'Me to We' Kingsley Could Make History
February 1, 2018
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
KINGSLEY – It might have been the most thrilling shot of the season for the Kingsley girls basketball team.
It was certainly the most telling.
The memorable moment happened a couple weeks ago when junior guard Jacie King hit a buzzer-beating, half-court shot to give Kingsley an 11-10 lead over Maple City Glen Lake after the first quarter.
Kingsley went on to capture the battle of unbeatens, 61-45.
“They didn’t beat us one quarter (because of that shot),” King said.
Well, nobody has beaten 14-0 Kingsley in a quarter this season. Heading into Thursday’s contest with Onekama, that was 56 quarters and counting.
Not surprisingly, Kingsley, ranked No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press Class B poll, had won 13 of its first 14 games by 34 points or more.
“We’ve been pretty dominant,” said Matt Schelich, now in his 20th season as head coach.
With three weeks to go, Kingsley is within reach of what would be the program’s first 20-0 regular season.
The schedule ahead includes a rematch with once-beaten and reigning Northwest Conference champion Glen Lake, this time on the road Feb. 20.
But the Stags are more concerned about the present than the future.
“We’re taking a one day at a time approach,” Schelich said. “I tell the kids try to win every day, whether it’s in the classroom, at practice, whatever. Keep focused and win every day.”
That’s what his players are doing.
Schelich, who led Kingsley to the Class C Semifinals in 2008, returned the nucleus of last season’s 18-4 squad. It was a season that ended in the District Finals with a loss to Kalkaska, a team the Stags had beaten during the regular season.
“Last year ended in disappointment,” Schelich said. “We felt we had a legitimate shot to win the league and the District. In the long run, it might have been the best thing that happened. It was eye-opening. We didn’t have a focus on what was right in front of us.”
Schelich went to work in the offseason to change the team mindset from “me to we.” His intent was to get his players on the same page and help them “learn to play together,” senior guard Kelsie Bies said.
“If we use all our resources, all our talent, we can be that much better,” Bies said. “I love that about this team. We’ve learned how to trust each other.”
“Nothing we do is for ourselves,” junior forward Marie Pierson added. “It’s about team and how much better we can get (working together). Our motto is “All Heart.” We have to love each other, trust each other because we’re all in it together. We’re working really well together.”
It helps that there’s a strong chemistry between the players.
“What makes this team so special, so awesome, is that we all get along,” King said. “There’s hardly any arguments.”
Schelich rotates as many as eight players – Jalynn Brumfield, Lindsey Boyajian, Brittany Bowman, Bekah Crosby, Maddie Bies, Kelsie Bies, Jacie King and Marie Pierson. Brumfield has signed with Ferris State University, Boyajian with Lakeland University in Wisconsin.
“A majority of these kids could be averaging 20 a game, here or anywhere else,” Schelich said. “Basically, what we have, are eight kids averaging 8 to 12 a game.
“Balance is hard to beat. Balance with depth is really hard to beat. The kids have bought into the we. They don’t worry about who is getting credit.”
Schelich admits it’s a “competitive” group, and often practices are tougher than the games, especially when he can also draw from a 13-1 JV team.
“We divide our kids so we have two good varsity teams going at it in practice,” he said. “How many coaches can divide their team up, have it be competitive and have their players get better? Not many. Most teams, boys and girls, have two or three kids that have to get it done for the team to have a chance.”
The players like the competitive challenge at practice.
“We don’t go easy on each other,” Bies said. “We push each other. Most of the time, our games are not as intense as our practices.”
For Kingsley, it all starts with pressure defense.
“We create a lot of offense with our defense,” Schelich said. “As a group, we are very athletic. I talk about playing defense in waves. That first wave, well, it’s a pain to play against our guards. They are quick and relentless. If you think you’ve got one beat, here comes another one.”
Kelsie Bies is the catalyst on the press.
“She can really move her feet and make people uncomfortable,” Schelich said. “She can go baseline to baseline to make plays. It’s like a beagle on a bunny. It’s her defensive energy, tenacity, that gets us going.”
Bies has stepped up her offensive game as well. Through the first 10 games, she was hitting 49 percent of her 3-pointers.
