Calumet Claims 1st MHSAA Hoops Crown

March 21, 2015

By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half 

EAST LANSING — The chant "U.P. power" isn't just a catchy phrase that rocks arenas whenever a school from the Upper Peninsula reaches the final round of an MHSAA tournament.

To the Calumet girls' basketball team, it had real meaning on Saturday.

The Copper Kings huddled in their hotel around a television to watch the 10 a.m. Class D Final in which St. Ignace from just north of the Mackinac Bridge rallied from a 20-point third-quarter deficit to beat Pittsford in overtime.

One U.P. team brought home a championship and another was inspired to do the same six hours later.

Unranked Calumet won its first MHSAA girls basketball championship, shaking off an early nine-point deficit to beat fifth-ranked Flint Hamady, 57-49, in the Class C Final on Saturday at the Breslin Center.

Hamady had leads of 17-8 and 19-11 during the first two minutes of the second quarter before Calumet got back in the game on the strength of its 3-point shooting. It wasn't as epic a comeback as St. Ignace's record-setting performance, but the game was on the verge of getting away from the Copper Kings against a talented Hamady team that has won three MHSAA titles.

"We were able to sit in our hotel room this morning and enjoy that St. Ignace game," first-year Calumet coach Jeff Twardzik said. "Hat's off to them and congratulations. They helped us mentally, like big-time. When they went down, we thought, 'Oh, no. This is a U.P. team and we're behind them.' When they chipped away at that and came back and showed how gritty they were, they gave us a lot coming into this game. We can do this. We talked to these kids about the ups and downs of a basketball game and we have to stay consistent."

Calumet's victory gave the U.P. two MHSAA girls basketball champions for the first time in the 42-season history of the tournament. It's happened only four times in boys basketball, the last in 1957 when Negaunee and Chassell won titles.

The initial inspiration for this unlikely championship came many years earlier, when six of Calumet's seniors played on a third-grade team coached by Twardzik.

"Ever since third grade, he said this group would win a state championship this year," said senior guard Alexis Rowe, whose 3-point shooting barrage in the second quarter settled down the Copper Kings.

It no doubt made the 500-mile drive home much sweeter for the Copper Kings, who left town at 9 a.m. Monday to play a Quarterfinal game on Tuesday in Petoskey. They practiced in Gaylord on Wednesday before heading to East Lansing that night to play the next day at Michigan State.

"I've been through this experience before in volleyball," said 5-foot-10 Calumet senior Ellen Twardzik, the daughter of the head coach. "You pack for a week before the Quarterfinals and hope to make it to the Finals. We've lost three years in a row in the Quarterfinals. You have to expect the best. You pack all your gear and all your faith."

All-stater Jalisha Terry had 12 of Hamady's first 17 points, as the Hawks got out to a 17-8 lead with 7:04 left in the second quarter. Calumet responded by going 5 for 9 from 3-point range the rest of the quarter, with Rowe hitting three shots from beyond the arc.

Rowe finished with a season-high 22 points, going 4 for 7 on 3-pointers. She came in averaging 1.8 3-pointers a game.

"I know I'm not a 3-point shooter," Rowe said. "I'm more of an inside shooter. When I feel like I'm going, I know I'm going."

An 8-0 run gave Calumet its first lead at 24-23 late in the first half. After four straight Hamady points, a 3-pointer by Rowe with two seconds left in the second quarter created a 27-27 halftime tie.

Hamady's last lead came with 2:50 left in the third quarter when a 3-point play by Terry put the Hawks ahead, 34-33. Calumet led 37-36 going into the fourth quarter, then opened up some breathing room by starting the final period with a 9-0 run. Two free throws by Leah Kiilunen with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter gave Calumet its biggest lead at 46-36.

Hamady was able to score off turnovers to get back in the game, cutting the Copper Kings' advantage to 47-44 on two free throws by Sasha Penn with 1:52 remaining.

Calumet came up with two huge rebounds off of its own missed free throws, the first by Terilynne Budreau after Abby Bjorn went 1 for 2 from the line and the next by Twardzik after Clara Loukus went 1 for 2. Calumet outrebounded Hamady, 42-29.

"It was more of a mentality that I'm going to get that and you're not going to stop me," said Twardzik, who had eight of her 11 rebounds on the offensive glass.

A 3-pointer by Deajah Cofield got Hamady within 55-49 with 53 seconds left, but the Hawks didn't score again.

