Pittsford Pair Leads Repeat Title Charge
March 18, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – They could make left-handed layups as second graders. That just doesn’t happen. This was bound to be a special group.
Chris Hodos made that observation and prediction a decade ago, five seasons before taking over the Pittsford girls basketball program. He proved to be quite right – but never could’ve expected to say good-bye Saturday to a senior class including the most victorious pair in MHSAA girls basketball history.
The Wildcats finished a second straight Class D championship run Saturday and extended a two-season winning streak to 55 straight victories with a 71-31 title clincher over Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary at the Breslin Center.
Pittsford students chanted “automatic” after Maddie Clark’s first basket of the fourth quarter, and the Wildcats nearly have been the last four seasons. Four seniors played their last game Saturday morning – Clark, Jaycie Burger, Katelyn Kafer and Katie Clement – and after tying the record in Thursday’s Semifinal, Clark and Burger ended their careers 103-2 over their four varsity seasons – and with the MHSAA girls basketball record for career victories.
“I’m just so thankful to have been able to do this with all my best friends in the whole world. I love this team so much,” Burger said. “I’m sad this is our last game ever in a Pittsford uniform, but I wouldn’t have wanted it to go any other way. A running block in the state championship is pretty special, and I’m just happy that I got to take part in that. It’s sad, but it’s happy.”
This season’s Pittsford team finished 28-0, to go with a 27-0 record in 2015-16. The Wildcats fell in overtime to St. Ignace in the Class D championship game to close 2014-15, as their only loss of 2013-14 came in a Class C District Final to Adrian Madison.
Clark was named Class C Player of the Year this winter by The Associated Press, and Burger also was selected to the all-state first team. Both started during all three trips to Breslin, and Kafer saw the floor briefly in both the 2015 and 2016 Finals before starting Saturday.
“They’re winners up and down the line,” Hodos said. “They’re all 4.0 students, or close to it. We were academic all-state as a team last year and we’ll be close again this year. They’re all active in the community; they do a lot of good things off the court. They’re not just winners on the basketball court.”
As Burger drove into the lane two minutes in, saw the defense shift toward her and dropped a pass to an open Clark under the basket for two points, it was surely familiar to anyone who has followed the final weekend of girls basketball the last few years. Clark and Burger combined to score their team’s first 11 points against the Cardinals and 14 total during the first quarter as Pittsford took a 16-6 lead into the second.
Certainly to its credit, MLS (18-10) stuck within 10 of the Wildcats past the middle of the second quarter – something many teams have not been able to accomplish the last few seasons. And it was a memorable weekend as well for a Cardinals program that played in both its first Semifinal and championship game.
MLS kept within 30-17 heading into halftime. But Pittsford came out on a 26-6 run during the third quarter and pushed the lead further in the fourth.
Junior guard Reese VanLue led MLS with 13 points and nine rebounds.
“I’m definitely proud of our team. We achieved so much,” Cardinals senior center Rylee Pankow said. “It really does actually hurt, but we let our light shine on the court. It may not have been the score we wanted it to be, but I think we’re a better team than that but we didn’t play our best today.”
“We have a great group of leaders on this team. They played for each other all season, and they kept battling and battling,” MLS coach Brian Blaine added. “Our goal was to make a tournament run, and I know it hurt for these girls because they didn’t want it to end. But definitely when they get some time to take a look at this, they’ll realize it’s been a pretty magical run.”
Clark (29) and Burger (27) scored 56 of their team’s 71 points before coming off the court together as the clock ran under 30 seconds. Clark made 11 of 15 shots from the floor and all seven of her free throws, and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Burger added three assists and three steals, and junior guards Sydni Brunette and Marissa Shaw had six and four steals, respectively. Shaw finished this winter with 175 steals, tied for sixth most in MHSAA history for one season.
