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.)
Paw Paw Hoops Heroes Closing in on Milestones, Rewriting School Record Book
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2024
PAW PAW — With a basketball pedigree that goes back a generation, Paw Paw’s Grace Mitchell is one of two seniors closing in on personal and school records.
Mitchell is just 164 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club.
“After my sophomore year I was over 500 (points), so I knew I could get another 500 my last two years,” said Mitchell, adding that the milestone is one of her long-time goals.
And she’s not the only one pursuing it.
Teammate AJ Rickli, a 6-foot-2 center/power forward, needs just 110 points to hit the 1,000-point mark.
Rickli stacked up her points in just over two seasons, after moving up from junior varsity near the end of her freshman year.
Scoring isn’t the only strength the players bring to the team.
Mitchell, a 5-10 guard, needs just four 3-pointers to break the school record of 156, something second-year head coach Dan Thornton said could happen when the Red Wolves open the season Dec. 3 by hosting Mattawan.
She holds the school’s season record for treys with 72 and swished eight in one game, tying another school record.
“I shoot a lot,” Mitchell said. “I’ve always like shooting the farther shots since I was little, but sophomore year I really got good at my 3-point shots.”
She is not a one-dimensional player, either, with 126 assists and 150 steals heading into her fourth varsity season.
That’s where the two seniors complement each other.
“She’s a guard; I’m a post,” Rickli said. “Where I slack, she picks up. Where she slacks, I pick up. I get her rebounds.”
Thornton said both players could reach other school milestones this season.
“Grace potentially could be closing in on marks for steals, assists, on top of her shooting percentage from the free throw line and 3-point line,” he said, adding that Rickli could break the records for rebounds and blocks.
The coach is not surprised he has two players heading into 1,000-point territory.
“Last year we averaged about 75 points per game, and we had four different players average about double figures,” he said. “There were a lot of games where we’d get three, four and some games six people in double figures.
“It also meant everyone was scoring between 10 and 13 or 14 points per game. It made it very challenging on opposing defenses because if they focus too much on one, the other four would get very favorable matchups.”
Just two days into practice, Thornton said he plans to fill out his roster after Wednesday’s practice, laughing, “(Grace and AJ) both have a chance to make varsity.”
The Red Wolves graduated five seniors in the spring, two of them starters, from last year’s 22-3 team that advanced to a Division 2 District Final.
“It’s going to take a lot of determination and drive from everybody on the team (to move past Districts),” Rickli said. “Everybody has to contribute. Everybody has to want it the same, and we’ve got to have a team goal. And we will.”
Thornton will rely on Rickli and Mitchell for leadership, especially for those brought up from the junior varsity team.
“The two girls bring veteran leadership,” Thornton said. “They’ve both been through playing on varsity, playing in big games for a number of years.
“Both have had huge success over the years. I expect them to help nurture along younger players, guide them through our goals throughout the season.”
Rickli said the most important thing for new players is to let them know their roles.
“I’ll help the posts in their position. Grace will help the guards in their position and give them confidence,” Rickli said. “We’ll help them in practice. We’re not going to take it easy on them, because that won’t help them at all. We’ll push them in practice to get them used to varsity play.”
'Batman and Superman'
Rickli and Mitchell have been best friends and on the same hoops teams since second grade.
“We work really good together because we’re each other’s best friend, and we’ve played together forever,” Mitchell said. “We know what each other wants.
"I know how to get (the ball) in to her, and she knows when to kick it out to me. When I miss my shot, she gets my rebound and puts it back up, so it works out pretty good.”
Rickli, whose formal first name is Arin Jolyn, also plays volleyball and competes in the shot put and discus, but prefers basketball.
“Basketball just comes to me easier than the other sports,” she said. “I like the contact sports.”
Mitchell, who has committed to Alma College for golf and basketball, is keeping up her family hoops tradition.
“She comes from a very, very heavy basketball family,” said Thornton, who has been involved in coaching for 35 years and needs just 12 more varsity wins for 400. “Her father (Rick Mitchell) is legendary in basketball throughout most of Southwest Michigan. Her Uncle Gary (Mitchell) was a longtime coach (at Paw Paw), the same as her father, who is in the Paw Paw Hall of Fame.
“To have that kind of constant exposure at a young age to basketball from her family, be it her siblings or uncle or dad, probably helped Grace.”
Both girls are unselfish and supportive of their teammates, he said, adding, “They do a good job helping each other be successful. They’re very much Batman and Superman, you could say, because one of them excels in a certain area of the game and the other excels in another area.
“The fact that the players, the team, aren’t selfish really speaks to the parenting with these players, how they’ve been raised and how they are willing to give up a good shot for themselves to give someone else a great shot.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Paw Paw senior AJ Rickli gets a shot up against Otsego last season; at right, senior Grace Mitchell releases a jumper. (Middle) From left: Paw Paw coach Dan Thornton, Rickli and Mitchell. (Action photos by René Rodriguez; head shots by Pam Shebest.)