Comstock 'Stampedes' to Elusive Title

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

February 21, 2017

COMSTOCK — It took almost a quarter century, but the Comstock girls finally put their mark on the basketball banner hanging in their gym.

They have to share the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Red title with Buchanan, but that is OK with them.

“It’s been (24 years) since Comstock girls won conference,” junior Ahkyla Blakely said. “I’m very excited. We’ll get our year up on the banner.”

With a junior and three sophomores among the starting five, one might have thought the team was in a rebuilding season.

But when it comes to experience, there is nothing young about this team.

The Colts have a 17-2 overall record, 9-1 in the conference.

The team may be young, but the girls grew up playing together in the youth program called “The Stampede” that started when the current sophomores were in fourth grade and with coaches that included Justin Ansel, the girls varsity coach for the last five years.

“Our junior class started when they were in fifth grade, so they grew up together with their class,” Ansel said. “Last year, the combination of the two classes, we had a whole year of playing together.”

This year, that experience is paying rewards.

Sophomore Daisy Ansel leads the Colts, averaging 15.2 points per game, followed by junior Blakely at 12.4 and sophomore Caylin Lopez at nine.

Ansel and Lopez also started last year as freshmen.

Abby House, who was pulled up from the junior varsity team midway through last season, is the other sophomore starter along with Blakely and senior Miranda Cannon.

Friends & Family

Having her dad as a coach can be both good and bad, Daisy Ansel said.

“It’s challenging at times, but it makes me better because he pushes me harder as an individual player,” she said.

“At home we talk about basketball all the time. It’s probably brought us together more as a family.”

Her brother, Seth, is a junior on the boys varsity basketball team.

Justin Ansel said the day his daughter does not feel comfortable with him as her coach is the day he will step down – as tough as that would be.

“We do have a relationship that at the end of every season I tell her if you don’t want me to coach any more, I’ll gladly step away and be a parent in the stands and support you in that respect,” he said.

“Each year, she’s always wanted me to be her coach. That feels good.”

He added that it is not just her he would miss coaching.

“You develop a relationship since fourth grade with these girls, and it’s not just your daughter,” he said. “I feel like I have a bunch of daughters out there.”

Senior Arreona Blakely said the turning point in the season was defeating Buchanan, 54-33, on Feb. 3.

The Colts lost to the Bucks 37-33 the month before.

“(Our win) was probably our best game, communication and defense-wise,” Blakely said.

She has no problem with her younger sister starting while she waits for the nod.

“I’m used to it,” the senior said. “It’s more I know my position, which is to be a leader and a communicator versus being the one out there scoring points. She’s more the athletic one versus me.

“I’m not really that athletic like her, but I’m good to support her. When she’s going through a rough time, I’m the only one who really knows how to pick her back up, spirit-wise, and get her going.”

Ahkyla Blakely said two things have helped the team improve from its 13 wins last year.

“It’s conditioning and practice,” she said. “Our coach makes us run these Sweet 16s every practice, and we’ve got to try to beat a time. He pushes us.

“We’ve been waiting for (last year’s) freshmen to come up, and now they’re sophomores and we’ve all been together for a long time. It feels like family.”

Daisy Ansel said the girls have a connection.

“We know who our shooters are, who we’re trying to get open,” she said. “We know all the plays. We have over 10 plays we can run against any team, and we all know them.

“When we’re out there together, we all just click like in middle school, and outside of basketball we get along.”

Ansel is a captain along with the Blakely sisters.

“Normally, sophomores aren’t captains, but going through travel ball has taught me so much, like the communication part of basketball,” Ansel said.

“I used to think you had to work the hardest and had to win everything, but now you’ve got to pump up everybody on your team to have the strongest practice. I work on giving more energy and communication in practice because it plays a bigger part than you think on the basketball court.”

House is a five-sport athlete, playing volleyball and golf in the fall, basketball and bowling in the winter and softball in the spring.

“It’s pretty tough between homework and all the practices and games, but I try to make it work,” she said. “Coaches work with me a lot.”

She said it is an advantage to have been coached by Justin Ansel on the Stampede team.

“He’s been our coach since we were little, so we know what he wants us to do,” she said. “He challenges us more because he knows what we can do.”

