Countdown to Calvin: Girls Report Week 7
January 15, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Picking the five most impactful girls basketball results from last week was a challenge.
Picking this week’s most intriguing five next Monday could prove even tougher.
A great set of matchups is coming Michigan’s way this week as schedules reach a halfway point for most teams. None may pack the boom of the first in our “Week in Review” below, but plenty more will resonate through league standings and state polls.
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 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. Ann Arbor Huron 46, Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 36 – Might Huron be the state’s best team regardless of class? This result combined with the next two below start the discussion.
2. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 54, Detroit Edison Public School Academy 49 – Reigning Class C champ DEPSA was building a reputation as that top team in the state, until Arbor Prep battled back from the Huron trip-up. But DEPSA did hand Huron its only loss.
3. East Kentwood 52, Caledonia 45 – The reigning Class A runner-up keeps impressing as it remains undefeated, this time handing Caledonia its first loss of the season (and week; the Fighting Scots then fell Friday to Hudsonville as well).
4. Negaunee 59, Marquette 45 – These are two of the best from the Upper Peninsula, and now the Miners are contending perhaps only with St. Ignace for the title after handing the Redettes their first loss this season.
5. Coldwater 54, Battle Creek Pennfield 45 – The Cardinals bounced back from suffering their first loss this season in overtime two weeks ago by handing the first loss to Battle Creek Pennfield, creating a four-team first-place tie in the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Jenison (7-3) – The Wildcats are sitting in the middle of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black, for now. They are quite close to equaling last season’s 10-13 success already this winter. Jenison earned a 45-40 win over O-K White leader Lowell last week and followed that up with an impressive 43-30 victory over Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, last season’s league runner-up.
Macomb Dakota (8-1) – The Cougars are sitting alone atop a Macomb Area Conference Red that again looks like one of the toughest leagues in the state. Dakota got there last week by handing reigning league champion Warren Cousino a nine-point defeat and improved Romeo a five-point loss. The Cougars have fallen only to Ann Arbor Huron.
CLASS B
Chelsea (9-1) – The Bulldogs are in first place in the Southeastern Conference White after finishing second both of the last two seasons, and they are only a three-point loss to annual power Marshall from a perfect first half. Chelsea hasn’t played Tecumseh – which also hasn’t lost in the SEC White – but their first matchup is set for Jan. 23.
Comstock (9-1) – Comstock is undefeated through the first round of Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference Red games, with its only loss to Class A Richland Gull Lake. The run has included a 19-point win over Buchanan, with which the Colts shared last season’s championship, and an early 22-pointer over second-place Niles Brandywine – which remains Brandywine’s only defeat.
CLASS C
Kent City (8-2) – The Eagles moved into first place alone in the Central State Activities Association Silver with Friday’s 59-43 win over Morley Stanwood and have won outright or shared the league title the last three seasons. The two losses were good tests, in the opener against Class A Rockford and then by a point to Class B Comstock Park. No other opponent has come within single digits.
Traverse City St. Francis (5-1) – The Gladiators have won or shared the Lake Michigan Conference championship every season this decade, four times splitting it with Kalkaska. But a 49-46 win over Kalkaska on Friday put St. Francis a half-game ahead of Charlevoix and in first alone for now, and its only loss was in the opener to still-undefeated Maple City Glen Lake.
CLASS D
McBain Northern Michigan Christian (5-2) – Generally a dweller in the middle of the Highland Conference standings, NMC is making itself at home on top as the first half of the league schedule draws to a close. The Comets beat reigning champion Leroy Pine River by 30 last week and have handed second-place Manton its only league loss while also just falling to Class C Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (8-2).
Munising (7-1) – Despite graduating valuable veterans from last season’s 20-1 team, Munising is back in the mix. Last week’s 56-52 win over second-place Bark River-Harris has the Mustangs sitting in first place in the Skyline Central Conference’s Large School division. The lone trip-up came to Class C Gwinn.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Flushing (7-2) at Fenton (6-3) – The reigning Class A champion Raiders have rattled off seven straight wins after opening with a pair of defeats, but second-place Fenton would love to move into a first-place tie in the Flint Metro League by breaking the streak.
