Flashback: Cass Tech Comes Back

July 12, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

The third week of this summer’s "80s Finals Flashback" series on MHSAA.tv features one of the largest Finals comebacks in girls and boys basketball history.

Great game-winning shots, monumental comebacks and late-game touchdown drives will be featured for nine weeks this summer as part of the Flashbacks series. See the links below for the first two installments, and click to watch this week's on MHSAA.tv. DVDs may be purchased directly from the MHSAA.tv Website – just click the “Get DVD” button below the player.

Week of July 11 – Detroit Cass Tech 52, Saginaw 51 – 1987 Class A Girls Basketball Final – Trailing by 20 with two minutes to play in the third quarter, Detroit Cass Tech rallied to defeat Saginaw, 52-51, in the Class A Final at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. The Technicians held the reigning champion scoreless over the final 4:16, while scoring the final nine points to grab the title. LaTonya Tate finished with 20 points, including the game-winning 3-point field goal with 1:43 remaining. Sheronda Mayo added 14 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Sentaria Johnson finished with a career-high 20 points for Saginaw.  

Previous Flashbacks

July 5: Traverse City 24, Detroit Catholic Central 14 – 1988 Class A Football Final - Watch
June 28:
 Saginaw Buena Vista 33, Flint Beecher 32 – 1986 Class B Boys Basketball Final - Watch

Also, the championship games of the 2016 MHSAA Boys & Girls Basketball Tournaments, presented by Sparrow Health, will receive encore airings this week on FOX Sports Detroit.

Here’s the complete schedule, with links to the archived games on MHSAA.tv:

Girls Finals – Tuesday (July 12)

Boys Finals – Thursday (July 14)

NOTE: Some portions of the games may be edited out due to time constraints.

Signature 2nd Quarter Surge Sends Kingston into 1st Girls Hoops Final

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

March 21, 2024

EAST LANSING — It was hard for even Kingston head coach Jay Green to come up with an explanation. 

For some reason this year, the second quarter has often been big for his team. 

“It’s just kind of been our quarter,” Green said. 

That proved to be the case again Thursday in the second Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center. While the other three quarters against Frankfort were pretty much even, Kingston dominated the second quarter en route to a 56-33 win. 

The Cardinals advanced to Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game against Ishpeming,  a matchup of teams making their first appearances in a Final.  

Trailing 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, Kingston began turning a close game into a lopsided one.

The Cardinals scored 24 of the first 26 points of the second period, forced seven turnovers and made 7 of 9 shots from the field in outscoring Frankfort 24-4 over those eight minutes to take a 35-16 halftime lead.  

 Kingston’s Gracy Walker makes a move to the basket with Savina Anhalt defending.“They just rose to the occasion,” Green said. “We’ve had a lot of good second quarters over the year. We just kept the pressure on defensively. We got a lot of offensive rebounds, and when you are getting extra shots time after time, it’s just kind of a snowball effect. Sometimes that happens in basketball. We got on a nice run.”

Frankfort couldn’t cut the deficit during the third quarter and went into the fourth trailing 48-25. 

“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Green said. “We were excited Tuesday to break that Quarterfinal hurdle and get down here. There’s just that overall desire to do the best you can, do your best and be relentless throughout.”

Sophomore Molly Walker scored 22 points, and senior Delaney St. George added 11 to lead Kingston, which had a 33-18 rebounding advantage. 

“We just had to come out fast, and if we played hard defensively, things would happen offensively,” Walker said. “It started to come together for us.”

Junior Savina Anhalt scored nine points to lead the way for Frankfort, which finished 22-6. 

“(Kingston’s) a great team,” Panthers head coach Tim Reznich said. “They’re really physical, they’re really strong and they wore us down.

“We had a great start. When they gained their composure, they really started pounding the glass and took over there. That’s where it got us. Once we dug that hole, we just didn’t have the energy to come out of it. But they’re a great team, and I wish them the best.” 

Kingston will turn its attention to Ishpeming, which also enters Saturday with a 27-1 record and was ranked No. 1 in Division 4 entering the postseason. 

“It will be a great challenge,” Green said. “They are the type of team with height and this and that. But we’ll be ready, and we’ll give them our best shot.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Kingston players celebrate their Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) Kingston’s Gracy Walker makes a move to the basket with Savina Anhalt defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)