Breslin Bound: Girls Report Week 1
December 9, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This Michigan high school girls basketball season will be played out over 16 weeks, concluding with MHSAA Finals on March 21 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
A number of teams with their eyes fixed on that destination didn’t wait long during the first week to see how they might match up with other contenders this winter.
Below is our first “Breslin Bound” report of the girls season, powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. Those results have become much more vital this winter – for the first time, there will be limited seeding of the top two teams at the District level based on their Michigan Power Rating (MPR). Check out how every team in the state ranks, and send corrections or scores we’re missing to [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. East Lansing 40, Pewamo-Westphalia 27 – Both teams have title aspirations again this winter, East Lansing in Division 1 and P-W looking to repeat in Division 3, and are led by multiple future college hoops talents.
2. Dearborn Heights Crestwood 44, Detroit Country Day 43 (OT) – Any win over always-successful Country Day is going to make a statement, and Crestwood’s was loud as it seeks to build off last year’s run to the Regional Finals.
3. Pewamo-Westphalia 43, Southfield Arts & Technology 31 – The Pirates bounced back from the East Lansing loss to get past last season’s Division 1 runner-up A&T at the Arbor Prep Ice Breaker Challenge.
4. Hartland 61, Adrian Lenawee Christian 40 – The Cougars’ Bree Salenbien is one of the state’s top players no matter the division, so Hartland’s big win over the reigning Division 4 champions, also at Arbor Prep, is a great sign for the Division 1 Eagles.
5. Flint Carman-Ainsworth 57, Flint Kearsley 51 – We needed just a week to see the Flint area is loaded in girls basketball again this winter; Carman-Ainsworth went on to beat Flushing to end the week, while Kearsley downed reigning Class C runner-up Hamady by 11.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Dexter (2-0) The teams the Dreadnaughts beat last week – Ann Arbor Skyline and Manchester – were also among those they defeated last season in finishing 9-11. But after winning those games by a combined 13 points in 2018-19, Dexter opened by downing Skyline by 41 and followed by defeating Manchester by 50.
Eastpointe (3-0) Last season’s 7-14 finish included six losses by five points or fewer and three determined by just a basket. The Shamrocks are nearly halfway to equaling their 2018-19 win total after a week, with Friday’s 39-31 defeat of Roseville (15-6 last season) the most impressive of the opening run.
DIVISION 2
Bay City John Glenn (2-0) The Bobcats are no strangers to the mix of the best in the Saginaw/Bay City/Flint/Midland area. And they’re off to another solid start opening with a 52-33 win over Saginaw Swan Valley and 52-49 victory over Essexville Garber, the latter a league champion last winter.
Chelsea (2-0) The Bulldogs are rolling again coming off last season’s 24-2 finish and trip to the Division 2 Quarterfinals. Like last year, they opened with wins over Marshall and Dearborn Divine Child – the former by 20 after winning by two a year ago, and the latter on a game-winning basket during the final seconds.
DIVISION 3
Grass Lake (2-0) The Warriors’ first game coming off last winter’s 21-2 finish was against Division 1 Ann Arbor Pioneer, a 19-game winner last season – and Grass Lake pulled away 60-54. A tough schedule also sees Carman-Ainsworth, Michigan Center and Pewamo-Westphalia coming up over the next few weeks.
Hart (2-0) The Pirates – a solid 13-11 a year ago – tuned up with a big win over Pentwater before handing eight-time reigning West Michigan Conference champion Muskegon Oakridge a 56-34 defeat on Friday. Oakridge downed Hart by 17 and 38 in their meetings last season.
DIVISION 4
L'Anse (2-0) The Purple Hornets closed last regular season on a 4-1 run and finished 11-10, but the end had to sting some as they fell 36-30 in a District opener to a Chassell team they had beaten by 15 the week before. L’Anse avenged that defeat to open this winter, 48-34, and added a 39-point win over Lake Linden-Hubbell.
Marion (2-0) A rough start turned into a 6-13 finish last season for the Eagles. But a one-point win over Grand Traverse Academy and 25-pointer against Bear Lake last week put them on a better track. The latter avenged a 14-point loss last winter as Bear Lake went on to win the West Michigan D League title.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – East Lansing (1-0) at Williamston (2-0) – East Lansing won last season’s meeting 59-55, and the Hornets join the Trojans with big-time hopes again this winter.
Thursday – Ann Arbor Huron (2-0) at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (3-0) – These annual powers had big first weeks again, both winning all of their games by double digits over notable opponents.
Friday – Wayne Memorial (0-0) at Detroit Renaissance (1-0) at Detroit Edison – The Best of Michigan Classic is loaded with big-time matchups, and this one opens the event with Wayne coming off last season’s trip to the Division 1 Semifinals and Renaissance a league co-champ in 2018-19.
Saturday – Adrian Lenawee Christian (1-1) vs. Kalamazoo Central (1-1) at Belleville – This is another of the most intriguing matchups from the Best of Michigan Classic, matching up the reigning Division 4 champ with a Division 1 team looking to rise.
Saturday – Detroit Renaissance (1-0) vs. East Kentwood (2-0) at Belleville – Renaissance must come back immediately after facing Wayne to take on another possible Division 1 contender in the Falcons.
