Title IX at 50: Carney-Nadeau Sets Girls Hoops Standard with 78-Win Streak

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 22, 2022

As we wrap up our series of “Title IX at 50” celebrations for the winter sports season, we recall a team that didn’t lose for nearly three of those years.

From opening night 1989 until its Regional Final in 1991, Carney-Nadeau’s girls basketball team won every game – a stretch of 78 straight that remains the MHSAA record in the sport and has been approached by only a few others over the last three decades.

The 1989 team, with Connie Berger’s 22 points leading four scorers in double digits, downed Potterville 73-59 in Class D to win the program’s first Finals championship. The Wolves, who had made the Class D Semifinals in 1988 before registering their only loss that season in ending 25-1, finished 1989 28-0.

Jill Wetthuhn, who had scored 16 points in the 1989 Class D Final, poured in a team-high 19 as Carney-Nadeau downed Fowler 56-31 in the 1990 Class D championship game. The Wolves finished that season 27-0.

Carney-Nadeau had won its first 23 games of the 1991 season when it met also-undefeated Baraga in a Class D Regional Final, and that’s where the streak ended – with a 54-49 Baraga win.

Paul Polfus coached all of those Carney-Nadeau teams, in total leading the program to a 502-124 record from 1979-2005. He brought the Wolves one more Class D title, in 2001.

Pittsford came closest to matching the win streak with 76 consecutive victories from Dec. 1, 2015, through Feb. 26, 2018 – a run which included Class D championships in 2017 and 2018 and began after the Wildcats lost in overtime to St. Ignace in the 2015 Class D Final.

The Flint Northern teams of 1978-81 put together 75 straight wins, and Northern also won 71 straight from Aug. 30, 1994 through Nov. 26, 1996.

Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.

Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights

March 15: Binder Among Voices Telling Our Story on MHSAA Network - Read
March 8: 
28 Years, Thousands of Cheers - Read
March 1: 
Kearsley Rolls On Among Girls Bowling's Early Successes - Read
Feb. 22: Marquette Ties Record for Swim & Dive Finals Success - Read
Feb. 15: Jaeger's 2004 Winter Run Created Lasting Connection - Read
Feb. 8: Marian's Cicerone to Finish Among All-Time Elite - Read
Feb. 1: WISL Award Honors Builders of State's Girls Sports Tradition - Read
Jan. 25: Decades Later, Edwards' Legend Continues to Grow - Read
Jan. 18: Iron Mountain Completes Championship Climb - Read
Jan. 11: Harrold's Achievement Heralds Growth of Girls Wrestling - Read
Dec. 20: Competitive Cheer Gives Michigan Plenty to Cheer About - Read
Dec. 14: 
Evelyn's Game Had Plenty of Magic - Read
Dec. 7: 
Council Term Ends, But Leinaar Leaves Lasting Impact - Read
Nov. 30: 
Basketball Season Ready to Add to Rich Tradition - Read
Nov. 23: 
Marysville Builds Winning Streak Yet to be Challenged - Read
Nov. 16: Wroubel Has Championed Girls School Sports from Their Start - Read
Nov. 9: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History - Read
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: 
Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: 
Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: 
Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: 
Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: 
Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read

PHOTO Carney-Nadeau celebrates its 1990 Class D basketball championship. (MHSAA file photo)

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.

Southwest CorridorMitchell 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.

From left: Paw Paw coach Dan Thornton, Rickli and Mitchell headshots.“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 ShebestPam 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.)