No Disappointment for Arbor Prep
March 17, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – She needed about a month. But by the end of last April, Nastassja Chambers got over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep’s loss in the 2015 Class C Semifinals.
This weekend, she and her teammates are one step closer to avoiding disappointment – and then some.
The Gators set themselves up for a first championship in school history Thursday by returning to the Semifinals and downing Ithaca 72-44 at the Breslin Center.
Arbor Prep learned its share of lessons from last season’s four-point loss to eventual runner-up Flint Hamady. And they played all season to earn Saturday’s opportunity to face Traverse City St. Francis for the Class C title.
“That motivated us a lot. We’ve been talking about it all year,” Chambers said of the Hamady loss. “Every game we scheduled this year was to prepare us for now. So we made the schedule even harder than last year so we’d be ready this year. (And) we’ve been here before, so we’re not that nervous.”
Top-ranked Arbor Prep did play, arguably, the toughest schedule of any team in Class C this season. The Gators (23-2) beat two top-five teams in Class B and filled the schedule with larger schools including the reigning champions in Class B and Class A.
After a first quarter Thursday played nearly to a draw – Arbor Prep led at the end by one, 16-15 – the Gators unleashed what they’d learned over the last 12 months and a lot of what they’ve become known for over the last few seasons.
Arbor Prep outscored Ithaca 50-15 over the second and third quarters, taking advantage of 20 turnovers over those 16 minutes by scoring 30 points off those takeaways.
“That’s our style of play,” Chambers said. “We get the ball up the court, push it and run. We do good on the 3-on-2 fastbreak, the 2-on-1 fastbreak – that’s our bread and butter.”
Ithaca also suffered an unfortunate loss during the second quarter that surely affected ball security when senior point guard Brooklyn Dolloff was sidelined with a painful sprained ankle.
She had totaled four points – making both of her shots – two rebounds and an assist in her seven minutes, numbers that would’ve translated well over an entire game. Her absence also forced Ithaca – playing in its first Semifinal after also winning its first Regional title – to shift players into less familiar positions and roles.
“It was very upsetting. My coach even said, when it first happened, that I was more upset that I was going to be out than (because of) the pain,” said Dolloff, a three-year varsity player. “I really wanted to be there for my team.”
Arbor Prep, meanwhile, hit its stride. Although Ithaca made 50 percent of its shots for the game, it got off only 34 – half as many as the Gators.
Arbor Prep coach Rod Wells said his team focused on shooting this winter after making only 33 percent of its attempts from the floor during the 2015 Semifinal. This time, the Gators made 42 percent in addition to cutting their turnovers from 12 last season to seven.
“Energy, anticipation and just playing together. The ladies trust each other now,” Wells said. “We’ve been talking about trust all year. When you put pressure on the ball you can feel like you’re on an island. But the ladies understand that someone’s got your back.
“They remember the pain last year. I remember waking up Saturday morning and I didn’t know what to do. That feeling, they were feeling the same way. We just put it into our practices. Every time they ran a sprint or something, and didn’t reach our goal, we talked about it. Our goal was to get to Breslin, but not just get here – we’ve seen how it looks. But to win it.”
Chambers had 24 points, six assists and seven steals, making 10 of her 15 shots from the floor. Junior guard Ro’zhane Wells added 11 points, and junior guard Adrienne Anderson had 10 points, four steals and three assists.
Sophomore center Kayla Belles had 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Yellowjackets (24-3), and junior center Maddie Brock added 11 points.
Ithaca entered the postseason ranked No. 7 and had its best season despite finishing only 5-16 three years ago, and then losing coach Bob Anderson midseason this winter when he retired due to health issues.
“We talked about it in the locker room; we said this feeling is not a good feeling. It kinda stinks,” said Ithaca coach Jessie Rayburn, who took over for Anderson after assisting him prior to his departure. “However, all the feelings leading up to it were pretty cool. And our community is awesome.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Arbor Prep’s Cydney Williams pushes the ball upcourt during Thursday’s Class C Semifinal. (Middle) The Gators’ Kayla Knight (24) and Ithaca’s Kayla Belles grab for the opening jump.
