Countdown to Calvin: Girls Report Post-Break
January 7, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The new year brings with it endless possibilities – and that extends to this Michigan high school girls basketball season.
Sure, there are some teams looking absolutely unbeatable right now – see Detroit Edison below for a closer look at arguably the best. But we have more than two months to find out and figure out a lot more as we shift over these next few weeks to league play for most and the start of the midseason grind for all of this season’s hopefuls.
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. Carlton Airport 48, Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 42 – The Jets bounced back from a close loss to reigning Class D champ Adrian Lenawee Christian with an impressive win over last season’s Class C runner-up.
2. Michigan Center 95, Williamston 90 (5 OT) – Two championship contenders combined to tie for the longest game in MHSAA history and second-highest scoring.
3. Comstock 49, Kent City 44 – Standout Daisy Ansel scored 27 points to help undefeated Comstock hand Kent City a second close loss this winter, this one at Grand Valley State University.
4. St. Ignace 63, Reese 59 (OT) – The unbeaten Saints needed extra time at the Motor City Roundball Classic to hand Reese its only loss, then two days later did the same to Detroit Mumford 55-53.
5. Eaton Rapids 44, Jackson Northwest 41 – The Greyhounds remain a game below .500, but can claim the only defeat this season of the reigning Class B runner-up Mounties.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
• Grosse Pointe North (5-1) – A Class A semifinalist last season, Grosse Pointe North is the likely favorite in a Macomb Area Conference Red that is always among the state’s strongest leagues and this winter is made up of six teams that are all at least 5-2 to this point. Michigan State signee Julia Ayrault leads a group which has lost only to undefeated Bloomfield Hills Marian.
• Royal Oak (7-0) – The Ravens are building well on last season’s 19-3 run and shared Oakland Activities Association White title. Royal Oak is playing in the Red this winter and hoping to unseat reigning co-champions Clarkston and Southfield Arts & Technology. The Ravens already have avenged last season’s loss to the Wolves.
DIVISION 2
• Grand Rapids West Catholic (6-1) – The Falcons are unbeaten since falling to Traverse City West by five on opening night, and only one win away from matching last season’s 7-14 success. Among the most impressive wins is a 53-41 defeat of 2018 Class D semifinalist Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart at the Muskegon Holiday Classic, which remains the Irish’s only loss.
• Detroit Edison (9-1) – The reigning Class C champion opted up to Division 2 with its star power back from last season, and is one of two programs statewide (girls or boys) fielding two varsities. The “A” team – led by Mississippi State signee Rickea Jackson – has wins over reigning Class B champion Detroit Country Day and 2018 Class A semifinalist Wayne Memorial, with its only loss to also-nationally renowned Columbus Africentric (Ohio).
DIVISION 3
• Schoolcraft (6-0) – The Eagles have won all of their games by at least 11 points, including in handing Delton Kellogg its only defeat. Those two are among the top three in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley standings as Schoolcraft looks to build off last season’s title and run to the Class C Quarterfinals.
• Stockbridge (5-1) – The Panthers are early leaders in the Greater Lansing Activities Conference, a near-complete turnaround after winning five games total a year ago. The only defeat this winter came to Eaton Rapids (see above), and they entered break with a 10-point win over frequent league contender Olivet.
DIVISION 4
• Rogers City (5-1) – We highlighted Onaway earlier this season, so we’ll waste no time recognizing Rogers City coming off Friday’s 46-40 overtime win over the Cardinals. The Hurons’ only loss was by two to Division 2 Tawas in the season opener, and they also have a win over Hillman after finishing second to the Tigers in the North Star League Big Dipper last season.
• Ontonagon (6-0) – The Gladiators have a jump on surpassing last season’s 12-11 finish and should make another run at first in the Porcupine Mountain division of the Copper Mountain Conference after finishing second a year ago. A 48-40 win over reigning Class D runner-up Chassell on Dec. 18 avenged last season’s 15-point District Final loss.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Southfield Arts & Technology (6-1) at Detroit Country Day (4-3) – The Warriors’ only loss was by two to reigning Class A champ Saginaw Heritage, and they can make a statement with a victory over last season’s Class B winner.
Tuesday – Utica Eisenhower (6-0) at Grosse Pointe North (5-1) – They played in different leagues last season and combined for 39 wins. Now they’re together in the previously-mentioned MAC Red.
Wednesday – Flint Carman-Ainsworth (7-2) at Saginaw Heritage (6-0) – These are the early leaders in the respective Saginaw Valley League divisions after Heritage came in first and Carman-Ainsworth second in a combined league a year ago. They also went on to meet in the Regional Final.
Friday – Detroit Edison (9-1) at Muskegon (3-2) – The Big Reds will be up to the challenge; their losses this winter were by a combined four points to Division 1 contenders East Kentwood and East Lansing.