Second Half’s weekly “Breslin Bound” reports are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO: Byron opened last week with an impressive 61-43 win on the road at Goodrich. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)
Coach Leads with Same Drive, New Perspective
February 20, 2019
By Steve Vedder
Special for Second Half
Colleen Nagel can only shake her head when one of her former Grand Rapids Catholic Central basketball players offers an observation after dropping by a Cougars practice.
Now in her 30th year of coaching, and first season of her second stint at Catholic Central, the former Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate admits to the subtle changes that three decades on the bench have brought.
Those changes don't include the lessening of competitive fires which still burn bright or the importance of the relationships with the players or teaching of the game.
But make no mistake, there are differences – changes that have only come through self-reflection. Known as one of the most fiery coaches in Grand Rapids, Nagel still has high expectations for her teams. But time, a shuffling of personal priorities and the wisdom of age has changed Nagel, who surpassed the career 360-win total last week.
"I'll have some of my former players stop by, and they say I'm nicer," Nagel laughs. "You get older and slow down, and it's a different kind of time now. I've always said if you can't evolve with time, you need to get out."
A case in point came a couple weeks ago when the Cougars, on the verge of taking charge of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue championship race, suffered a crushing one-point loss to Coopersville after inexplicably falling behind by 23 points at the half. The team also dropped a one-point decision to West Catholic after hammering the Falcons by 30 in the teams' first meeting.
Nagel said her reaction to those losses differs from how she would have handled them during her first seven-year coaching stint at Catholic Central. During that tenure, the Cougars went 167-19, including notching arguably the greatest win in Grand Rapids girls basketball history when the Cougars stunned then 10-time (now 13-time) MHSAA Finals champion Detroit Country Day 51-43 in the 2010 Class B championship game.
Instead of driving her teams even harder after such losses, Nagel said she has the wisdom to use them as a teaching tool.
It's all about age and reflection, she said. The combination of a second marriage, a new job outside basketball, the responsibility and joy of coaching her daughter, the experience of three years coaching at Ferris State University and the recognition that teenage athletes and their parents have changed over the years have caused Nagel to take a hard second look at how she coaches.
Nagel said her conclusions may have left her a better coach, but definitely a person who finds herself examining the big picture over her own immediate surroundings.
Which isn't to say the drive to win has passed her by. What she will say is that 30 years after her first bench position as West Catholic's freshmen coach in 1989, the game remains as fun as ever.
"Kids change, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all," she said. "I probably don't yell in practice and in the games like I used to. But I've always said you have to evaluate yourself, and I'm absolutely still having fun."
While winning still ranks near the top of her priorities, Nagel said what drives her now – both on the court and off – is the quest for balance. While still possessing a love of coaching, Nagel said family and professional happiness off the court is what she seeks. As for winning, that candle still burns – but it's no longer consuming.
"I will never think winning isn't important. I'll always think my team needs to be in it until the end," she said. "But you can be consumed with things when you should be trying to find a balance in your life. (College) was 24/7 for me, and because of that I began to reflect and I realized life should be a balance. My priority should be my family."
That's probably the No. 1 lesson that came out of coaching three years at Ferris State after leaving Catholic Central in 2012.
"You're always thinking the grass might be greener," Nagel said of making that move.
What she found was the grass wasn't greener. Nagel said the endless fundraising, the long recruiting trail and the year-round duties of a college coach wound up being more than she wanted.
Nagel was content to be out of the game while watching her daughter, Katie, play on the Catholic Central varsity as a freshman a year ago. But when then-coach Trevor Hinshaw decided to devote more time to his family and athletic director duties after going 120-28 in the six seasons after replacing Nagel, she saw an opportunity to return to a familiar post.
She had turned down the job once when she didn't want people thinking Katie had made varsity as a freshman because her mother was the coach. But Nagel couldn't pass on the opportunity when Hinshaw asked again.
"She's such a great competitor, coach and teacher," Hinshaw said of Nagel, who as a member of the search committee recommended Hinshaw for the job after leaving for Ferris State. "The relationship she builds with players is one of the keys why her teams excel on the court. It's the combination of a lot of things which make her a good coach."
Because she recognizes the growth in herself over the last few years, Nagel said she enjoys coaching as much as ever, particularly in the MHSAA Tournament. In addition to the win over Country Day in 2010, Catholic Central had a pair of Class B runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2012. Her 2002 East Grand Rapids team also finished second.
This season’s team is 11-5 overall and tied for first in the O-K Blue, with a chance at another postseason run when Districts begin in two weeks.
"It's the backbone of everything I coach for," she said of the postseason. "I want my teams to be as ready for the tournament like I always did.
"But you can drive yourself crazy in saying, 'This is what we should be doing. How can I create what we need to do?' You evolve with time. I'm not saying I still won't yell at referees or whomever. But like a parent, you should become smarter.
"You need to see that times change. There's still a right way to play – you hustle, have a good attitude and if you knock someone down you pick them up. But you evolve."
PHOTOS: (Top) Colleen Nagel returned to coaching Grand Rapids Catholic Central this season, including her sophomore daughter Katie Tate. (Middle) Nagel guides her team during the 2012 Class B Final. (Top photo courtesy of the Nagel family.)