Renaissance Rises Again in Detroit PSL
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
February 16, 2017
DETROIT – Detroit Renaissance has had one of the top girls basketball programs in the Detroit Public School League for some time.
The Phoenix reached an MHSAA Final (Class B) for the first time in 1996. In 2005, Renaissance won its only title (also in Class B) with Diane Jones serving as head coach and current head coach Kiwan Ward a member of her staff. Renaissance reached the Class A Final in 2010 and 2011, also with Ward as an assistant coach.
The Phoenix are 14-3 this winter, having lost to Detroit Martin Luther King in a PSL semifinal 56-47 on Feb. 8. They are enjoying another successful season even after graduating one of the top players in the state in 2015-16, now-Penn State freshman Siyeh Frazier, and despite the challenges of a changing landscape in PSL girls hoops.
While Ward believes the distance between the PSL’s most and least successful programs has grown in recent years, Renaissance remains stable. In her sixth season as head coach, Ward has 11 varsity players and continues to field a competitive junior varsity while others in the league are having a tough time doing the same.
“We have good chemistry,” senior Victoria Wright said of this year’s team. “It’s our defense that helps us win. The bond we have on and off the court is special. We always have a good time together.”
All eight of the Phoenix's league wins this winter were by double figures, and in six of those wins they held opponents to 25 or fewer points.
Renaissance’s only other losses this season were twice to Detroit Mumford, which will play King for the PSL title Saturday. (Renaissance and Mumford both finished 8-2 in league play to tie for first in the PSL West Division 1, but Mumford because of its sweep of the Phoenix earned the league title and a top seed in the PSL Big D Tournament.)
Despite graduating Frazier, the Phoenix returned three starters from last season’s 14-5 team and are more balanced this winter. They are led by seniors Wright and Nina Reynolds; Wright is averaging 14 points and eight rebounds per game, and Reynolds is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds.
In addition to its PSL success, Renaissance also owns a 15-point win from December over Southfield Arts & Technology, the leader in the Oakland Activities Association Red and another expected Class A contender.
A game of that caliber has helped the Phoenix as the degree of parity in girls basketball in the PSL has shifted of late, creating challenges for some of the strongest programs.
It’s the drop-off in many others that has hurt teams like Renaissance, Detroit Cass Tech, Detroit King and Detroit Mumford that remain the most competitive. There are just four PSL programs that sponsor a junior varsity, which leads to scheduling difficulties, as Ward has seen players leave for schools outside the city.
Ward said she doesn’t blame parents for sending their children to other Wayne County schools with open enrollment. Ward said uncertainty within the Detroit Public Schools as to which schools will remain open and which will close has parents on edge.
It’s reported that as many as 24 schools in DPS will close this year. Rumors abound which schools will close, but at this time they are just that: rumors.
“Look at it from a broader point of view,” Ward said. “The talent is watered down (in the PSL). I remember when I (played) at Detroit Benedictine. We looked forward to playing PSL teams. Every game was competitive. No disrespect to anyone, but it’s hard for the girls to get geeked-up when you beat someone 74-11.”
That was the score when Renaissance won in the first round of the PSL playoffs, defeating a former league power now in the midst of a tough run.
It’s different for the boys, where competition remains high. Sure, there aren’t powerhouse teams like Detroit Southwestern and Detroit Cooley of the late 1980s and early 1990s (although Detroit Western and Henry Ford both won their first MHSAA boys titles over the last two seasons), but there aren’t nearly the number of one-sided games in league play as there are for the girls.
“There are eight to 10 teams on the boys side that are good,” Ward said. “With Cass Tech being down this year, we have like three good teams.”
Wright said she hopes to continue playing at the next level, possibly at Coastal Carolina. She said playing teams like King, Mumford and Southfield Arts & Technology brings out the best in her and her teammates.
Last season King defeated Renaissance in the PSL final, 68-66, to win its fifth consecutive league title.
“When you win by so much, it’s tough to play those games,” she said. “The competitive nature just isn’t there. It’s not that we’re not trying hard.
"It makes a big difference when you play those tougher teams."
Still, the top of the PSL remains strong – Renaissance included. King is expected to contend for its sixth Class A title under coach William Winfield and after finishing runner-up a year ago. Mumford also could make noise again in Class B.
Ward isn’t concerned about her program. It’s the others she’s worried about.
The Phoenix will finish their regular season next week against Detroit Country Day and Romulus before starting District play.
