Countdown to Calvin: Girls Report Week 11
February 12, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We’re two weeks from the start of District tournaments in girls basketball, and diligently working to bring fans fully up-to-date on what they could see when the postseason begins.
But there are still plenty of substantial games to play … so many this week that league-deciding matchups like Flint Beecher/Goodrich and Hamilton/Zeeland West just missed our “Can’t-Miss Contests” below.
In addition to our weekly “Countdown to Calvin” reports, please be encouraged to check out MHSAA.com; click “Schools” to search for full schedules, results and standings for every team, and click “Sports” and then “Girls Basketball” for brackets for every District and Regional.
Countdown to Calvin is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school on our site. To offer corrections or help us fill in missing scores, email me at [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. St. Ignace 87, Goodrich 56 – Here come the Saints; untested for most of the season, they passed their toughest so far in a big way to remind the rest of the state they’ll be among Class C contenders.
2. Goodrich 57, Flushing 51 (OT) – Don’t sleep on the Class B Martians; four days before falling to St. Ignace, they beat the reigning Class A champion in overtime.
3. Macomb Dakota 51, Clarkston 41 – These two stand to be contenders in Class A, Dakota as the Macomb Area Conference Red co-champ and Clarkston right now trying to close out at least a shared Oakland Activities Association Red title.
4. Midland Dow 52, Midland 33 – The Chargers have won six of their last seven to climb back into the thick of the Saginaw Valley League race, this time avenging a 12-point December loss to their rival.
5. Gaylord St. Mary 38, Bellaire 32 – With this rivalry series between Class D elite went the Ski Valley Conference title, with St. Mary sweeping and hoisting the trophy for the second straight season.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
East Lansing (15-0) – The Trojans have built on last season’s 21-3 finish with another dominating run. East Lansing opened this winter with a 10-point win over Marshall and has added victories over DeWitt and Williamston – both 15-1 – to a perfect run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue that saw them win their first meeting with second-place Okemos by 34.
Utica Eisenhower (15-1) – A 10-point loss to Lake Orion on Nov. 28 has to feel like a distant memory as Eisenhower enjoyed a perfect run through the MAC White after finishing second in the league a year ago. Now comes a major opportunity to impress – the MAC Red/White tournament beginning today and will give the Eagles a chance to match up with opponents from one of the state’s most touted leagues.
CLASS B
Edwardsburg (16-1) – The Eddies are one victory from completing a perfect run through the Wolverine Conference South for the second straight season and have won 14 straight; the lone defeat came by three points to Class A St. Joseph on Dec. 5. Only two other games have been decided by fewer than 14 points, and the District this season includes four opponents Edwardsburg has swept so far.
Kingsley (17-0) – This indeed has been a special season for the Northwest Conference-leading Stags, who have beaten all of their opponents by at least 16 points and most by many more. That 16-point win was the only loss for rival Maple City Glen Lake – which beat Kingsley twice last season to win the league title.
CLASS C
Detroit Edison Public School Academy (15-1) – Although it’s a matchup Edison needs to be watchful for during the tournament, the five-point loss to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep on Jan. 11 has been the only trip-up for the reigning Class C champion. The list of wins is awe-inspiring: Detroit Martin Luther King, Detroit Country Day and Ann Arbor Huron all fell to the Pioneers by double digits.
Maple City Glen Lake (16-1) – The Lakers would be undefeated this season if not for that 16-point loss to Kingsley noted above – and surely they’ve circled the Feb. 20 rematch. Aside from that defeat, only two other games have been decided by single digits – and Glen Lake has won its last five by an average of 44 points per game.
CLASS D
Adrian Lenawee Christian (15-1) – A one-point loss to Class A Monroe in January is all that’s kept Lenawee Christian from a perfect run. Early, the Cougars beat a Class B Ida team that went on to win the Lenawee County Athletic Association title outright. Most recently, they downed Class A Dexter by 14 on Thursday.
Ewen-Trout Creek (12-3) – The school’s boys team has gotten a ton of attention as one of the state’s best in Class D, but the girls are right there as well. A seven-game winning streak included a 54-49 overtime win last week over Ontonagon, the only team with a chance of catching the Panthers in the Copper Mountain Conference Porcupine Mountain division.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Thursday – Bay City Western (14-1) at Saginaw Heritage (14-0) – Western suffered that lone loss to Flint Carman-Ainsworth on Feb. 2, but downing the Hawks would put all three in line to share the Saginaw Valley League title.
Thursday – Detroit Country Day (12-2) at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (11-5) – The last time these two met, Country Day claimed the 2017 Class B championship.
Friday – Detroit Public School League Final at University of Detroit Mercy – Renaissance (11-6), Martin Luther King (13-2), Mumford (13-3) and Collegiate Prep (11-2) will play semifinals tonight.
