Caro Closing In on Historic Title Claim
February 12, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
With three seniors who had played at least parts of the last two seasons on varsity, and a standout freshman making her debut, the Caro girls basketball team had plenty of reasons to make winning its league the goal this winter.
But with Reese coming off its 12th-straight conference title – and Caro seeking its first since 1985 – history was not on the Tigers’ side.
That’s changed quite a bit over the last month. Caro has set itself up to make history, with a chance to head into the Feb. 20 rematch with the Rockets already owning a share of the Greater Thumb Conference West championship.
The MHSAA/Applebee’s Team of the Month for January moved to 14-1 overall and 9-0 in league play Tuesday night, a far shout from the three games the Tigers won three seasons ago and 2-19 record they posted when that current trio of seniors were sophomores.
“I’ve learned more history this year (than ever before),” Riley said Monday, a day before picking up win 14 over Vassar. “That it’s only the third winning season in 24 years. And if we hold on to our first place in the league, it would be the first time in 35 years we’d win a league championship.
“It’s been a fun experience. My first two years we won five games combined, and last year we won 10. And if we win both games this week, we’ll match three years of wins in just 16 games this year. That’s kinda special.”
And pretty incredible.
Caro indeed finished 3-17 in 2016-17, with current senior forward Kaitlyn Arebalo a freshman on the varsity.
Now-senior point guard Ellie Hornbacher joined the mix for that 2-19 run in 2017-18 before an injury ended her season six weeks early. Classmate Raegan Ball also came up to varsity for a handful of games at the end of that winter, picking up some valuable experience.
While not necessarily historic, last season certainly was an improvement. The Tigers were at points 7-4 and 10-8 before settling in at 10-11 after losing their final three games – including 63-23 to Reese.
That has to be something of a distant memory at this point. Caro’s only loss this season came in its third game, to Sandusky (13-3). The Tigers handed the only defeat to GTC East leader Ubly (14-1) and also picked up a 23-point win over Croswell-Lexington (10-7) in their first game of calendar year 2020.
Two weeks later, Caro beat the Rockets 46-37.
“Before Reese, I just told them the pressure was still on Reese. They’re the 12-time defending league champs, and we don’t have anything to lose,” said Riley, who served as the junior varsity coach for five years before taking over the program prior to 2016-17. “That’s kinda been our chip on our shoulder all year. The girls came up with the slogan at the beginning of the year of ‘Respect all. Fear none.’ And that’s the mindset they’ve taken.”
Freshman Adelyn Moore is a player area teams likely will fear for the next three years. She’s Caro’s leading scorer (17 ppg), rebounder (10.6) and also averages the most steals (5.6) for a defensive effort giving up 34 points per game.
Arebalo adds 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds game, and Ball has sharpened her shooting this winter and is averaging 8.4 points per game. Hornbacher, last year’s leading scorer, made a decision this season to become more of a distributor instead – and while she’s down a few points to 6.4 ppg, she’s grabbing 8.2 rebounds per game at 5-foot-6 and dishing a team high 4.4 assists per contest.
That defensive average is a definite difference this season – and has been one of Riley’s points of emphasis from the start. But just as impressive are the 54 points Caro is scoring on average – up from the low 30s of the last few winters.
Riley multiple times Monday threw complete credit to his players, who have bought into the heightened defense and cultivated the offense it has produced. Combine those improvements with strong senior leadership and a freshman standout, and ending the title drought hasn’t seemed at all far-fetched.
“It was just going to be how we blended together,” he said. “I wasn't sure necessarily how that would take off. But the seniors have mentored the other players, and those other players have had some pivotal roles for us.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2019-20
December: Hartland girls basketball - Report
November: Bridgman girls cross country - Report
October: Allegan boys tennis - Report
September: Ishpeming Westwood girls tennis - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Caro's Adelyn Moore pulls up for a shot during her team's 46-37 win over Reese on Jan. 23. (Middle) This season's Caro girls basketball team. (Top photo courtesy of Sports Finest Magazine; middle courtesy of the Caro girls basketball program.)
Jenna Maki Show Opens Ishpeming's Breslin Run to Rave Reviews
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2024
EAST LANSING — It was the Jenna Maki Show in the first Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center on Thursday.
The Ishpeming senior put on quite a display, scoring a game-high 30 points for the Hematites in a 75-40 defeat of Fowler.
For most of the game Maki was keeping scoring pace with the Eagles by herself. She had 22 points at halftime to Fowler’s 19, and 29 points at the end of three quarters to Fowler’s 27.
The 5-foot-10 guard sat for most of the fourth quarter, finishing 11 of 22 from the field and 7 of 11 from the free-throw line.
“Obviously watching film and breaking down what they do as a defense and their whole game, we all did that together as a team,” Maki said. “I just tried to play as hard as a I could to break through.”
Maki eclipsed 1,000 career points earlier in the year, and with her last point Thursday became the school’s all-time leading scorer. Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel credited her with making a major transformation before the season started – one that has helped Ishpeming advance to a championship game for the first time.
“She changed as a player,” Reichel said. “She went from a me player to a we player over this past summer. We’re not in this position without her change as an athlete.
“She started on varsity all four years, and we’ve often had to look to her to do everything. She went from wanting to score 1,000 points to wanting to play in the Breslin Center.”
Fowler has been to the Semifinals five straight seasons and has played several great players at Breslin Center. But head coach Nathan Goerge admitted Maki stood out.
“(Maki) is a special player, and we knew it from watching film,” Goerge said. “We had a difficult time containing her. Our help defense struggled a little bit. When you go up against someone like that, it’s usually a recipe for disaster.”
In addition, Ishpeming’s full-court pressure defense wreaked havoc all game on Fowler, forcing the Eagles into 34 turnovers.
“When you only get one day (between Quarterfinals and Semifinals), it’s really hard to mimic the chaos we provide,” Reichel said.
Sophomore Jenessa Eagle flanked Maki by scoring 14 points for Ishpeming (27-1) which will try and complete its dream season in the championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Ishpeming hadn’t won a Regional title since 1974 before this run, and Reichel said his team has tried to pay tribute to that 1974 team in several ways.
Reichel said those players weren’t awarded a trophy from administrators back in 1974, so members of that team helped accept the trophy when this year’s squad won its Regional last week.
“They were able to get pictures with this team and kind of relive that journey that they deserved 50 years ago,” Reichel said. “They deserved that more than anybody. Now, they are living through our kids. They are ingrained on this team and are a part of this with us.”
Despite Fowler playing its fifth-straight Semifinal and Ishpeming appearing in its first since 1974, Ishpeming certainly didn’t show signs of jitters from the opening tip, jumping out to a 16-4 lead midway through the first quarter.
Ishpeming eventually held a 23-6 lead when the quarter was over, making 10 of its 20 shots from the field and forcing 11 Fowler turnovers over the first eight minutes.
The Hematites continued to grow the lead during the second quarter, taking a 42-17 lead with 51 seconds remaining until halftime.
PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming’s Jenna Maki (1) puts up a shot over the outstretched arm of Fowler’s Sage Myers. (Middle) Mya Hemmer (14) finishes a break for the Hematites. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)