Kingsley is currently without Boyajian, who has been battling knee injuries.
“She’s had both knees repaired, and one is acting up right now,” Schelich said. “She just had an MRI. We hope to have her back soon.”
But that’s where the depth pays off.
“It’s been a luxury,” Schelich admitted.
Much to the chagrin of opposing coaches.
Frankfort coach Tim Reznich, who has led the Panthers to two Class D titles, is a believer.
“They’re good,” he said. “They have a legitimate shot at being a Final Four team. They have great depth. I think (Schelich) has 9 or 10 kids that could start on any given night. When he’s making substitutions, it’s nothing to look forward to as an opposing coach. They keep the pressure on and, in some cases, turn it up more.
“They have all the tools. They have good perimeter play, solid posts, and they’re good in transition. If you slow them down, they have girls who score in the halfcourt set. It’s a complete team.
“I told Matt (earlier in the season) that he has a special group and to enjoy them while he can. They’re making the best of it. They’re all in rhythm on the court. It’s a fun team to watch.”
And it’s also a team that is starting to get more recognition in the polls.
“It’s definitely exciting to be ranked that high because most people don’t even know where Kingsley is,” Bies said. “But we don’t talk about it. We don’t focus on it.”
Instead, the focus is on improving every day.
“It’s February – we have to get better (for the MHSAA tournament),” Schelich said. “We can’t be content.”
That’s not good news for opponents in the north, especially since this run could last awhile.
“Our 10th, 11th and 12th grades are loaded,” Schelich said. “Three groups in a row, it’s awesome.”
Schelich has two sophomores on varsity in Bowman and Maddie Bies. Plus, more are on the way.
That’s not what opposing coaches want to hear.
“There will be a learning curve for some of the young players when they get there (to varsity),” Reznich said. “But, no question, they’re just reloading the next couple years.”
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kingsley’s Marie Pierson drives to the basket against Benzie Central last month. (Middle) Jalynn Brumfield cuts through defenders in the Stags’ 67-30 win over the Huskies, who are 12-2. (Photos by Ron Stremlow.)
Miller Twins Push Each Other to Greatness
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2019
The toughest defender Sarah Miller has ever faced on a basketball court has been with her since birth.
This isn’t going to be about the Birch Run junior facing down personal challenges or looking into the mirror to stare down her greatest opponent. In fact, despite the fact she’s her twin, Emmaly Miller is not at all a mirror image of her sister. She’s just that good on defense.
“She’s very, I don’t know the word to say – she's feisty,” Sarah Miller said. “(Playing against Emmaly) in practices, it makes me move more without the ball, and that definitely benefits me in a game, helps me get open. She also gets in my head really easily. She knows how to tick me off.”
While it may make for some laborious practices, it’s also helped create the school’s most prolific scorer. Sarah Miller set the school record for career points this past Friday in a win against Essexville-Garber, reaching 1,380. It’s a remarkable feat considering she still has the postseason and her entire senior year to add to the record.
Or maybe it’s the other way around, and it’s created an incredible defender in Emmaly Miller, who has been tasked with guarding the opposition’s best offensive player for much of her career, and has thrived in that role.
Or maybe it’s both. Either way, when it comes to a game and they aren’t forced to compete against one another, it’s helping Birch Run.
“I always call it twin telepathy,” Birch Run coach Dan Kramer said. “They play a lot of those Gus Mackers in the offseason, and they know each other’s tendencies. They play really well with one another. We have a couple plays that they read each other so well on. We run one play with them, we actually call it ‘money,’ and eight out of 10 times, it’s two (points). It’s amazing.”
The Panthers are 12-8 on the season, and begin Division 2 District play March 6 against the winner of Monday’s Caro/Bridgeport opener.
The team got off to a slow start, losing its first three games while it attempted to find a new way to play, and Sarah Miller struggled with a foot injury. The Panthers won 11 of their next 14, however, and are playing well headed into the postseason.
“We beefed up our schedule a little this year to help us prepare for the Districts and the league,” Kramer said. “We really had a tough time defending the post early in the year. We have no size; we just have them go and try to beat (the opposition’s) bigs up the floor. They’re learning.”