"It's still been a good season," Hamady coach Keith Smith said. "We would've still loved to have finished on top. The girls have nothing to be ashamed of."

Terry, a junior guard, finished with 26 points.

"I'm taking each loss as a lesson to be learned," she said.

Before this season, Calumet had won only one Regional championship, losing 57-43 to Mount Pleasant in the 1977 Class B Quarterfinals.

"It's just going to breed more success," said coach Twardzik, who led the junior varsity team before this season. "These kids, even before we did this, the enthusiasm they are giving back to our community. In the third through sixth grades in the elementary program, we have 81 young ladies coming out from a small town. It has everything to do with these guys. They give up every Saturday for these young women to come in and learn basketball and have fun along the way. It's going to mean a ton. I hope we can keep this ball rolling."

Calumet finished 24-2, its two losses coming to rival Houghton, which was a Class B Regional finalist.

Hamady finished 26-2. 

Click for the full box score and video from the postgame press conference

PHOTOS: (Top) Calumet coach Jeff Twardzik holds the MHSAA championship trophy up to his players Saturday. (Middle) Calumet’s Alexis Rowe works to get past Hamady’s Jalisha Terry.

Edison Avenges Loss, Locks Up Repeat

March 17, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

GRAND RAPIDS – Detroit Edison’s girls basketball team had one loose end left to tie this weekend.

By midway through the third quarter Saturday, everything the Pioneers had hoped to accomplish was secured – including their second straight Class C championship.

Edison avenged its lone loss of the season with a 51-34 victory over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at Van Noord Arena. The Gators had won their regular-season meeting 54-49 on Jan. 11.

And early in the rematch, they looked to be Edison’s nemesis again. Arbor Prep jumped out to an eight-point lead barely five minutes into the game. But the Pioneers responded with a 16-7 run to take the lead for good midway through the second quarter.

“The first quarter rattled us a little bit. But we overcame many other games when we were down,” Edison junior Rickea Jackson said. “When we hold each other accountable for things, we can get on each other, and we trust one another. So it was easier for us to get back in the game.”

And that served as proof of the biggest difference in this year’s team from the one that claimed the school’s first MHSAA title in any sport a year ago.

This season’s Pioneers have been considered by many the best team in the state, regardless of Class, thanks to a run through a number of contenders in Class A and B including an overtime 57-55 win over Saginaw Heritage on Feb. 20. Heritage won the Class A title earlier Saturday.

But while Edison (24-1) has won 33 of its last 34 games going back to last season, that one defeat still gnawed away.

“We knew in the back of our heads that Arbor Prep was the only team we’d lost to this year,” Pioneers coach Monique Brown said. “I think that was sitting with us when we first started, so (there was) a lot of anxiety when we started.

“Last year, we got off to that start against a Country Day or Arbor Prep, we weren’t able to overcome that. (Their) lead of seven points, eight points would turn into 15 by the end of the game. So I think our maturity and our tough schedule we had this year had prepared us for this moment today.”

Brown had noticed from film of the first matchup that her team, while applying some effective pressure, didn’t finish it off with points off turnovers.

The Pioneers had 28 points off Arbor Prep’s 20 turnovers Saturday. They also outrebounded the Gators 46-39 and held them to 13 percent shooting from the floor over the final three quarters. Jackson had six points and sophomore guard Shaulana Wagner had four off the bench during the run to the lead. Edison sophomore Gabrielle Elliott, meanwhile, scored 16 of her game-high 20 points during the second half.

“We didn’t have the effort to finish the plays in the first half to keep us in the lead,” Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine said. “The second half got very physical. … We really didn’t have our rhythm the whole game, and it showed. They’re regarded as the best team in the state, and you’ve gotta play a great game to beat them. We weren’t perfect today.”

Elliott made 8 of 12 shots from the floor. Jackson followed her scoring with 16 points to go with 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Wagner, a starter last season and significant sub in both games this weekend, added six points, eight rebounds and five steals. Freshman guard Damiya Hagemann had nine points and five assists.

Arbor Prep senior Lasha Petree, a Miss Basketball finalist this season, finished with 19 points, six rebounds and five blocks. None of her teammates scored more than four, however, as the 34 points total were their season low.

This was Arbor Prep’s third straight championship game appearance. The Gators (21-6) won Class C in 2016, then finished runner-up in Class B a year ago.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Edison’s Gabrielle Elliott works to get past Mahri Petree during Saturday’s Class C Final. (Middle) Arbor Prep’s Lasha Petree gets her hand on an Elliott shot.