. She averages 24 points and nine rebounds a game and figures to be more of a forward at Grand Valley.
Crow recorded a triple-double (16 points, 18 rebounds and 12 blocked shots) in the Braves' 43-24 regular season-ending victory at Marquette on Wednesday.
She expects to be a post player for the Lakers.
"That will be very exciting," said Crow. "Nicole makes good passes, and I make good kick-outs. Playing at the post would give me more freedom. I would be able to post up more and drive to the basket."
Kamin, like Crow, knows she has some work to do prior to her collegiate career.
"I'm more of a driver," she said. "I need to work on my shooting a little."
Kamin scored 21 points in Thursday's 71-27 rout of Kingsford, then often distributed the ball and hit 14 at BR-H.
Esky finished its regular season at 10-4 and Gladstone is 8-5 going into the postseason.
Both like to go to the Northern Lights YMCA in Escanaba and play ball with other girls.
"I also like to work out at home and go to the shooting range in my spare time," said Crow.
Kamin played on two Division 2 championship softball teams at Escanaba before last season was cancelled due to COVID-19. She was a back-up pitcher to current University of Wisconsin hurler Gabi Salo, but figures to play first base for the Eskymos this spring.
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gladstone’s Megan Crow and Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin both have been standouts in the Great Northern Conference and will be teammates at the collegiate level. (Middle) Kamin and Crow face off last season. (Photos courtesy of the Escanaba Daily Press.)