Southfield A&T Aiming for Highest Goal

By Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half

February 14, 2019

SOUTHFIELD – This is season three since the merger combining Southfield’s two former public high schools, Southfield High and Southfield-Lathrup. And the shining star through all of the hubbub, at least athletically, is the girls basketball program.

The result of the merger is Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology, commonly known as Southfield A&T. The school is located at the former Southfield High, at the corner of 10 Mile Road and Lahser Road. While the boys track & field and football teams have been competitive since the merger, the success of coach Michele Marshall’s girls basketball team has gained statewide attention.

This season the Warriors could have the best team in Southfield history, whether at Southfield High, Southfield-Lathrup or A&T.

No, we’re not forgetting the 2005 Southfield-Lathrup team, also coached by Marshall (her name was Michele Jackson then), which won the Class A title. There are similarities between that team and this year’s squad, which we will address later.

This season the Warriors are 14-1 and ranked No. 2 in Division 1 in the latest Associated Press poll. Their only loss came in the second game to 2018 Class A champion Saginaw Heritage, 45-43, at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep as part of the Icebreaker Challenge. Southfield A&T is 7-0 in the Oakland Activities Association Red, a half-game ahead of Royal Oak (14-1, 7-1) after the Warriors won 60-47 at Royal Oak on Feb. 5.

The teams will complete the regular season against each other Feb. 28 at Southfield A&T.

“It was (a big victory),” Marshall said. “I watched the Royal Oak program grow even when I was coaching at Lathrup. They play very hard. Anytime you walk into a gym where there’s a hostile crowd, it’s going to be a challenge. It was for first place. They were undefeated. We need all the competition we can get to get ready for the state tournament.”

Southfield A&T will host Bloomfield Hills tonight, and barring a major upset in the next two weeks the Warriors will win the Red. It’s no slight to any of the teams in the division, but Southfield has bigger goals – notably, the Division 1 championship.

“That’s a lofty expectation,” Marshall said. “We hope to win a state championship. That’s our goal. If that isn’t (your goal), you have to ask yourself, why are you coaching?

“(But) having won a state title, I know you have to have a lot of things go your way.”

This team has experience with three starters returning led by senior Alexis Johnson and junior Cheyenne McEvans. They are both 5-foot-10 and two of the state’s top players in their respective classes, and both started on the 2016-17 team that reached a Class A Semifinal before losing to East Kentwood, 55-51.

Johnson, who surpassed 1,000 career points and averages 20 per game, is a four-year varsity player and has signed with Marshall University. McEvans averages 18 points and, although she spends much of her time at the guard position, grabbed 22 rebounds in the victory over Royal Oak.

The third returning starter is sophomore Kayiona Willis, who took over at the point guard spot last season and is averaging eight points per game. The other two starters are Soleil Barnes, a 5-8 senior who averaged 16 points last season while attending Nordonia High in Macedonia, Ohio, near Cleveland, and is contributing 10 per game this winter; and Jasmine Worthy, a 6-3 junior who attended nearby Birmingham Groves last season and is averaging eight points and eight rebounds. Her presence inside has allowed Johnson, a post player her first three seasons, to play on the perimeter or wherever Marshall sees fit.

Few teams can match the versatility, experience and talent of Marshall’s starting five. What can’t be measured is the commitment of this group. It’s not a stretch to make comparisons with the 2005 Southfield-Lathrup team. That team returned all five starters from the 2004 team that reached the Semifinal round before losing a heartbreaker to Lansing Waverly, 50-49.

Waverly, which would go on to defeat Detroit Martin Luther King, 33-32, for the Class A title, trailed Southfield-Lathrup after each of the first three quarters before pulling out the victory. And those 2004 Chargers learned their lessons well as they, too, won a close Semifinal (62-58 over Grandville in overtime) a year later before defeating King, 48-36, for the school’s only MHSAA Finals title.

Talent and experience are just two reasons why this season’s Warriors are such legitimate contenders. Look at the teams that win state titles. Normally you find an experienced coach on the bench. And that’s why this program is so highly respected.

Marshall has coached girls basketball for 27 years, the last 25 as a head coach, the first 22 at Southfield-Lathrup. She’s also taught English during this period all within the Southfield school system. When the two high schools merged, decisions had to be made on who would be the head coach of each of the athletic programs. After some debate, Marshall was named head coach at A&T.

Looking back it would appear the school district made the right choice. Above all else, Marshall has provided stability for a situation that could have turned ugly. Coaching a team where many players were rivals the season before had it challenges. There were jealousies and selfish tendencies with which to contend. That 2016-17 season challenged Marshall as a coach, and as a teacher and mentor away from the court.

Most of the players had played for Southfield High the previous season and she, of course, had coached against them. Known as a strict but fair coach, one who allows her players to be creative, Marshall dug deep to find the courage and patience to win her players over.

“They were our rivals,” said Johnson – the only remaining player from the pre-merger days – of her new teammates who came over from Southfield-Lathrup. “There was tension at first. … Coach said if we want to win, we had to work together. We connected after the King game.”

Showing how difficult that process was and how long it took, that game against King was the Regional Final.

“Nothing was easy,” Marshall said. “I took the most prominent leader from Lathrup and the most prominent leader from Southfield to help lead us. By the end of the season the kids all came together. We got to the semis. It was fun.”

And Johnson said that 2017 Semifinal loss to East Kentwood continues to provide motivation. And there’s an air of confidence that exuberates throughout.

“When we lost to East Kentwood, we were hungry to win a state title,” she said. “This team’s work ethic is different than any team I’ve been on. We all just want to win. We’re all on the same page.”

Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also 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) Southfield Arts & Technology’s Cheyenne McEvans looks to make her move during her team’s win over Royal Oak on Feb. 5. (Middle) Warriors coach Michele Marshall talks things over with her players. (Photos courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)

Manistee Catholic Central's Excellence Bolstered by Experience

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

January 6, 2023

Playing three guards happens probably most at the high school level, but still may be considered an uncommon lineup. 

And it’s unlikely more than one Michigan high school girls basketball team can boast of having all three guards on the court playing at least their fifth seasons at the varsity level.

Manistee Catholic Central can. And these guards, playing more like a family as some say, are ready to undo the feeling of last year’s season-ending loss to Brethren in the District Semifinal.

Due to the school’s tiny enrollment, MCC is allowed under MHSAA rules to have seventh and eighth graders on the roster as they’ve had for some time. So when the Sabres gather around the seniors including Leah Stickney, Kaylyn Johnson, Emily Miller, Abbey Logan and Ashley VanAelst during their pregame warm-up, they fire up around a lot of experience.

MCC went 14-5 last year and shared the West Michigan D League championship. They’re off to a 7-2 start as they host Walkerville tonight. Both losses this season were by just one point.

VanAelst is one of the guards and captains in the starting lineup. She joined the Sabres late in her in eighth grade season.

“I’ve grown up with this team,” VanAelst said. “They have been (there) for me throughout everything.  

“I see them as the best family I could ever have,” she continued. “I love to call them my family.” 

Being so much a part of each other’s lives, including school days, has bode well for the Sabres, VanAelst said.

“We have such a good bonding aspect,” she said. “When we’re on the court, we forget about all of our troubles and we come together.  

“I like when we’re on the court, we’re all one.”

Stickney, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, is the team’s leading rebounder. She regularly starts in the three-guard formation with VanAelst and junior Grace Kidd. Johnson, the team’s leading scorer at 12.2 points per game, starts in the post.

MCC coach Todd Erickson talks things over with Leah Stickney (3). Stickney, Johnson, Kidd, and junior Elizabeth Logan all played on the varsity team prior to entering the high school. The experienced lineup has coach Todd Erickson looking for an extended postseason run.

“They got the court time over the year to play at this level,” Erickson said. “We’ve been waiting for this team to come into their own.  

“We’re not where we think we can be yet.”

The Sabres are moving south to Walkerville to start the postseason this year. They will vie for the District title there with Walkerville, Baldwin, Mason County Eastern, McBain Northern Michigan Christian and Pentwater. 

MCC picked up a 44-18 win this week over Pentwater, a potential District opponent.

Summer camps in Petoskey and Gaylord, along with a summer YMCA league in Traverse City, helped the Sabres prepare for this season. VanAelst was one of the players leading the charge.

“I wanted to do something great,” VanAelst said. “I just really wanted to make myself better and be a leader out on the court and help my teammates along the way.  

“It was more a team building aspect and how we can work together and become a better team,” she continued. “Instead of working on ourselves individually, we worked together.”

Over the years, Erickson’s teams have won a dozen District championships and three Regionals. His Sabers advanced to the Semifinals in 1999 before falling to eventual Class D champion Portland St. Patrick. The Sabres had only eight players on that roster.

Erickson took over the Sabers girls program during the middle of the 1992 season when the head coach at the time suddenly stepped down. Erickson coached both varsity and JV for the remainder of the year.

He left Manistee Catholic briefly to coach Manistee High for two seasons, posting a combined 45-3 record there with two District titles and a Regional championship. He later returned to Catholic Central after taking a year off.

Last winter, his players and the school honored Erickson for reaching the 400-win milestone.

With this postseason in mind, Erickson now has his team working on rebounding and free throw shooting.

“Our rebounding has to change,” Erickson. “When you’ve got three guards leading your rebounding, we have a problem.

“There is no reason for a 5-foot-5 guard leading your rebounding.”

Erickson noted his players responded to the rebounding focus in their latest win. And, he loves the growth in his guards.

Ashley VanAelst (11) considers her options on offense against Central Lake.“All three of those guards — Leah, Ashley and Grace — the have learned to play really well together,” he said. “Every time they play, they are getting stronger and stronger to each other. 

“They look out for each other on the floor,” he went on. “They always know where the other two are.”

The Sabres also improved their free throw shooting in the win over Pentwater, especially Johnson.

“Kaylin took it to heart,” Erickson said. “She turned around to me at the end and she goes, ‘Coach, I was 4 for 4 at the free throw line.’  

“I said, ‘That’s where you should be, 3-for-4 or 4-for-4.’”

Erickson’s coaching has spanned five decades, and he’s not the only coach in his family. His wife Jan has done some coaching. His daughters, Kelly and Katie, currently serve as assistant coaches for St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic and Traverse City St. Francis, respectively.

The Sabres’ success has not gone unnoticed. Among those taking note is Mike Kanitz, who serves now as assistant coach at St. Francis with Katie Erickson.  

Kanitz coached against Manistee Catholic when he was the head coach at Traverse City Christian. The Gladiators also saw the Sabres at camp and the YMCA league this summer.

“Coach (Todd) Erickson takes the talent that he has each year and makes them more talented,” Kanitz said. “He does a great job of developing teams.

“His teams are always competitive.”

Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Manistee Catholic Central’s Kaylyn Johnson lines up for a free throw. (Middle) MCC coach Todd Erickson talks things over with Leah Stickney (3). (Below) Ashley VanAelst (11) considers her options on offense against Central Lake. (Photos by Mitch Vosburg/Manistee News Advocate.)