Performance: Oakridge's Sophia Wiard
February 9, 2018
Sophia Wiard
Muskegon Oakridge junior – Basketball
Wiard, a 5-foot-9 guard and three-year varsity player, went over 1,000 points scored for her career with 27 against rival Shelby on Feb. 1, earning the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” as he team extended what is now a 76-game winning streak in West Michigan Conference play. Oakridge has clinched a share of the league title – its ninth over the last decade – with two league games to play.
Wiard also has been part of two of the team’s six District titles over the last eight seasons, and she has a career record of 54-9 entering tonight’s game against Ravenna. This winter, she’s averaging 22.3 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals per game – and by going over 1,000 career points, joined her sister Keyara in achieving that milestone. Keyara Wiard graduated from Oakridge in 2013 with the program record of 1,353 points and last winter finished her career at Grand Valley State University. That record has since been broken, and Sophia Wiard is chasing 2017 graduate Hannah Reinbold's milestone of more than 1,500 points, which she hopes to eclipse next season.
Oakridge fell to Hamilton in a Regional Semifinal last season and to Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the Regional Final in 2015-16. If Wiard can lead her team to a Regional title, it would be the program’s first since her mom Renee (Burns) Wiard was a senior on the team in 1991. Sophia also will join her sister as a college athlete, already having committed to sign with University of Toledo this fall. A strong student, she is interested in studying chemical engineering or pharmacy. Wiard also joined Oakridge's softball varsity as a freshman and helped the team make last season's Division 2 Regional Finals.
Coach Terry DeJonge said: "Sophie is the epitome of being a student-athlete. Her 3.965 grade-point average and her Division I basketball skills make her a role model for all young females to follow. She has been not only our floor leader, but also the locker room and classroom leader. Pursuing and landing Sophie makes Toledo one of the smartest colleges in the country, as far as I am concerned."
Performance Point: “(The 1,000th point) is one step, one part of the process. It’s one goal that’s been met. It’s one of the first that I’ve been focusing on. Now it’s time to look even farther past that. … What’s next hopefully this season is to win the District, Regional and state championship.”
Born scorers: “I think (my sister and I) both put in the time, and I think in girls basketball if you put in the time, you will find success. We were raised playing basketball, so it was natural instinct to play basketball – and that’s what we did. I think that really just helped lead to scoring and stuff like that, when we’ve both just always been surrounded by good players to help us do that.”
Thanks Mom, thanks Sis: “My mom’s always been a kind-hearted person, which (taught me) be kind to everyone. And on the basketball court, it’s work hard, but make sure you’re having fun – stuff like that. It’s not just the game of basketball, it’s life. Just the simple things. She’s never been one to force me to do anything. She’s just been riding the roller coaster with me. … (From Keyara, I learned) work hard. Do the dirty things, like she was very scrappy. She did all the little things. (She was the) most athletic player to come through Oakridge, for sure. She just was the go-to player to make the shot but you could trust her to make the stop her team needed. She was always capable of doing the things others wouldn’t do.”
This can be the team: “Over the years we’ve always been really close. I’ve always been really close with my teammates. This year, the group of girls, everybody clicks really well. We all mesh really well. We’re all very close. We count on each other in school, out of school, on the basketball court, anywhere really. Our bench helps support us. Just little things like that. We’re all in it together. … Since I was watching my sister, when I was the manager, and they were always so close to winning Regionals, I was just getting hungry for that. I wanted to live that. I wanted to get that trophy at the end of the game. … I’m really hungry, and I really want to win.”
Finding the formula: “Science and mathematics, those are my two favorite subjects, and if I follow the path of chemical engineering I can do both. … I just think finding new ways to do things, (like) if it’s more environmentally-friendly, just being able to solve the little things to make it better – to improve things is what interests me the most.”
- 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:
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) Oakridge's Sophia Wiard works to get up a shot against Shelby last week. (Middle) Wiard breaks between two Muskegon defenders earlier this season. (Photos by Sherry Wahr.)
Time Still Now for Reigning Champ
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
February 28, 2018
DETROIT – Twelve months ago Detroit Edison was considered an up-and-coming program.
With all underclassmen in the starting lineup, any success the Pioneers would achieve during the 2017 MHSAA Tournament would be considered a bonus and a building block for this season.
Success for coach Monique Brown and her team arrived sooner than most predicted. Edison won the Class C title, the school’s first. And at that time, a repeat, possibly even a three-peat, was in the back of the minds of most who watched Edison’s tournament run.
