Senior Leads Arbor Prep to New Heights
March 19, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Ypsilanti Arbor Prep finished its fifth season of high school girls basketball Saturday. Nastassja Chambers finished her fourth season on the varsity.
That makes her the first star in the program’s young history – and one that will be remembered for years to come thanks to the Class C championship she helped the Gators earn in her final high school game.
Chambers scored 14 points to go with three assists and three steals, and 10 of those points came as Arbor Prep put Traverse City St. Francis nearly out of contention during the first half on the way to a 53-37 title game win at the Breslin Center.
Arbor Prep opened for the 2011-12 school year, and was first eligible for MHSAA Tournament play in 2012-13. Chambers has been part of the team for all of its postseason games, including two straight trips to Finals weekend, and for a combined run of 86 wins and only 15 losses.
“She’s someone to look up to, because no matter how much pain or how tired she is, she works hard,” Arbor Prep junior Adrienne Anderson said. “And that’s what she pushes us to do. And because she pushes herself, she’s in the position she’s in today. It’s an example that we want to follow.”
Arbor Prep (25-2) finished its final opponent this season the way it’s taken on a schedule loaded with top Class A and B programs all winter.
The top-ranked Gators jumped out to a 9-0 lead, and after allowing the Gladiators to get back within three by the end of the first quarter, took off again to carry a 25-18 lead into halftime.
“We knew we had to come after them. We’re normally the team that always gets the lead, so we knew if we came out hard we could maintain the lead, and that would have them on their toes,” Chambers said. “And we knew once they called that timeout (with Arbor Prep up 4-0), we knew we had gotten in their heads."
The teams played almost evenly during the third quarter, with Arbor Prep taking a nine-point lead into the fourth – where the Gators turned on the jets again and changed up defenses a few times as they pushed the lead to as large as 18.
Arbor Prep took advantage of 29 St. Francis turnovers, scoring 33 points off takeaways, and had 16 fastbreak points to the Gladiators’ zero.
“I was worried early in the game, but I thought we’d adjust. They never let us. We never got in a rhythm. We never got in a routine,” St. Francis coach Keith Haske said. “Obviously that’s the best team we’ve seen this year. We got them a few times on the press, but obviously not enough to make a difference.
“Just watching them against Ithaca (in the Semifinal), they are just a little bit quicker than what we’re used to seeing. They’ve got more quick kids than I ever want to see in my life again. Usually when they have one or two quick kids, it’s OK. They’d take out three more, and three more came in.”
Junior Cydney Williams added 10 points and 11 rebounds for Arbor Prep, which spread the scoring among seven players – with Chambers the only senior. Her contributions were not lost on the Gators once the championship ride was done. The 5-foot-8 guard will continue her career next season at Wayne State University and averaged a team-high 11.2 points per game heading into the week.
“These last two games she led us in scoring, but previous games in the state tournament she didn’t always lead us in scoring. She’s grown as a player, understanding you don’t have to lead us in scoring to be a good player, and I think that’s the biggest thing she got out of this season,” Arbor Prep coach Rod Wells said.
“She’s’ always helped push us to our greatest potential, and when we’re down she helps pick us all back up,” Williams added. “She’ll always be there with a smile to help you move along.”
St. Francis, which played in its first MHSAA championship game and suffered its first loss since the second game of the season, also will say good-bye to only two seniors who played significant minutes Saturday – although they were the leading scorers.
Forward Annie Lyman had 15 points and center Lauren McDonnell had 10 points and six rebounds. Junior forward Juliana Phillips, a standout in the Semifinal, added nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Gladiators finished 26-2 and entered the postseason tied for No. 3 in The Associated Press' rankings.
“I’m just so proud of our team and what we accomplished this year together,” Phillips said. “We just love each other a lot. … This moment is as far as you can make it in a season. We’re all pretty sad it’s over, but super proud of what we did.”
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ypsilanti Arbor Prep players celebrate the first MHSAA championship in their school’s history. (Middle) The Gators’ Ro’zhane Wells drives to the basket with a pair of St. Francis defenders moving to clog the lane.
Edison Avenges Loss, Locks Up Repeat
March 17, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
GRAND RAPIDS – Detroit Edison’s girls basketball team had one loose end left to tie this weekend.
By midway through the third quarter Saturday, everything the Pioneers had hoped to accomplish was secured – including their second straight Class C championship.
Edison avenged its lone loss of the season with a 51-34 victory over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at Van Noord Arena. The Gators had won their regular-season meeting 54-49 on Jan. 11.
And early in the rematch, they looked to be Edison’s nemesis again. Arbor Prep jumped out to an eight-point lead barely five minutes into the game. But the Pioneers responded with a 16-7 run to take the lead for good midway through the second quarter.
“The first quarter rattled us a little bit. But we overcame many other games when we were down,” Edison junior Rickea Jackson said. “When we hold each other accountable for things, we can get on each other, and we trust one another. So it was easier for us to get back in the game.”
And that served as proof of the biggest difference in this year’s team from the one that claimed the school’s first MHSAA title in any sport a year ago.
This season’s Pioneers have been considered by many the best team in the state, regardless of Class, thanks to a run through a number of contenders in Class A and B including an overtime 57-55 win over Saginaw Heritage on Feb. 20. Heritage won the Class A title earlier Saturday.
But while Edison (24-1) has won 33 of its last 34 games going back to last season, that one defeat still gnawed away.
“We knew in the back of our heads that Arbor Prep was the only team we’d lost to this year,” Pioneers coach Monique Brown said. “I think that was sitting with us when we first started, so (there was) a lot of anxiety when we started.
“Last year, we got off to that start against a Country Day or Arbor Prep, we weren’t able to overcome that. (Their) lead of seven points, eight points would turn into 15 by the end of the game. So I think our maturity and our tough schedule we had this year had prepared us for this moment today.”
Brown had noticed from film of the first matchup that her team, while applying some effective pressure, didn’t finish it off with points off turnovers.
The Pioneers had 28 points off Arbor Prep’s 20 turnovers Saturday. They also outrebounded the Gators 46-39 and held them to 13 percent shooting from the floor over the final three quarters. Jackson had six points and sophomore guard Shaulana Wagner had four off the bench during the run to the lead. Edison sophomore Gabrielle Elliott, meanwhile, scored 16 of her game-high 20 points during the second half.
“We didn’t have the effort to finish the plays in the first half to keep us in the lead,” Arbor Prep coach Scott Stine said. “The second half got very physical. … We really didn’t have our rhythm the whole game, and it showed. They’re regarded as the best team in the state, and you’ve gotta play a great game to beat them. We weren’t perfect today.”
Elliott made 8 of 12 shots from the floor. Jackson followed her scoring with 16 points to go with 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Wagner, a starter last season and significant sub in both games this weekend, added six points, eight rebounds and five steals. Freshman guard Damiya Hagemann had nine points and five assists.
Arbor Prep senior Lasha Petree, a Miss Basketball finalist this season, finished with 19 points, six rebounds and five blocks. None of her teammates scored more than four, however, as the 34 points total were their season low.
This was Arbor Prep’s third straight championship game appearance. The Gators (21-6) won Class C in 2016, then finished runner-up in Class B a year ago.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Edison’s Gabrielle Elliott works to get past Mahri Petree during Saturday’s Class C Final. (Middle) Arbor Prep’s Lasha Petree gets her hand on an Elliott shot.