Performance: Cranbrook's Isabelle Scane
June 17, 2017
Isabelle Scane
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood junior – Lacrosse
Already Michigan’s all-time leading high school goal-scorer with a season to play, Scane finished her junior year with seven goals – tying for second most in an MHSAA Final – as Cranbrook Kingswood won in sudden victory 17-16 over reigning champion East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 Final on June 10. Leading the Cranes to their first MHSAA title in the sport, with one of her goals coming in overtime, earned Scane the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” for June 5-11.
Scane, considered one of the top players in the nation for her age group, finished this spring with 146 goals and 37 assists – the 146 goals were the second most for one season, and her 183 total points came in third in MHSAA history. After three varsity seasons, Scane has 365 goals and 93 assists for 458 career points – she holds the career goals record by 89 and needs only two more points next season to tie the career record in that category.
Cranbrook Kingswood had fallen to East Grand Rapids in the 2015 and 2016 Division 2 Finals, and Saturday’s game also was the last for Cranes coach Greg Courter – making the victory that much sweeter. Scane is the second sibling in her family to win an MHSAA lacrosse title, following older brother James who starred at Birmingham Brother Rice and now plays at Robert Morris University (Pa.) and was a major influence growing up. Also a 4.0 student, Isabelle is committed to sign next school year with national power Northwestern University, where she’s considering majoring in pre-med. And here’s a final fun fact: Like many athletes, Scane has highlights posted on the web service hudl; but unlike probably anyone else, she’s also posted a “Me Missing Shots” collection – a light-hearted sign of her humble perspective as she drives to improve her already-substantial game.
Coach Greg Courter said: “Prior to the season, Inside Lacrosse Magazine had Isabelle rated as the number 14 junior in the country. Personally, I think that that rating is low. Were she playing back east, she would be higher. I have coached 10 girls in my career who went on to become Division I All-Americans. Isabelle is already a better and more complete player than any of them. She is a once-in-a-career talent (for a coach). I have no doubt she will be on the U.S. national team in a few years.”
Performance Point: “It was a long hot game. We were out on the turf and it was 90 degrees and we’re a small team with only a couple of subs, so it got pretty exhausting,” Scane said of the Final, which saw the Cranes trailing 12-5 early in the second half. “It kept us going that it was our last time playing this season, and it pushed us through the exhaustion. … I think it’s awesome. Individual awards are nice, but when it comes down to it, being able to get that (win), to get there and get there as a group when we’ve been so close the last few years, and to finish … I’d say it was probably the most exciting game I’d been part of. To come back and win the state championship, coming back from seven goals down to end up winning it – it was an insane back-and-forth game.”
Sending off Coach with a win: “At least for me and a couple other girls, that was the most exciting part about it. He’s been an amazing coach the last three years. We always believed we could do it, but unfortunately we weren’t able to win for him the last few years. It was awesome to finish off his coaching career with the thing we’ve been pushing toward.”
Growing in the game: “Freshman year, I was a younger player on the team and being new to the program, I wasn’t as physically and mentally tough as I am now. I’ve gotten used to the pressure, and I’m able to keep my head in games, which as a freshman I wasn’t able to do. I think the mixture of experience and my coach, he’s always been there to kinda help me figure out how to keep my head in the game mentally, keep working when things aren’t looking as great as they should. The way he’s coached us, the way we practice, he’s done a nice job of it.”
Makes and misses: “You shouldn’t ever be satisfied with how you achieved. If you become satisfied, think you’re better than everyone, think you’re big enough, that’s when you stop getting bigger. It’s necessary to stay humble, to work toward getting better than who you are.”
No rush: “We had only two seniors this year, and I’d love to keep working with the team we have now, keep pushing for another state championship. I’m committed to go play in college, and I would like to continue playing at a higher level. (But) I definitely need to finish off high school – I’d like to keep how well we’re doing, get a state championship for the girls in our class and the girls below, but I also have new stuff coming and I want to keep working toward that so I do well there. I’ve always been told not to rush through high school, so I want to be sure to finish off one last year at Cranbrook.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
June 8: Hunter Eichhorn, Carney-Nadeau golf – Read
June 1: Grace Stark, White Lake Lakeland track & field – Read
May 25: Brendon Gouin, Gaylord golf – Read
May 18: Hannah Ducolon, Bay City All Saints softball – Read
May 11: Mason Phillips, Salem track & field – Read
May 4: Lillian Albaugh, Farwell track & field – Read
April 27: Amber Gall, Shepherd track & field – Read
April 20: Sloane Teske, East Grand Rapids tennis – Read
March 30: Romeo Weems, New Haven basketball – Read
March 23: Jaycie Burger and Maddie Clark, Pittsford basketball – Read
March 16: Camden Murphy, Novi swimming & diving – Read
March 9: Ben Freeman, Walled Lake Central wrestling – Read
March 2: Joey Mangner, Chelsea swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 23: Isabelle Nguyen, Grosse Pointe North gymnastics – Read
Feb. 16: Dakota Hurbis, Saline swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 2: Foster Loyer, Clarkston basketball – Read
Jan. 26: Nick Jenkins, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling – Read
Jan. 19: Eileene Naniseni, Mancelona basketball – Read
Jan. 12: Rory Anderson, Calumet hockey – Read
Dec. 15: Demetri Martin, Big Rapids basketball – Read
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTO: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Isabelle Scane works to find an opening during the Division 2 championship game against East Grand Rapids. (Middle) Scane closes in on a possible shot; she scored seven goals in the win.