“We know our roles as a team,” Clark said. “I know a couple times Sydni had a wide-open look but she passed it to Jaycie because Jaycie was feeling it. We’re very unselfish and we know what our roles are, and that’s very important. And these girls are really special. … These last two seasons we have been perfect, and that doesn’t happen very often. And I’m thankful for my team, because they make me a better player.”
To answer again a question that’s been frequently asked this weekend, Pittsford is located southeast of Hillsdale and just west of U.S. 127, about 12 miles from the Ohio border.
The high school has a few more than 200 students, and friendships go back generations – this team certainly adding to that bond.
“We’re a pretty close group. Jaycie’s dad didn’t go to Pittsford, but him and I were friends in high school – actually, we hated playing against each other, but we loved it,” Hodos said. “And Mad’s dad and I were good friends in high school.
“And a lot of the other girls too; it started in kindergarten, and they’ve grown so much.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Pittsford’s players, coaches and fans celebrate at the end of Saturday’s Class D championship game win. (Middle) The Wildcats’ Jaycie Burger maneuvers to put up a shot over Michigan Lutheran Seminary’s Rylee Pankow.
Focused on Finish, West Bloomfield Completes Run to Reign Again
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2024
EAST LANSING — Following Friday’s overtime Semifinal win over Rockford – a rematch of last season’s Division 1 championship game – many may have thought West Bloomfield already had clinched this year’s title.
But the deciding matchup with Grand Blanc still loomed Saturday, and trying to get over Friday’s emotional high was a bit of a task for the Lakers.
“A little bit,” West Bloomfield senior Summer Davis said. “But we came here for one goal, and that was to win a state championship. I think everybody got that.”
West Bloomfield left no doubt that there wouldn’t be a letdown from the start Saturday, holding Grand Blanc to just one point in the first quarter and ultimately cruising to a 60-30 win.
It was the second championship in three years for the Lakers, who finished a mission that began following a tough loss to Rockford in last year’s championship game.
The Lakers finished this season 27-1, unbeaten in Michigan with their only loss to an Ohio opponent.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our players,” West Bloomfield head coach Darrin McAllister said. “I’m super proud of our seniors. I’ve had them since they were sophomores. I kind of watched them grow up. They turned out to be two-time champions today, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
West Bloomfield wouldn’t have been in the title game if not for senior Indya Davis banking in a 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer Friday, forcing overtime in the Lakers’ eventual 55-47 win over the Rams.
West Bloomfield continued to roll right into Saturday, scoring the first 10 points against the Bobcats and ultimately leading 15-1 going into the second quarter.
“We had to have the mentality coming out of ‘don’t underestimate them,’” Summer Davis said. “Just play hard.”
The Lakers built their lead to 33-17 by halftime, and then all but put the game away outscoring Grand Blanc 18-8 in the third quarter and taking a 51-25 lead into the fourth.
The game was a rematch of a regular-season finale between the teams, which West Bloomfield won by 39 points.
Summer Davis scored 14 points, senior Kendall Hendrix had 13 and Indya Davis had 11 points and eight rebounds for West Bloomfield, which shot 53.7 percent from the field and 8 of 18 from 3-point range.
Grand Blanc was making its first appearance in a Final and finished its season 23-5. Senior Chelsea Bishop scored 20 points to lead the Bobcats, which shot 26.2 percent from the field and made just 2 of 15 shots from 3-point range.
Grand Blanc also turned the ball over 19 times, and West Bloomfield capitalized with 12 points off those changes in possession.
“We thought we had to get a good start out of the gate, and we just didn’t,” Grand Blanc head coach Bob Taylor said. “We got behind early, and it seemed like it was all uphill.
“That team is very, very good. Every time they had a shot, they made it. They got the ball into the high post, they moved the ball and they played good defense. When we got behind, it was just hard.”
PHOTOS (Top) West Bloomfield players celebrate their Division 1 championship Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Several players including the Lakers’ Kendall Hendrix (11) challenge for a loose ball. (Below) Indya Davis (24) pulls up for a jumper with Grand Blanc’s Kate DeWitt (20) defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)