Not only is Edison favored to repeat as champion in three weeks, there are many who say this team could be the state’s best regardless of class. One glance at the Pioneers’ schedule and results this season, and it’s easy to understand why.
Edison was 17-1 during the regular season with its only loss to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, the Class B runner-up last season and considered one of the top teams in Class C this winter. The Pioneers moved to 18-1 with their District win over Detroit Cristo Rey on Wednesday.
As an independent, Edison played a variety of teams and some of the best including reigning Class B champion Detroit Country Day and Class A elite Ann Arbor Huron, Saginaw Heritage and Wayne Memorial to name a few.
Brown stopped short of saying this team is better than her team last season, and wisely so. Until this team wins another Class C title, one can rest assured Brown won’t make that claim.
“I’ve been pleased with the growth and maturity they’ve shown,” Brown said. “They’ve grown up. Just the patience they’ve shown has been great. We’ve had some games this season that have gone to overtime, where we’ve been down late and have come back. In these situations last season we would have lost by 12 points or so.”
The most recent game where Edison trailed late before coming back to win played out at Heritage on Feb. 20. The Hawks (20-1), considered top contenders for the Class A title, entered the contest undefeated and coming off an impressive 59-49 victory at Country Day just three days earlier.
Edison trailed Heritage by five points with less than a minute to play and came back to win, 57-55, in double overtime.
“That was the best crowd we’ve ever had to face,” Brown said. “When we played Blissfield in the tournament last season, they brought a lot of fans but they were back, up in the stands. Heritage fans were so close to the floor. They were so close they could touch the players. Their student section was packed.”
Edison has star power in 6-foot-3 junior Rickea Jackson and 5-10 sophomore Gabrielle Elliott, both considered among the top players in their respective classes. But more than that, Edison has exceptional depth.
At the point is freshman sensation Damiya Hagemann. Sophomore Shaulana Wagner, who shared time at the point with Daija Tyson last season, is again sharing time at the point but this time with Hagemann. Tyson, a sophomore, recovered well after suffering a knee injury last season and is more at home on the wing.
Brown has two seniors, Ashley Primas and Oretha Humphries. This is Humphries’ fourth season in the program. And Primas, though not a prolific scorer, is the type of player every good program needs. Whatever is asked of her, she’ll do – she’s the player who will dive for loose balls, set screens and defend players on the wing and in the post.
“Both are quiet, almost like freshmen,” Brown said of her seniors. “Leadership? You get that from Jackson. During a timeout, she’ll get them going.
“Even during practice she’s a leader. At one practice, there was one of our of post players she wasn’t happy with. She texted her and said that she wasn’t working hard enough. I didn’t even know she did that. She’s matured so much. Last year I called her our “sophomore-senior,” but she didn’t know how to lead. Me not throwing that on her this year, she’s stepped into that role.”
Brown has received more consistent play from her reserves, especially since the loss to Arbor Prep on Jan. 11 Brown said her players weren’t as focused for that game as they need to be and got ahead of themselves, perhaps a bit too overconfident.
“That loss helped,” she said. “That’s why we were able to win other games later in the season. We trailed Arbor Prep the whole game and came back to tie it, and then relaxed.”
Brown knew she could count on players like Jackson, Elliott and Hagemann. But throughout the season others have emerged to contribute. Keiarra Jennings played sparingly as a freshman last season and has gradually earned more playing time. It was Jennings’ 3-pointer that sent the game against Heritage into overtime.
“Sometimes she’s too aggressive,” Brown said. “I’ll have to take her out and tell her to slow down. You wouldn’t believe how she’s progressed from last year. She’s a threat coming off the bench. She doesn’t play a whole lot of minutes, maybe 10 in a game, but she can get you seven quick points.”
Edison is a team where every player has accepted her role and is working toward the same goal, from seniors like Primas to freshman like Hagemann.
“It’s not that were better than last year,” Primas said. “We’re more mature. Mentally, we’re tougher this year. It’s the experience. We were in so many games last year where we were down late and would lose.
“There is a difference between last year and now. Last year we didn’t know what to expect. Our mindset this year is to dominate every game. We realize our roles. We have so many players and if one isn’t on their A game, we know we can step up and fill that void.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) This season’s Detroit Edison team, off to an 18-1 start as it pursues a second straight Class C title. (Middle) Gabrielle Elliott readies for a pass during a scrimmage. (Photos courtesy of the Detroit Edison girls basketball program.)