This Time It's Brighton's Time as Bulldogs Celebrate Championship
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2022
ROCKFORD – Ryan Skomial and the Brighton girls lacrosse program had experienced nothing but disappointment and heartbreak in their respective, previous MHSAA Finals trips to Rockford over the last 10 years.
That changed for both parties Saturday afternoon. The Skomial-coached Bulldogs exhibited determination in an abrupt momentum swing early in the second half, which ultimately led to elation.
Brighton erased a six-goal deficit and captured the program’s first MHSAA Division 1 girls lacrosse championship since 2011 with a 12-11 overtime victory over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern at Carlson-Munger Stadium.
It was the Bulldogs’ fourth straight Finals appearance at Rockford, with the 2020 season canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They lost in Finals to Rockford in the Rams’ home stadium in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
This time, Brighton senior Ella Boose’s goal with 1:33 left in the first of two three-minute overtime periods proved the game winner. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabrielle Buckenberger helped make that tally stand. Afterwards, Buckenberger and her teammates felt “satisfaction” and “relief.”
“I saw the lane when Abbey (Burchfield) passed it to me and after I scored, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. It’s overtime. This is our chance, and we can win this game now,’” said Boose, whose team finished with a 16-4 record.
“I think at halftime we just said, ‘Who wants it more?’ We knew we could win. We’ve come back from worse, and we knew this was our last game of the season, last half. I think we just gave it all we could.”
Brighton lost its first Finals appearance in 2011 to Rockford, 19-11. The next year, the Bulldogs edged Ann Arbor Pioneer, 17-15 in overtime. Both of those matches were played at Troy Athens.
In 2012, Skomial led Hartland to the Division 1 Final at Rockford, where her team lost to Birmingham United by the same 12-11 overtime score by which her Brighton team was victorious Saturday.
Brighton lost its previous three Finals games against Rockford 25-5 in 2018, 21-6 in 2019 and 19-16 in 2021 – but the Bulldogs appeared to close the gap each time. On Saturday, they got over the hump against the Forest Hills Northern/Eastern co-op team that beat Brighton twice during the regular season, 15-7 and 11-7.
“I played here and lost in double overtime, sudden death, so as soon as that overtime happened, I was like, ‘Ooh, man, we’ve been here before,’” Skomial, a high school All-American, said while she patted her chest in relief. “I knew these girls had something different. I knew that they had the drive and the patience and the mentality to finish this. I’m so proud of them.”
FHNE seemed bound and determined to complete the season sweep against Brighton and capture the big trophy in just its second season as a program. The BirdDogs held a 7-2 lead at halftime and extended it to 8-2 in the first minute of the second half.
Brighton was not playing along anymore, however. The Bulldogs tallied seven of the next eight goals to knot the match at 9 with 10½ minutes remaining.
It was anybody’s game at that point.
“You know, we made some turnovers, and they got on a run,” said FHNE coach Joe Curcuru, whose squad finished with a 21-2 record. “Lacrosse is a game of runs, and they started scoring some goals and the momentum just shifted.
“We used both of our timeouts in the second half, and we tried to just settle down. But this is an exciting stage, it’s a big stage and we just couldn’t get that momentum back.”
Brighton got on the board first against FHNE on senior Amanda Granader’s tally 1:28 into the contest, but then FHNE went on a goal-scoring barrage with six in a row and seven of the next eight to enjoy a comfortable halftime lead.
Junior Alayna Davis scored 56 seconds into the second half, the third of her co-game-high four goals, to put FHNE up six. Brighton took over from there, however, as Granader scored and added two more in the half in her four-goal performance. Senior Gabriella Mainhardt scored two in a row during the Bulldogs’ surge.
FHNE senior Carly Wittlinger scored her third goal of the night with 2:06 left to put her team ahead 11-10, but Granader tied it with 1:39 remaining.
Skomial called Buckenberger’s performance “remarkable,” classifying her as one of the most talented, naturally-gifted goalies she’s seen. Buckenberger made five saves compared to eight by her FHNE counterpart, junior Sommer Grieser.
“We really just felt like this was our year. We touched the Regional trophies, we’re wearing white, we felt like it was our year and we just really wanted to win,” Buckenberger said. “It starts with the goalie feeling confident, and it just spreads, and if we have the sidelines and the crowd just cheering us on, we’ll have it, too. We just kept saying, ‘One more, one more.’
“I’ve got hives,” she said with a laugh when asked about the excitement of winning the title. “This felt great.”
Skomial said she was proud of the fact that her players never got down on themselves despite the early deficit. The Bulldogs hung in there and wrestled momentum away from the BirdDogs.
Prior to the first overtime period, cheers from the Brighton huddle on the sideline could be easily heard atop the stands on the opposite side of the field. It was more than a rah-rah speech – the Bulldogs believed it was their time.
“It’s definitely amazing. I mean, we’ve been to the state championship the last few years and we’ve lost every year, so to end my senior year like this, it’s a great feeling,” said Boose, who scored three goals in her final high school match. She will continue her academic and lacrosse pursuits at Grand Valley State University.
“This is my favorite team I’ve ever been on. We’re really a family.”
PHOTOS (Top) Brighton celebrates its Division 1 championship Saturday at Rockford High. (Middle) The Bulldogs’ Amanda Granader (27) works to get off a shot with FHNE’s Daniella Washburn (5) and Sommer Grieser (25) defending. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)