Performance: Heritage's Shine Strickland-Gills
March 22, 2018
Shine Strickland-Gills
Saginaw Heritage junior – Basketball
On back-to-back days, Heritage’s 6-foot-1 forward put together back-to-back standout performances at Van Noord Arena to lead the Hawks to their first MHSAA girls basketball title since 2002. She had 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals in a 46-28 Semifinal win over Grosse Pointe North, then 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in Saturday’s 57-36 Class A championship victory over East Lansing to earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
This season, Strickland-Gills averaged 12.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.2 assists and two steals per game as Heritage finished 27-1 – its only loss was in double overtime to eventual Class C champion Detroit Edison. She also started as a sophomore when the Hawks finished 20-2 and was a varsity sub when they were 22-2 in 2015-16.
Strickland-Gills still has plenty of time to figure out her future, of course, but she'll choose from Division I college basketball opportunities and is interested in a career in the medical field, perhaps as a physician’s assistant. She’s also played volleyball and participated in track & field at Heritage, although she’s unsure if she’ll compete in either sport moving forward.
Coach Vonnie DeLong said: “Shine has developed into one of the best post players in the state. She has come so far since her freshman year, physically, mentally and emotionally. She has always been a very hard worker and spends hours in the gym. But this year there is a maturity about her that really took her to the next level. Her hard work was finally paying off and as she started seeing the results it just motivated her even more. She has developed a great understanding of the game. She has also become one of our vocal floor leaders, which allows her to ‘quarterback’ the back of our defense. I always tell my kids, ‘I can't give you confidence. The only way you gain more confidence is by putting the time in and transferring it to game situations. It comes down to preparation.' Shine has done that and is now a pretty confident basketball player. She has also become a great teammate. We don't win the state championship without her. … I'm excited to see what the next year holds for Shine. She seemed to get better every game this year, and after another offseason of workouts and AAU, I am sure she will be even better next year. I'm just happy I get the opportunity to coach her for another season. She is a very coachable, kind, fun-loving kid that I am really going to miss when she moves on.”
Performance Point: “What’s sticking out the most is how relentless we are and how focused we are because it’s extremely hard to play back-to-back like that, especially two really tough games,” Strickland-Gills said of her memories from the weekend. “That we came out and performed hard, and did the best we can, I was very proud of that. We knew that if we came to play Friday, we would have a sure chance of winning and to play on Saturday. And if Saturday we came to play, we could really do it. … There’s been a lot of congratulations. Every time I come down the hallway, every teacher I’ve had, and I got lots of teacher emails and stuff like that.”
Shining Moment: “When (Coach DeLong) took us out with two minutes to go, when everybody sat down, we were all just like, ‘We did it. Finally, we just really did it.’ And it really hit – we just won states. It was a very proud moment.”
Expectations met: “In the past we’ve had really good groups. But this year was something special because we had a better mindset before we got into the tournament. Everybody bought in, and our practices were a lot, lot better. We even got better as a team during the tournament. … We never stopped getting better and we never stopped going hard, and I think that was a major difference that helped us.”
Pride in my roles: “My team is really good at scoring. That’s what they do. My team doesn’t always need somebody to score 20 points a game. We just need to play defense – you can’t win without stopping your opponent from scoring. My team (also) really needs me to rebound, so that’s what I focus on. I know if I do my job, I can really reap the benefits. … ‘Coming out, I need to score 10, 15 points,’ has never been a thought in my head. I just need to come to play and do what my coach tells me to do, and we’ll get it done. I take a lot more joy in my teammates scoring and seeing how happy they get, how happy the crowd gets, rather than just me.”
Making her name: “I was born in spring. At the beginning of April, it isn’t too warm, but it was super hot that day. (My mother) was like, ‘I don’t know what to name her.’ So my original name was going to be J. My dad wanted to name me Erma after his mom. So my mom said, ‘You know, it’s hot outside. So we’re just going to name her Shine.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
March 15: Skyler Cook-Weeks, Holland Christian swimming - Read
March 8: Dakota Greer, Howard City Tri-County wrestling - Read
March 1: Camree' Clegg, Wayne Memorial basketball - Read
February 23: Aliah Robertson, Sault Ste. Marie swimming - Read
February 16: Austin O'Hearon, Eaton Rapids wrestling - Read
February 9: Sophia Wiard, Muskegon Oakridge basketball - Read
February 2: Brenden Tulpa, Hartland hockey - Read
January 25: Brandon Whitman, Dundee wrestling - Read
January 18: Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa swimming - Read
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Saginaw Heritage's Shine Strickland-Gills works to get past East Lansing's Jaida Hampton during Saturday's Class A Final. (Middle) Strickland-Gills goes up for the opening jump.
Ewen-Trout Creek Grad Rekindles Memories of 'The Barn' in 8-Part Docu-Series
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
February 7, 2023
It was known as “The Barn.” And it was home to the 1972 Class D boys basketball champion, the 1973 Class D girls basketball champion and the 1982 Class D boys basketball runners-up.