When changing things up, it’s nice to have a set of talented twins to help usher it in. Emmaly Miller is the team’s point guard, while Sarah Miller plays as a two-guard and a wing. It’s a combination that has proven fruitful for the Panthers.
“This might be weird, but we always say we have some sort of telepathy going on,” Sarah Miller said. “I feel like when I go somewhere, she’ll know where I’m going to be. I can move without the ball, and she’ll find me. Emmaly is always the person who will find the open girl. She always knows where somebody is going to be. Her view of the floor is phenomenal.”
The Miller twins may be proof that the twin thing is actually a thing. Because as in sync as they are on the court, they’re not exactly on the same page off it.
“Her and I are polar opposites,” Sarah Miller said. “She ran cross country (as a sophomore), I play volleyball. She doesn’t really like basketball – well, she does, but she tells people that she doesn’t. Emmaly is super interested in history, and I think history is the most boring thing in the world. I love math, she – she just shook her head, she hates math. Emmaly likes rap, I like country. There are so many other things we don’t have in common. Every time we’re in the car, there’s always an argument.”
Emmaly Miller is more interested in track & field. As a sophomore, she was an MHSAA Finals qualifier and the Tri-Valley Conference East champion in the 400 meters.
Still, she was a varsity basketball player as a freshman, even if she wasn’t sure she belonged at first.
“It was very intimidating, and I felt like a lot of the reason I was on varsity was because they pulled Sarah up and didn’t want to separate the twins,” Emmaly Miller said. “It took a while before Kramer was like, ‘No, you belong here.’”
Kramer said that he saw something in Emmaly early on that gave him the confidence she could compete at the varsity level in her first year.
“Emmaly had never played point guard, and we brought them both to team camp in Charlevoix and we could not get anyone to keep from turning it over,” Kramer said. “I said, ‘Emmaly, run the point,’ and we saw flashes and kind of turned her into a point guard. It’s not her natural position, but she’s so fast, she can turn girls inside out. She’s tough to stop when she puts her mind to it.”
Kramer said his team is at its best when Emmaly Miller is being more aggressive and taking as many as 10 shots per game. Getting into that mindset is a bit more difficult for her.
“I’ve definitely had confidence issues when it comes to shooting,” she said. “I really don’t like doing it that much in general. However, I do know that I am most likely the fastest person on the court, so getting past defenders is pretty easy for me.”
It’s the defensive end where Emmaly Miller shines the most, however.
“You don’t want her guarding you, because she will shut you down,” Kramer said. “That’s the one thing we have that those other teams don’t have, is Emmaly Miller. If Emmaly played Sarah, I think she would hold her to half of what she scores.”
Fortunately for the Panthers, that can happen only in practice, and Sarah Miller has been scoring on everyone for the past three years. She flashed onto the scene immediately, scoring 17 points in the first half of her first game as a freshman.
“Literally, the second game of summer camp, I told my assistant, ‘She’s going to be first-team all-conference her freshman year,’” Kramer said.
He was right, and as a sophomore, Sarah Miller was named all-state in Class B by The Associated Press. She’s averaging nearly 25 points per game this season and has 2,000 career points in her sights.
“I had no idea I was going to break (the school record), so when they announced it, I was shocked,” Sarah Miller said. “I’m obviously not done yet, and I know I’ve completed something, but there’s more I need to do. I’m definitely going to try to push myself to get 2,000 points. I think that’s something I can accomplish having Emmaly with me and that bond we have.”
Sarah Miller recently committed to play basketball after high school at Saginaw Valley State University. She’s excited to have that out of the way, and for the future.
Despite all their differences, and the fact they sometimes want to fight each other in practice or while picking music in the car, she’s not as excited about the very real chance it could mean she and her sister will go their separate ways.
“We were talking about it last week, and I just started crying,” Sarah Miller said. “She wants to go to Michigan State, and I said, ‘If you’re going to Michigan State, we’re going to be so far apart.’ It’s hard to take in. She’s my twin, and we’ve been together since we were in the womb.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Twins Emmaly (left) and Sarah Miller make up a talented backcourt for Birch Run. (Middle) The sisters share a quick hug during a game this season. (Photos courtesy of the Birch Run girls basketball program.)