Riley Sisters, Fowler Shine on Statewide Stage
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
April 9, 2021
EAST LANSING — Fowler certainly is a small town.
Located just 30 miles northwest of Lansing, everyone in town knows everyone. And if they didn’t already know the Riley sisters’ prowess on the basketball court, they sure do now.
Sisters Mia and Emma Riley combined to score 34 points in leading Fowler to a 54-20 victory over Bellaire on Friday in the Division 4 title game at the Breslin Center. It was Fowler’s first MHSAA Finals championship since 1991.
“I’ll constantly have relatives who drive by their house and they’ll say, all the time, that they’re in their driveway playing one-on-one,” Fowler head coach Nathan George said of the sisters. “So it’s no coincidence that they’re in this spot, that they’re this good. All their hard work is paying off.”
Emma Riley, a sophomore, scored the first four points of the game and her older sister, Riley, scored her team’s first nine points of the second quarter as Fowler overwhelmed Bellaire early on. Fowler led 29-7 at halftime. It shot 48 percent from the field while limiting Bellaire to just three field goals and 12 percent shooting.
“We have confidence that teams will struggle against our speed and aggressiveness,” George said. “It hasn’t worked every game, but for the most part I think teams have a hard time adjusting to it because we have so many guards we can rotate in. It worked pretty well tonight.
“When we get those fast starts and the girls get their confidence, it’s a pretty special thing to see.”
Bellaire struggled throughout the first half, connecting on just 3 of 25 shots. It was just 1 for 11 in the first quarter and at one point missed 13 straight shots while falling behind 17-3.
“It definitely is upsetting because normally we can bounce back when shots aren’t falling in,” Bellaire senior Katie Decker said. “We have confidence in each other and hold each other up. Normally they’re going in, but I don’t know what was happening today. I guess nerves and we never settled in, but we did the best we could.”
Fowler’s defense played a big part in Bellaire’s shooting woes. George’s team collected 12 steals and forced 18 turnovers in the game. The Riley sisters accounted for eight of those steals.
“They can shoot and they can defend,” Bellaire head coach Brad Fisher said. “They shot the ball so well and they just play a different level of defense. We knew it was coming, but to simulate it, you can’t. I don’t know that we could have done too much differently when a team shoots like that and can defend like that.”
Mia Riley, a junior, was 6 for 8 shooting in the first half, while Emma was 3 for 5.
“I try to go into the game with a lot of confidence and I know my sister does too,” said Mia, a junior. “Coach always tells us, ‘Be confident and if you get a shot, it’s going up.’ So that’s kind of our mentality. We just didn’t want to hold back this game.”
Emma Riley said she didn’t let the arena atmosphere get to her.
“(Coach) always says if you get an open look, shoot it. So nothing changed on this court,” Emma said. “We kept saying that it was an important game, but it’s just like it was back at Fowler. We just tried not to overthink it and shoot with confidence like always.”
Mia Riley finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals. Emma Riley had 16 points, seven rebounds and five steals for Fowler (16-4). Junior Emma Halfmann and sophomore Grace Epkey each added six points.
George said he’s known how good the Riley sisters are on the basketball court. But after Friday’s performance, other people will, too.
“Being from a small town, I don’t think people get to appreciate them,” George said. “We don’t get a lot of media coverage. There aren’t a lot of people in our gyms. Their skill level is incredible. I appreciate that we get to this type of stage, where others can appreciate how good they are.”
Bellaire finished its season with an 18-4 record. Decker and junior Jacey Somers led the team with six points apiece.
“Our girls had a pretty darn good season, too,” Fisher said. “We’ve talked about what this team has done and what this team is capable of. We have so many people to thank, the community, the MHSAA has been awesome.
“I’m just so proud of my girls. This was a fun ride. Eventually the season has to come to an end. And we had a couple special victories along the way. It’s obviously not the outcome we wanted, but we still made history.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Fowler's Avery Koenigsknecht (3) works to get past Bellaire's Emersyn Koekpe during Friday's Division 4 Final. (Middle) Fowler's Leah Wieber (22) works to get to the basket. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)