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.)
Breslin Bound: Girls Report Post-Break
January 6, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Welcome to 2020 as we charge full steam ahead into the post-holiday portion of a girls basketball season that has begun with the usual mix of predictability and surprises – and will end with a bit of a twist.
Remembering that this season will see the top two teams in each District seeded for the first time, we’d like to take this week to introduce the Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) on MHSAA.com. Teams are searchable and comparable both by division and District number, and every Monday during the regular season we’ll also pull a top 20 in each division and post them on our Second Half rankings page.
There’s a full explanation of how MPR is calculated, and for the rankings teams were considered this week that had played at least four games against opponents that also are eligible for the MHSAA Tournament, since MPR includes only those opponents in its calculation. So you won’t see undefeated Detroit Edison or Menominee in this week’s Second Half rankings – but those teams are sure to join the list over the next week or two as they play more MHSAA opponents.
Below is a look at some of what you may have missed in holiday hoops during the break. “Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. Send corrections or missing scores to [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Grass Lake 43, Pewamo-Westphalia 40 – The Warriors continued building what’s shaping up as a special season by edging the reigning Division 3 champion at the Grand Valley State Holiday Classic.
2. East Grand Rapids 42, Southfield Arts & Technology 41 – The Pioneers should be dangerous contenders in league play and more after finishing their 2019 part of the schedule with a win over last season’s Division 1 runner-up.
3. Detroit Edison 68, Columbus Africentric Early College 59 – The reigning Division 2 champion avenged its lone loss of 2018-19 to move to 6-0 this winter.
4. St. Ignace 65, Ann Arbor Huron 52 – Even with a loss two days later to Ann Arbor Pioneer, Division 4 St. Ignace had to be happy heading home having dealt Division 1 Huron its only defeat.
5. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 53, Southfield Arts & Technology 50 (2 OT) –Arbor Prep finished a tough couple of days for A&T. But although the Gators also lost two days later by two to Division 1 Brighton, in both games they showed they’ll again be tough against the teams in their Division 3.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Midland (6-0) Dow has most recently ruled the Midland area in girls basketball. In fact, Midland High went only 5-16 last season. But the Chemics have bounced all the way back, with double-digit wins in all but one game – their 38-31 victory over Dow on Dec. 19. Also impressive was a 15-point win over another Division 1 team on the rise, Macomb L’Anse Creuse North, at the Motor City Roundball Classic.
Temperance Bedford (6-0) The Kicking Mules’ Southeastern Conference Red is loaded, with Saline also unbeaten and Ann Arbor Huron and Pioneer with just one loss apiece. But after opening with a seven-point win over Flat Rock, Bedford has won its next five by an average of 29.4 ppg – a big return after last season’s Quarterfinal run.
DIVISION 2
Grand Rapids Christian (7-0) After 13-9 and 11-11 finishes the last two seasons, respectively, this one could see the Eagles take a step back into the elite. They earned a Cornerstone Holiday Tournament title with wins over Forest Hills Central and Zeeland East and have only one other single-digit win among their first five – a 54-46 overtime avenging of last season’s loss to Holland Christian.
Menominee (7-0) The Maroons followed up two straight .500 finishes by going 15-9 with a District title last winter, and the surge has continued. A 52-47 win over otherwise-unbeaten Ishpeming Westwood on Dec. 18 was impressive, and Menominee spent part of its holiday break winning a tournament in Gillett, Wis., with a pair of double-digit victories.
DIVISION 3
Manton (6-0) Manton is one of two Highland Conference teams entering 2020 unbeaten – rival Lake City being the other – and the reigning league champion Rangers have won six straight by double digits after opening with a 52-49 win over Charlevoix. Along the way, they also handed the lone losses to Kingsley and McBain Northern Michigan Christian – and get another major test Wednesday against Maple City Glen Lake.
Niles Brandywine (6-0) Solid wins over Berrien Springs and Kalamazoo Christian highlight Brandywine’s perfect start as it looks to build on last season’s Quarterfinal run. The Bobcats headed into the break with a 71-23 win over last season’s Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference Red champion Comstock, and they’ll see co-leader Buchanan for the first time Jan. 16.
DIVISION 4
Fruitport Calvary Christian (5-2) The Eagles’ season has been book-ended so far by a pair of losses to Division 3 teams, the most recent to one-loss Hart on Saturday. But a 50-46 win over Division 2 Central Montcalm the day before can’t be overlooked – the Hornets are 4-2 but hadn’t lost a regular-season game for two straight heading into this winter. Senior Kelsey Richards’ scoring gives Calvary a shot to make a run at any time.
Pickford (7-0) The Panthers closed the 2018-19 regular season with seven straight wins and 13 over their final 14 games to claim the Eastern Upper Peninsula Athletic Conference title by a victory ahead of Cedarville and Rudyard. They don’t see either of those teams until later this month, but they’ve set the standard so far with all double-digit wins and four by 30 points or more. A 62-46 win over Gaylord St. Mary on Dec. 4 remains the Snowbirds’ only defeat.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Monday – Southfield Arts & Technology (4-3) at West Bloomfield (5-1) – This will surely affect the Oakland Activities Association Red race; both are perfect in league play, and both teams’ losses have come against some of the state’s best.
Tuesday – Detroit Edison (6-0) at East Lansing (5-0) – Contenders in Divisions 2 and 1, respectively, face off with one accepting its first defeat of this season.
Tuesday – Bloomfield Hills Marian (5-0) at Farmington Hills Mercy (6-0) – These Detroit Catholic League Central rivals could set the conference pace again after Marian finished first and Mercy second last season.
Wednesday – Manton (6-0) at Maple City Glen Lake (4-1) – These two sit No. 5 and No. 4, respectively, in Division 3 MPR as of Monday afternoon.
Thursday – Calumet (5-1) at Ishpeming Westwood (4-1) – These two are looking early like two of the Upper Peninsula’s best in any division, and that means they could see each other in the Division 3 postseason as well.
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: Midland earned a 38-31 win over rival Midland Dow on Dec. 19 to help spark a perfect start this season. (Photo courtesy of the Midland girls basketball program.)