GP South Set for Saturday Rematch
March 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The last time Grosse Pointe South visited the Breslin Center, it came within 12 seconds of winning its first MHSAA girls basketball championship.
And there’s no hiding that the Blue Devils players and coaches have been planning for this weekend since just about the time they left East Lansing after falling by a point to Grand Haven in last season's Class A Final.
Grosse Pointe South earned a rematch with the Buccaneers by downing Dexter 48-29 in Friday’s second Semifinal. They’ll meet in the championship game at noon Saturday.
“Definitely, we have some really painful memories,” Devils senior Claire DeBoer said. “Just getting that taste last year, (having it go) down to 10 seconds left, we want it even more this year.”
It’s appeared that way from the start. After falling to Chicago Whitney Young in its first game this winter, South has won 25 straight and entered the tournament ranked No. 2 behind Detroit Martin Luther King – which lost in a Quarterfinal.
Like the Devils last season, Dexter (23-4) was playing Friday for its first championship game berth. But with sophomore guard Cierra Rice leading the South attack, the Dreadnaughts never got much footing while falling behind 27-10 by halftime.
“We haven’t faced a team that has that many quality players all season long, and it took us out of some things that we tried to do,” Dexter coach Mike Bavineau said. “We wanted to attack as much as we could against their pressure. Sometimes when a team speeds you up and makes you play a little bit faster than you’re used to, you tend to revert back to things you were able to do against a team not of this caliber. I think that made it difficult for us.”
DeBoer and Rice were South’s leading scorers in last season’s Final, and Rice scored 21 points Friday. The third player Bavineau referred to was junior guard Bre’nae Andrews, who followed with 16 points.
Andrews also has had her sights set on getting back to Breslin – as a member of Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett last year, she was unable to play in the Class C Semifinal or Final after suffering an injury earlier in that tournament run.
Senior forward Emma Kill led the Dreadnaughts with 12 points and five rebounds. This season’s run included Dexter’s first Regional title since 1998 and first District championship since 2004.
Rice did most of her damage Thursday driving the lane and made 9 of her 13 shots. She admitted she might have a tougher time against Grand Haven’s 6-foot-5 Abby Cole – but is prepared to adjust.
“My strongest ability is to go to the basket. I probably won’t do it the same way (Saturday); I’ll probably try to shoot a lot more jumpers (because) it’s harder to go up against Cole,” Rice said. “I’ve got to change up my game a little bit, but that’s not a problem for me. I try to work on that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grosse Pointe South defenders trap the ball during Friday's Class A Semifinal. (Middle) South's Aliezza Brown had five points and three rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photo.)
Blissfield's Miller Set for Senior Success After 3 Junior-Year Finals Trips
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 15, 2023
BLISSFIELD – Last fall, June Miller raced for an MHSAA cross country title at Michigan International Speedway. During the winter she played in the Division 3 Basketball Final at the Breslin Center. In the spring, she competed at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 track & field championships in Kent City.
As she embarks on her senior year at Blissfield Community Schools in southeast Michigan, Miller isn’t concerned about an encore.
“I don’t worry about topping my junior season,” she said. “I don’t feel the need to. I’ll fight for it to the best of my ability, but if I don’t make it that’s okay. There were a lot of factors that went into last year, and I can’t control all of them this year.
“I’ll leave my best out there and know that I gave it my all, and in the end that’s the true accomplishment. If it takes me that far or further, then great. If not, that’s okay.”
Miller’s remarkable run to MHSAA Finals in three sports remains even more impressive when considering she had eight goals and five assists playing defense for the Royals soccer team.
“Shows up to work, busts her tail every practice, every game,” said Blissfield girls basketball coach Ryan Gilbert. “Never have to worry about June Miller.”
Miller is as steady an athlete as they come, never getting too high or too low in pressure situations. In basketball, Gilbert said Miller never met a shot she didn’t like. Miller started all 29 games last season, leading the team in 3-pointers.
Gilbert said Miller is even-keeled.
“It takes a while to get into the ‘June Miller circle,’ but I’m almost in,” he said. “This is her senior year; this is my year. She’s very funny when you get to know her and has a brilliant mind.
“She wants to win over everything,” Gilbert said.
Miller wasn’t the fastest runner on the cross country team last fall – that spot would belong to her younger sister, Hope. June has no problem with that.
“I love running with my sister,” she said. “She’s an amazing and incredibly kind person. Her dedication to running inspires me and keeps me fighting for it. We train together sometimes and she’s the one that pushes me, and I love that.
“I always knew she’d be faster than me someday, and I couldn’t be prouder of how fast she’s become and how much she’s achieved. (People might) think I’d hold some resentment for her beating me while I’m older, but she’s lived in my shadow for years and I’m so glad she’s been able to find her place that she can dominate.”
Blissfield is eyeing a big season in cross country after winning a Regional and just missing the top 10 at the Final a year ago. The Miller sisters are a big reason for the giddiness.
“I’m ready to leave it all out there,” Miller said. “It’s my senior season, and I want to go out strong. I think the end goal for all of us is to really push it this season and improve with each race so by the time we hit Regionals we’re in the best shape physically and mentally so we can leave it all on the course to get to states again.”
Because of her work schedule this summer, Miller missed some of the team workouts but was able to get the details from her sister and went out on her own time and trained to build up her mileage in preparation for the season.
“I think the experience from last year will give us something to fight for,” she said. “It allows us to look at the season with our end goal being the state meet. It gives us a passion and something to fight for.”
Blissfield cross country coach Ryan Bills called Miller a strong competitor.
“She is fun kid,” he said. “You never know which June you’re going to get – funny, chatty June or serious, no-nonsense June. Either way she always gives it her all during competition, which is why she has seen so much success the past year.”
The four-sport athlete spent the first couple of weeks of summer refreshing her body before kicking it into high gear.
She did take some time to reflect on all the places she got to play and compete last year and is grateful to be part of a team that helped her reach those places.
“It was a unique experience,” she said. “When I’m playing basketball or running track and cross country, I’m not focused on where I am physically – instead I’m in my head focused on what I need to do.
“Once you get to someplace, you stop thinking about getting there and you move on to the next step of being there and doing what you need to there.”
Miller is one of the top students in her class. She’s currently trying to decide whether she wants to pursue playing soccer in college. She wants to major in business and minor in sustainability, eventually getting a master’s degree in architecture.
“I want to be a sustainable design architect,” she said, “who can better the world through the art of architecture.”
Miller’s future looks bright, as does the outlook for this athletic year. In all three sports for which she reached the Finals last year, the Royals have enough returning talent to make lengthy runs again.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Miller said, about four days before the first cross country event of the season. “I want to make it to all those state tournaments again, but I want to do it with my teammates because they’re the ones that make it memorable and something to remember forever.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Blissfield’s June Miller (750) races during a cross country meet last fall. (Middle) Miller pulls up for a jumper during last season’s basketball postseason run. (Cross country photo by Deloris Clark-Osborne; basketball photo by Gary Sullivan.)