Wednesday – Gaylord St. Mary (7-1) at Bellaire (9-1) – Revenge surely is on the Eagles’ minds as St. Mary beat Bellaire twice to win the Ski Valley Conference title last season and a third time in the District.
Friday – East Kentwood (10-1) at Hudsonville (9-1) – These two are the only two left undefeated in O-K Red play after only a handful of games and also met in last season’s Regional Final as the Falcons advanced.
Friday – Okemos (7-2) at East Lansing (9-0) – Both are 5-0 in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue, with the Chiefs surely anticipating this matchup to show they belong in the conversation with a strong group of Lansing-area Class A teams.
Friday – Maple City Glen Lake (9-0) at Kingsley (8-0) – These are shaping up as the two best in the Northwest Conference again this season after a Glen Lake sweep of Kingsley gave the Lakers the title over the Stags a year ago.
PHOTOS: East Kentwood contained Grand Haven for a 51-47 win earlier this month, its closest of 10 victories this season. (Photo courtesy of the Grand Haven Tribune.)
Edison Marches On in Quest for 3-Peat
March 22, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
GRAND RAPIDS – Detroit Edison’s mission has been pretty clear from the opening tip this season.
The Pioneers, off two straight Class C championships, opted up to Division 2 this winter and then defeated most of the best teams from the rest of the state – including three Division 1 semifinalists and the top-ranked team in Division 3.
While Haslett did give Edison its first tournament game this winter closer than 30 points in Friday’s last Semifinal at Van Noord Arena, the Pioneers pulled away early and prevailed 70-43 to make the final day of the season for the third straight winter.
They’ll go for their third straight MHSAA championship Saturday against Freeland in the 6:15 p.m. title game. It will be an opportunity to add one more achievement to a large stack over the last three seasons, and a crowning one for lone senior Rickea Jackson, who was named this year’s Miss Basketball earlier this week.
“(It’s) just to finish out strong with the challenges we overcame this year,” Jackson said. “Everyone knows who we are, so for us to have this huge target on our back and for us to make it this far, it just means we’ve been working hard in practice and we’re seeing our hard work pay off.”
Edison improved to 26-1 this season and 70-7 over the last three, its only defeat this winter to Ohio power Columbus Africentric 65-60. It will try to become the sixth school to win three straight MHSAA girls basketball championships, joining Flint Northern, Detroit Country Day (twice), Waterford Our Lady, Portland St. Patrick and Leland.
The Pioneers began with a little bit of a different starting lineup Friday, but it didn’t change up much in terms of results. A Jackson basket with 5:29 to go in the second quarter pushed the advantage to double digits for the first time and permanently.
Jackson finished with 26 points and eight rebounds, and junior Gabrielle Elliott – another member of all three Finals teams – added 21 points and four assists.
The unranked Vikings (19-7) had defeated three other ranked teams during this postseason to reach the Semifinals for the first time since 2015. But No. 1 Edison presented a strong challenge to their perimeter shooting and held Haslett to just 2-of-14 from 3-point range.
“Typically we’re a really good 3-point shooting team – we actually set a school record this year for the most 3-point field goals made – and I thought we got good looks. But with their length and athleticism they speed you up and those looks close pretty quickly,” Haslett coach Ross Baker said. “Maybe if we hit a couple of those early, we could’ve built a little more momentum. But … anything we’ve asked these girls to do, they do it 110 percent. I thought we handled their pressure. They’re really long. I thought we were really competitive on the glass – I think in the first half we were about even, but the second half we ran out of steam.”
Sophomore forward Skyla Nosek led Haslett with 16 points, and senior guard Ella McKinney added 15.
“Our eighth grade year was when Haslett was in the championship. And being honest, coming in freshman year I thought we’d make a tournament run too,” McKinney said. “We got a tough draw with East Lansing and lost in the first game, but ever since that we’ve had a little bit of fire to push ourselves in the postseason. This year we knew we had a special team, and being seniors we wanted to be leaders and to carry the team as far as we could. It was something really special, and we’ll never forget being here – and playing against a great team is pretty great too.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Edison’s Rickea Jackson rises above Haslett’s defenders to launch a shot during Friday’s second Division 2 Semifinal at Van Noord Arena. (Middle) Haslett’s Brooke Bradley works to get around Edison's Damiya Hagemann.