This season, “We’re generating a lot more offense. We’re all playing together as one team instead of as individuals, and our defense has tremendously improved since last year.”

Sophomore Madelyn Caswell is the tallest on the team at 5-foot-9, but “with my lankiness, my coach says I’m about 5-11,” she said, laughing.

Playing her first year on varsity, “The competitiveness is a lot more intense,” she said. “We have big goals and working to get there is a lot more competitive, and we’re a lot more driven than we were on jayvee.”

More to achieve

Comstock will host an MHSAA Class B District next week where it could face perennial power and reigning Class B champion Marshall in the second game.

“We play Parchment in the first round and if we win that, Marshall in the finals,” Justin Ansel said. “Marshall is very tough. We’re going to have to be fundamentally strong on both ends of the floor.

“Last year we got to Marshall in the first game. Four out of my five years (coaching Comstock), Marshall has ended my season.”

But the team entered this winter with high aspirations, and already has made good on making history.

“It’s something we talked about, but it wasn’t something we imagined doing,” Caswell said. “Throughout the season we realized we could make (winning conference) more of a reality.”

Marissa Vandyk is the other senior on the team. Juniors are Kierra Lovelace and Kaylee Gilley.

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Comstock sophomore Caylin Lopez guards a Parchment ball handler this season. (Middle top) Comstock coach Justin Ansel and sophomore Daisy Ansel. (Middle below) Comstock junior Ahkyla Blakely and senior Arreona Blakely. (Below) Sophomore Madelyn Caswell (40) works to defend a shot. (Action photos courtesy of the Comstock girls basketball program; head shots by Pam Shebest.)

Happy Birthday & Happy to be Back: Hagemann, Edison Celebrate at Breslin

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 22, 2024

EAST LANSING – Detroit Edison senior guard Devin Hagemann couldn’t have found a better way to celebrate her 18th birthday.

A victory, and another chance to win a championship.

The Pioneers used a balanced attack, coupled with their size and athleticism, to overpower Negaunee 63-46 in Friday’s Division 2 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.

“It’s my birthday, but we’re still trying to win a championship so I can celebrate after that,” said Hagemann, who was one of three Edison players in double figures scoring with 11 points. “We still have to get the job done.”

Isis Johnson-Musah paced Edison with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Myana Cooksey recorded 13 points, three assists and three steals.

The Pioneers will seek their second Finals win in the three years Saturday. They won Division 2 in 2022 before losing during Regionals a year ago.

The Pioneers’ Nabrea Lane (11) gets to the basket.“We are just really glad to be back here,” Edison coach Monique Brown said. “Our seniors were here as sophomores, and we had a chance to finish that out with a victory.

“Last year we got stung, and we had that on our mind the whole year. The whole summer they worked hard, and to be able to get back here and get a chance to win again is an awesome feeling right now.”

The Pioneers broke up a close game at the end of the opening quarter with a scoring barrage during the second and third. Edison went on a 13-1 run in the second quarter to snap a 16-16 tie and never looked back.

Their lead ballooned to 48-28 in the third quarter as Hagemann knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

“I told her to shoot it, and I wished her Happy Birthday in the middle of the game,” Brown said. “I think that kind of got her going.”

The balanced scoring, along with pressure defense, have become major factors in this postseason run.

“That is who we have been,” Brown said. “Just really trusting and sharing the basketball and playing good defense. We had to do it by committee this year as far as scoring, and that's why we are here right now.”

Negaunee, playing in its first Semifinal, finished the season 26-2.

“They are very good, and we respect their program,” Miners coach Mike O’Donnell said. “They showed why (they are) one of the top teams in the state, and their size bothered us. We haven’t seen that size this year, the closest was Ishpeming, and their quickness and athleticism in transition.”

Senior Ella Mason, the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the school’s all-time scoring leader, tried to keep Negaunee in the game.

She finished with a game-high 25 points, shooting 9 of 18 from the field and 5 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Edison’s Devin Hagemann (1) launches a 3-point shot Friday with Negaunee’s Aubrey Johnson defending. (Middle) The Pioneers’ Nabrea Lane (11) gets to the basket. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)