Saturday – St. Ignace (17-0) at Detroit Edison Public School Academy (15-1) – Could these be the state’s best in Class C? This one could be a preview of a late March rematch.
Sunday – Detroit Catholic League A-B Final at University of Detroit Mercy – Farmington Hills Mercy (15-2), Bloomfield Hills Marian (13-3), Dearborn Divine Child (12-5) and Livonia Ladywood (7-9) remain in contention with semifinals Wednesday.
PHOTO: Goodrich, here against Corunna, played two of the state’s most notable games last week. (Click to see more from Varsity Monthly.)
Lansing Catholic Closes Season With Memorable Victory Close to Home
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 18, 2023
EAST LANSING – The Lansing Catholic girls basketball team took a short drive to end a long wait.
Playing just three miles from their high school, the Cougars defeated Frankenmuth 43-29 Saturday at the Breslin Center to win the MHSAA Division 2 Final. It was the first Finals title for the program since 1995.
“It felt like homecourt advantage a little bit,” Lansing Catholic senior guard Hannah Pricco said. “Our bus trip wasn’t super long. It just kind of felt like we were coming to our own court.”
The Cougars treated it that way, dominating from the beginning of the matchup in their first Finals trip since that 1995 title. They scored the game’s first 11 points and never looked back.
“This is, as you can imagine, extremely surreal,” Lansing Catholic coach Kacee Reid said. “You’re going through literally every emotion on the bench, especially in a game like that. Frankenmuth is making such a great comeback, and we knew they were going to fight to the end. To go through the anger and sadness and happiness, and now it’s over and we’ve won it. It’s just been a rollercoaster of emotions, and I can’t describe the pride I have in these girls.”
It was the second meeting between the two teams, with Lansing Catholic taking the first 74-42 on Feb. 2. But Reid wasn’t going to let her team come in overconfident.
“They didn’t get here by accident,” Reid said. “They’re in the state championship because they’re playing their best ball of the year. We played them a month and a half ago. … We’re a totally different team, and we knew they were a totally different team. We knew they had been playing some really good basketball, and it didn’t matter at all what that first outcome was. We knew this was going to be a battle.”
Lansing Catholic (24-5) never trailed, and led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. Leah Richards led the Cougars with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Anna Richards had 14 points. Gabby Halliwill added seven.
The Cougars were spurred by their defense throughout, holding Frankenmuth to 9 of 36 shooting from the field and forcing 13 turnovers.
“For us, defensively, we had to switch it up,” Reid said. “We had to keep switching up between man and zone. They were making adjustments and we couldn’t really sit in one thing for too long; they got comfortable. That’s a credit to their coaching staff always making adjustments. We had to continue to switch things up defensively and try to hopefully make their shooters second-guess their shot, or maybe not know where we were coming from.”
Frankenmuth (25-3) didn’t go away, despite trailing by double digits for the majority of the game.
That was helped by Lansing Catholic shooting 1 of 11 from the field in the third quarter, and going scoreless for the final 5:26 of the frame.
The Eagles cut the lead to seven with 2:45 to play on a steal and layup from Clare Conzelmann, but never got closer.
“There was always belief no matter what detriment we got ourselves in,” Frankenmuth senior Lexi Boyke said. “I wouldn’t want to choose any other girls to play with and be in with at that point. I think we fought back and really prided ourselves on, ‘We can still do it.’ We didn’t stop fighting until the end.”
Lansing Catholic always figured Frankenmuth would make a run to get into the game, but was ready when it came.
“We knew they were going to make runs, we knew we weren’t going to hold them to seven points the whole game,” Anna Richards said. “We knew in the third quarter they were going to score, so we just had to stay composed, work the ball around on offense to get the good shots that we wanted.”
Boyke, who scored Frankenmuth’s first 10 points and was its only scorer well into the third quarter, finished with 16. She also reached 1,000 career points in the game, and had six rebounds, while Izzy Bernthal had seven.
Frankenmuth was making its first Finals appearance since winning the Class C title in 1996, one year after Lansing Catholic.
“That’s a really good Lansing Catholic team, and you’ve seen that from their postseason run and beating an undefeated West Catholic team, and tonight finishing their season off with a state championship. So, congratulations to them,” Frankenmuth coach Joe Jacobs said. “I’m super proud of our kids. They didn’t quit tonight. They could have. … Fun experience, one that we want to treasure forever, but the motivation to come back again is here after tonight’s loss.”
PHOTOS (Top) Lansing Catholic celebrates its Division 2 championship Saturday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Cougars’ Anna Richards (10) attempts to get a shot up over Frankenmuth’s Lexi Boyke. (Below) Tessa Roe (12) works to get past Clare Conzelmann and to the basket.