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.)

Countdown to Calvin: Girls District Preview

March 4, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The countdown to this season’s Girls Basketball Finals at Calvin College speeds up significantly beginning tonight.

Teams all over Michigan will start District play culminating in 128 championships at the first level of the tournament this weekend. Check out “Tracking the Tournament” on MHSAA.com for every matchup from all of them, and see below for some of last week’s most eye-popping scores and three Districts in each division that could be especially important pieces to the final puzzle of this girls basketball season.

Countdown to Calvin is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. To offer corrections or fill in scores we’re missing, email me at [email protected].

Week in Review 

The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:  

1. Saginaw Heritage 55, East Lansing 53 – This rematch of last season’s Class A Final also went the Hawks’ way after they won by 21 at Calvin College a year ago.

2. Bloomfield Hills Marian 60, Detroit Mumford 47 – The Detroit Catholic League Tournament champ avenged last season’s loss to Public School League winner Mumford in the Operation Friendship game.

3. Ann Arbor Pioneer 41, Chelsea 39 – The Pioneers’ victory in this matchup of Southeastern Conference divisional champions also was Chelsea’s only loss of the regular season.

4. Wayne Memorial 61, Brighton 48 – East champ Wayne finished the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Tournament having beaten both co-champs of the KLAA West.  

5. Stanton Central Montcalm 65, Kent City 42 – The Hornets finished a second straight 20-0 regular season against White Cloud two days later, but 16-win Kent City was one of the toughest obstacles to repeating perfection this winter.  

Districts at a Glance

These could be among our most competitive brackets. Host sites are in bold:

DIVISION 1

Detroit Mumford
Detroit Mumford (15-4), Detroit Renaissance (13-6), Oak Park (5-9), Redford Union (13-5), Southfield Arts & Technology (18-1).

With only a Dec. 8 loss to last year’s Class A champion Saginaw Heritage – and by just two points at that – Southfield A&T has been considered a Division 1 favorite all season. Double-digit wins over Flint Carman-Ainsworth and Detroit Country Day, plus a league sweep of Royal Oak, have backed up that expectation. But the Warriors will have to go through the best of the Detroit Public School League West-Town to get through this week. On Wednesday, A&T will face West-Town co-champ Renaissance, which has a few more losses but against teams like Division 2 favorite Detroit Edison (twice) and Mumford (twice). On the other side of this bracket, Mumford shared the West-Town title because of a split with Renaissance in league play, but won the PSL Tournament. But the Mustangs can’t look past Redford Union tonight.

East Grand Rapids
Byron Center (15-5), East Grand Rapids (18-2), East Kentwood (15-4), Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills (5-15), Wyoming (8-12).

Five of seven teams in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red had winning records this season, making it even more impressive that East Kentwood against finished on top for the third straight season. But one of the Falcons’ few losses this winter came by four Dec. 18 to East Grand Rapids, which went on to sweep the O-K Gold and has won 15 straight games. Those two would meet again in this District Final – but of course, it’s not that easy. Byron Center finished second only to unbeaten Hamilton in the O-K Green and would see EGR in a Wednesday District Semifinal showdown.

Lapeer
Davison (11-9), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (15-5), Flint Kearsley (16-4), Flint Southwestern (1-15), Grand Blanc (15-5), Lapeer (6-14).

One of tonight’s most intriguing openers matches up Saginaw Valley League Blue champ Carman-Ainsworth against runner-up Grand Blanc; the Cavaliers won the regular-season meetings by nine and 13. On the other side, Kearsley finished second in a similarly strong Flint Metro League and gets a test right away against Blue third-place finisher Davison. Kearsley’s losses this winter were to league champ Fenton twice, Macomb Dakota and last week to Edison. Carman-Ainsworth also has seen most of the best, falling to Saginaw Heritage, Southfield Arts & Technology, Midland Dow, Michigan Center, and Edison on Thursday by only seven.

DIVISION 2

Bay City John Glenn
Bay City John Glenn (15-5), Essexville Garber (15-5), Freeland (18-2), Midland Bullock Creek (6-13), Saginaw Swan Valley (8-11).

In addition to winning four straight Tri-Valley Conference Central titles, including this season’s, Freeland has won seven straight District championships. But this bracket threatens that streak. On Freeland’s side is Garber, the TVC East champion. Freeland did beat Garber by 25 on Jan. 8, and the Dukes won’t get another chance unless they win tonight against Swan Valley, which they beat by a point in their season opener. On the other side of the bracket, John Glenn finished fourth in the Division 1-strong SVL Red, with three of its five losses to Heritage, Dow and Bay City Western. John Glenn also owns an early two-point win over Garber.  

Harper Woods
Detroit Denby (7-6), Detroit Edison (19-1), Detroit Osborn (9-5), Harper Woods (6-7), Harper Woods Chandler Park (16-4), St. Clair Shores South Lake (9-11).

As noted above, and all season many places, 2018 Class C champion Edison is a major favorite to win Division 2 with its only loss to Ohio powerhouse Columbus Africentric by five points Dec 15. The Pioneers spent the rest of the season beating many of the best across the Lower Peninsula. But Chandler Park, a Class C quarterfinalist last season, is an intriguing opponent should they meet Wednesday. The Eagles also have played many of the elite with some impressive results, including closing the regular season with successive wins over Detroit Cass Tech, Flint Hamady and Ypsilanti Arbor Prep.