The Upper Peninsula’s all-time winningest female basketball coach coached at The Barn, as did the Upper Peninsula’s all-time winningest male basketball coach. And when Ewen-Trout Creek advanced to the 2022 Division 4 Final, its roster was littered with names from E-TC’s past:
► Leading scorer Jaden Borseth’s dad played on the 1995 team that advanced to the Class D Regional Final.
► Kelsey Jilek’s dad played on the 1992 team.
► Brendan Polkky’s dad is currently an assistant coach for E-TC and played on the 1991 team that also advanced to the Class D Regional Final.
► Caden Besonen’s dad Dave starred on the 1982 state runner-up team. Caden’s uncle Brad is the E-TC head coach. And Brad’s dad, Bryan, played on the 1972 championship team.
The Barn hosted its final E-TC game in 1998 and is now owned by Gary Fors, who also played on the 1972 title team. It’s now a community gym of sorts, and many members of the 2022 team worked out there growing up.
E-TC grad Kristin Ojaniemi – an award-winning documentary film maker and photographer, and the TV producer and host of “Discovering” for 906 Outdoors – is taking a look at the history of “The Barn” as well as its ties to the 2022 team in an eight-part series called “Born in the Barn.” The first two parts are complete, and the entire series will be available to view at KristinOjaniemi.com.
I had a chance to ask Ojaniemi about the project and why it’s so special to so many people.
Kristin, how did you come up with the idea to document the history of The Barn?
The idea to document the history of The Barn and E-TC basketball developed over time. Five years ago I had a conversation with Dan Truckey of the Beaumier Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University, and when I told him where I went to high school, we got on the topic of basketball and how E-TC was a powerhouse and that "there must be something in the water" here. Fast forward to 2021, and I saw on Facebook some photos of the inside of The Barn and all the newspapers Gary Fors had lined the walls with, sort of like a museum. February of 2022 I realized it was 50 years since the 1972 boys state championship and 40 years since the 1982 state runner-up seasons. I like anniversaries in history and thought it would be the perfect time to do some sort of documentary. Originally my focus was Gary and The Barn and more of the 70s and 80s boys and girls seasons, but once the 2022 boys started advancing in the tournament, that obviously changed.
What did the 2022 team’s run to the Finals mean to the players from the ’72 and ’82 teams?
The 2022 run meant a lot to the players of '72 and '82 because many of those boys are sons, grandsons, great-nephews of those guys. Bryan Besonen of the '72 team is coach Brad Besonen's father. Many of them traveled to every tournament game, and watching the 2022 season brought back memories of their glory days. They're definitely very proud of the 2022 team and the tradition that E-TC has continued through the years. Watching them watch those games was just as fun as watching the court. The 2022 team's run to the Finals meant a lot to the whole community. So many others traveled all the way to Lansing to cheer them on, and there is just a ton of pride in this team. I went to the banner unveiling a few weeks ago, and it was a huge crowd at the game to watch those few seconds of history being made.
What is your history with The Barn?
I graduated from Ewen-Trout Creek in 2000. We were in the "new" school then, but I spent four years – seventh-10th grade – in the "old" school, which had so much more character than the new one! I did play basketball seventh-10th – junior high and junior varsity. I was a benchwarmer most of those years. I loved the game but didn't spend any time offseason playing or practicing like others. I was also a cheerleader those years too, and if you look closely at one of the newspaper photos from the last game in the Barn, I'm in the background. Ha ha! This was back when girls basketball was in the fall and boys in the winter, so you could do both. As others in the documentary mention, The Barn was also where you hung out at lunch, and gym class was in there, and homecoming activities. Filming in there brought back a lot of memories.
What did Nancy Osier (U.P.’s winningest female basketball coach) and Tom Caudill (U.P.’s winningest male basketball coach) think made The Barn such a difficult place for opposing teams to play?
Thinking back to Nancy and Tom's interviews, I think the difficulty for other teams really boiled down to the atmosphere and the E-TC fans and that intimidation factor. E-TC had the ultimate homecourt advantage in The Barn, and their players spent hours upon hours practicing on that floor. And the school's history and tradition of rarely losing a home game is also intimidating.
There’s obviously a lot of family ties from the 2022 team to earlier teams – and it was the 50th anniversary of the ’72 win – did they feel more pressure along the way because of that?
I think the 2022 boys had this feeling that they wanted to one-up their grandfathers/fathers. I think it was Kelsey Jilek that told his grandfather, George Hardes (1972), that they had one more game in their schedule so they could potentially have a better record if they won all their games. But none of them came out and mentioned that the anniversary put pressure on them, but I’m sure it was there. They set out to win it all from the beginning and put the work in, and it paid off. There are a lot of parallels in these winning seasons.
When will the next part of the series be released?
Part 3, I should have done by the end of February. Part 3 focuses on the 1973 girls state champs; 1973 was the first year there was a state final for girls basketball after Title IX, and E-TC won the Class D title. And then I plan to release each part every two months with the final, Part 8, done by the end of 2023. This is just a fun hobby/personal project, I guess you'd say, so I only have so much time to dedicate to it after all my "real" work.
(PHOTOS of "The Barn" courtesy of Kristin Ojaniemi.)