“The future in the PSL is uncertain,” Ward said. “For us, we’ll continue to get better.”
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) Detroit Renaissance starters are introduced during a game this season. (Middle) Nina Reynolds (left) and Victoria Wright. (Below) The Phoenix set up their defense. (Photos courtesy of the Detroit Renaissance girls basketball program.)
Davis Twins Putting Finishing Touches on Doubly Sensational West Bloomfield Legacy
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
January 25, 2024
Indya and Summer Davis are like most twins in that it often is hard to tell their differences.
But each definitely is her own person, especially off of the court.
Indya likes fish and lasagna, while Summer doesn’t.
Summer’s favorite color is blue, while Indya prefers pink.
Indya’s favorite music artist is Brent Faivaz, while Summer likes Kanye West.
There are also some subtle differences on the basketball court too as they proceed through their senior year at West Bloomfield.
While both are 5-foot-9, Indya spends more of her time in the paint dominating the boards and getting points in the post, while Summer is sharp shooting from the outside and helps facilitate the offense.
“I’m more on the arc than she is,” Summer Davis said. “She is more like an inside player, but she can (play the perimeter) too. With most of the positions how they are (on the team), she is more on the inside.”
However, just like they complement each other off the court, they have brilliantly done the same for the past three seasons in taking the West Bloomfield girls basketball program to new heights.
As sophomores, the duo was the centerpiece of a West Bloomfield team that won the Division 1 championship, the first in program history. The twins were better last year as juniors, but couldn’t quite help lead the Lakers to a repeat with a 40-36 loss to Rockford in the championship game at Breslin Center.
Even better and hungrier this year as seniors, the Davis twins not only form the best tandem on a team in the state, but they might end up as each other’s biggest competition for the Miss Basketball Award.
It’s certainly hard to tell them apart on the court, and that has everything to do with their games and not solely focusing on the fact they are identical twins.
The two might have different roles at the moment in West Bloomfield’s system, but if you asked them to reverse roles with Indya moving to the perimeter and Summer inside, they would likely thrive just as much.
“We’re definitely all-around players,” Indya Davis said.
West Bloomfield head coach Darrin McAllister said that has been the case since he first met the twins as middle schoolers playing in the Michigan Storm AAU program.
McAllister said the Davis twins were like sponges back then wanting to absorb as much knowledge as they could, even if McAllister wasn’t technically their coach because he was presiding over an older-aged team within the program.
“I think they were about sixth or seventh grade,” McAllister said. “After every practice, they would come up to me and say, ‘Hey can you show me this? Can you show me that?’ To be honest with you, I was tired and ready to go home, but these little kids wanted to learn. They continued to come in and bug me about little things. Some of the moves we worked on when they were in sixth and seventh grade, they’re executing right now.”
Summer Davis said she has always had basketball as her No. 1 sport, but Indya said she did dabble a bit in tennis and gymnastics when she was younger.
By the time they were 10 years old, they decided to focus solely on basketball, and the rest is history.
Following Friday’s game against Oxford, Summer leads the team in scoring at 17.2 points per game, assists at 4.9 a contest, and steals at 5.3 a game.
Indya Davis is averaging just over 15 points a game to go along with 6.6 rebounds for a West Bloomfield team that is 9-0. The stats would probably be even higher, but the Lakers haven’t played in many close games this year and the twins’ minutes have been limited. West Bloomfield also gets significant contributions from senior Kendall Hendrix, another future Division I college player who has signed with Loyola Chicago.
Once their high school careers are over, the Davis twins will continue to play together at Georgia. The twins originally committed to Michigan State, but decommitted after former head coach Suzy Merchant resigned.
While wanting to rack up stats and be 1-2 in the Miss Basketball voting, the two are also identical and aligned in their prime motivation for the rest of their final high school season.
That would be to get back on top of the state and avenge the loss to Rockford in last year’s Final.
“I think we’re more about the lesson we learned from it,” Indya Davis said. “How driven we are to come back stronger than we were. Look at where we made mistakes and what we can do better. Just come out harder than ever.”
As has been the case throughout their careers, two would be better than one when it comes to Division 1 championships for the Davis sisters and West Bloomfield.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) West Bloomfield’s Summer Davis (23) brings the ball up the court during last season’s Division 1 Semifinal win over Salem, with sister Indya Davis (24) leading the way. (Middle) Summer, left, and Indya Davis last week.