Whitehall
Fruitport (3-17), Montague (11-9), Muskegon Oakridge (17-3), Muskegon Orchard View (3-13), Spring Lake (11-9), Whitehall (17-2).

Perhaps the most intriguing opener tonight, at least on the west side of the state, pits Oakridge against host Whitehall. Oakridge edged Whitehall by a win to claim the West Michigan Conference title, but Whitehall’s triple overtime victory in their first meeting Jan. 8 ended Oakridge’s 82-game league winning streak (Oakridge won the second meeting by 13 on Feb 8). Spring Lake finished fifth in a competitive O-K Blue and will be waiting Wednesday for whichever team comes out of what’s sure to be an emotional matchup, and Montague could be ready to play spoiler as well in the District Final.

DIVISION 3

Bloomingdale
Bloomingdale (16-4), Gobles (20-0), Kalamazoo Christian (12-6), Kalamazoo Hackett (9-10), Lawton (1-19), Schoolcraft (18-2).

Gobles won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore and Schoolcraft won the SAC Valley, and they meet tonight in another of the biggest Division 3 openers statewide. Bloomingdale, which tied for second to unbeaten Centreville in the Southwest 10 Conference, awaits the winner. But because those three are on one side of the bracket doesn’t mean the District Final will be an easy victory for whichever team emerges. Hackett knocked Gobles out of the District the last two seasons, while Kalamazoo Christian finished third in the SAC Valley this winter and has won seven of its last 10 games with just a four-point loss to Bloomingdale on Thursday.

Elk Rapids
Elk Rapids (15-5), Grand Traverse Academy (7-5), Manton (16-3), Maple City Glen Lake (18-2), Traverse City St. Francis (10-9).

Manton from the Highland Conference and Glen Lake from the Northwest Conference are league champions, and host Elk Rapids finished second in the Lake Michigan Conference that St. Francis won just a year ago. Manton and Glen Lake get things started tonight in a rematch after Glen Lake won 37-34 on Feb. 6 and also knocked Manton out of the District last season. Elk Rapids awaits in the District Semifinal having lost to both this season. Glen Lake’s only defeat came Dec. 8 by four to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep.

Pewamo-Westphalia
Carson City-Crystal (17-3), Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian (16-4), Ithaca (12-6), Pewamo-Westphalia (19-1), Saranac (4-16).

After reaching the Class C Final two years ago and Semifinals last season, P-W has been a major Division 3 favorite all winter. Its only loss was to Edison on Jan 21, and the Pirates came back a week later and beat Country Day, to go with an earlier impressive 20-point win over Dow. But again, there are obstacles this first week of the tournament. NorthPointe Christian awaits Wednesday after winning the O-K Silver. On the other side of the bracket, Mid-State Activities Conference champion Carson City-Crystal has won 15 straight including an 11-pointer over 18-2 Reese.

DIVISION 4

Athens
Athens (16-4), Battle Creek Calhoun Christian (16-4), Battle Creek St. Philip (8-12), Bellevue (20-0), Climax-Scotts (12-8).

Four of these five teams are in the Southern Central Athletic Association West, won by Bellevue with Athens finishing runner-up. Bellevue won their two regular-season games by one in double overtime and then last week by 16. They could meet again in this week’s District Final. Calhoun Christian faces Athens on their side of the bracket Wednesday, with a loss to Bellevue in December as well but a 20-point win over Athens in the season opener Dec. 4.

Chassell
Baraga (16-3), Chassell (13-6), Dollar Bay (0-18), Hancock (11-9), L’Anse (11-9), Lake Linden-Hubbell (7-13).

Chassell was last year’s Class D runner-up and hosts a competitive group this week with the chance for a third meeting in the District Final against Baraga. The Vikings won the Copper Mountain Conference Copper Country title with Chassell second this winter, downing the Panthers by 11 and three points in their regular-season matchups. Hancock and L’Anse finished tied for second and fourth, respectively, in the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Copper and will try to play spoilers on their sides of the bracket. L’Anse handed Baraga one of its few defeats, by 12 on Dec. 14.

Morenci
Adrian Lenawee Christian (18-2), Britton Deerfield (6-13), Morenci (9-11), North Adams-Jerome (4-15), Pittsford (16-4), Waldron (13-5).

Lenawee Christian won Class D a year ago and has been considered a contender throughout this season. But only a few removed from its back-to-back title run in 2016 and 2017, Pittsford remains an opponent no one wants to face. They meet tonight, Lenawee’s only losses having come to Division 3 contenders Grass Lake and Michigan Center while Pittsford is riding a 10-game winning streak after suffering first-half losses to Hudson, Manchester, Bellevue and Athens before winning the SCAA East title. SCAA Central champion Waldron awaits the winner on Wednesday. Morenci on the other side of the bracket has bounced back from a 3-7 start this winter.

Second Half’s weekly “Countdown to Calvin” reports are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau 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, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division. Click for more information and connect with MI Student Aid on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.

PHOTO: Essexville Garber took a 41-40 win over Alma on Dec. 14 and will look to add a District title this week to its league championship won this winter. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)