Friday – East Lansing (6-0) at Grand Ledge (5-1) – The reigning Class A runner-up Trojans beat rival Grand Ledge three times last season, but by only two points in the first meeting.
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: Grand Ledge, here playing Lansing Waverly in December, will attempt to hand rival East Lansing its first defeat of the season this week. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
High School 'Hoop Squad' Close to Heart as Hughes Continues Coaching Climb
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
July 11, 2024
Jareica Hughes had a Hall of Fame collegiate basketball career playing at University of Texas-El Paso and has played professionally overseas, but her most prized possession is something she earned playing high school basketball in Michigan.
A standout at now-closed Southfield-Lathrup High School during the early-to-mid 2000s, Hughes proudly displays a signature symbol of Lathrup’s Class A championship team in 2005.
“I have my state championship ring on me right now,” said Hughes, now an assistant head coach for the women’s basketball program at UTEP. “I wear this ring every single day. Not so much for the basketball aspect. Inside of the ring it says ‘Hoop Squad.’ It’s more the connection I’ve had with those particular young ladies. Friends that I’ve known since I was kid. Every once in a while when we talk, we go back in time.”
Believe it or not, Hughes and her high school teammates next year will have to go back 20 years to commemorate a run to the title that started when they were freshmen.
It was a gradual build-up to what was the first girls basketball state championship won by a public school in Oakland County. Lathrup, which has since merged with the former Southfield High School to form Southfield Arts & Technology, remained the only public school in Oakland County to win a state girls basketball title until West Bloomfield did so in 2022 and again this past March.
Lathrup lost in the District round to Bloomfield Hills Marian during Hughes’ freshman year, and then after defeating Marian in a District Final a year later, lost to West Bloomfield in a Regional Final.
When Hughes was a junior, the team got to the state’s final four, but a bad third quarter resulted in a heartbreaking one-point Semifinal loss to eventual champion Lansing Waverly.
A year later, when Hughes and other core players such as Brittane Russell, Timika Williams, Dhanmite’ Slappey and Briana Whitehead were seniors, they finished the job and won the Class A crown with a 48-36 win over Detroit Martin Luther King in the Final.
However, the signature moment of that title run actually came during the Semifinal round and was produced by Hughes, a playmaking wizard at point guard who made the team go.
Trailing by three points during the waning seconds of regulation against Grandville and Miss Basketball winner Allyssa DeHaan – a dominant 6-foot-8 center – Hughes drained a tying 3-pointer from the wing that was well beyond the 3-point line.
Lathrup went on to defeat Grandville in overtime and prevail against King.
Hughes said the year prior, she passed up on taking a potential winning or tying shot in the Semifinal loss against Waverly, and was reminded of that constantly by coaches and teammates. “I just remember in the huddle before that shot, that just kept ringing in my mind,” she said. “That was special. I cried for weeks not being able to get a shot off (the year before) and leaving the tournament like that.”
Growing up in Detroit, Hughes got into basketball mainly because she had five older brothers and an older sister who played the game. In particular, Hughes highlights older brother Gabriel for getting her into the game and taking her from playground to playground.
“I’m from Detroit,” she said. “We played ball all day long. Sunup to sundown. When the light comes on, you had to run your butt into the house.”
Hughes played for the Police Athletic League and also at the famed St. Cecilia gym in the summer, developing her game primarily against boys.
“My first team was on a boys team,” she said. “I was a captain on a boys team.”
The family moved into Lathrup’s district before she began high school.
Once she helped lead Lathrup to the 2005 championship, she went on to a fine career at UTEP, where she was the Conference USA Player of the Year twice and helped lead the Miners to their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Hughes still holds school records for career assists (599), steals (277) and minutes played (3,777). On Monday, she was named to Conference USA’s 2024 Hall of Fame class.
After a brief professional career overseas was derailed by a shoulder injury, Hughes said getting into coaching was a natural fit.
“I had to make the hard decision, and I knew as a kid I wanted to be around basketball,” she said. “Once I made that decision (to quit), I knew I was going to coach.”
Hughes started coaching in the Detroit area, first serving as an assistant at Southfield A&T from 2016-20 and then at Birmingham Groves for a season. She then served as interim head coach at Colby Community College in Kansas before being named an assistant at UTEP in May 2023, a month after her former coach Keitha Adams returned to lead the program after six seasons at Wichita State.
While fully immersed in her job with UTEP, Hughes’ high school memories in Michigan certainly aren’t going away anytime soon – especially with the 20th anniversary of Lathrup’s championship coming up.
“We are still close friends because we all essentially grew up together,” she said. “They are still my friends to this day.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Southfield-Lathrup’s Jareica Hughes drives to the basket against Detroit Martin Luther King during the 2005 Class A Final; at right, Hughes coaches this past season at UTEP. (Middle) Hughes, second from left, begins the championship celebration with her Lathrup teammates at Breslin Center. (UTEP photo courtesy of the UTEP sports information department.)