Benton Harbor was clearly a team of destiny.
Destiny Williams, that is. The 6-foot-2 senior forward, who was Michigan's Class A player of the year and runner-up for Miss Basketball, scored 31 points and had 21 rebounds in Benton Harbor's 60-46 girls basketball state championship victory Saturday at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center.
“This is all I wanted for the whole year,” Williams said. “I'm happy I got it because I can enjoy it with somebody instead of just myself.”
In the first half, Williams had 19 points and 11 rebounds in pacing her team to a 33-21 advantage. She scored eight more in the third quarter to keep the Tigers ahead 37-31. Williams had two putbacks in the final minute of the third to help her team take a 41-35 lead into the final quarter.
“I knew I had to come out strong if I wanted to win this game,” Williams said. “I did just that. Once my offense got going and they double teamed me, I'd kick it out to the wide-open person. Then it freed me up again.”
Thanks to Williams, Benton Harbor had a 52-23 advantage on the boards.
“I just go after the board. You've got to hustle,” she said. “I block out so I can get the ball.”
“The girls held up real good,” said Benton Harbor Coach Lou Harvey. “We didn't wear out. We're a well-conditioned team. We'll run all day. We don't get tired. We were a good basketball team at the end of the season.”
Williams, who has signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Illinois, averaged over 28 points and 16 rebounds for the Tigers this season.
Franklin went into overtime on Friday to beat Detroit Renaissance.
Class B
Madison Williams of Detroit Country Day picked a fine time to have the first triple-double in the history of girls basketball state finals, leading her team to a 50-40 victory over Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Saturday at Eastern Michigan.
Williams had 11 points, 11 rebounds and a title-game record of 11 blocks for Country Day, which won its 10th state championship.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central, which entered the game at 27-0, had a 36-28 lead after the third quarter thanks to a 27 percent Country Day shooting clip. But the winners started out the fourth-quarter with a 22-2 scoring run to claim the title.
“These girls never let up with intensity on defense,” said Country Day coach Frank Orlando, who has a 28-year record of 581-97.
GRCC had won its 27th game Friday night, 77-39 over Lakeview in the semifinals.
“We don't want to be just the best team in Grand Rapids,” said GRCC Coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate. “We want to be the best in the state.”
Annalise Pickrel had 22 points and 10 rebounds while Tiesha Stokes followed with 15 points and eight boards to lead GRCC.
“We work hard not to lose,” Pickrel said. “We picked each other up today. We had a lot of fast breaks.”
Class C
Flint Hamady ended the season perfect at 28-0 with a 63-48 win over McBain for the Class C state championship. Kathryn Thomas and Arlesia Morse had 15 points apiece to lead the state champions.
Thomas had 11 points in the third quarter alone. India Hairston had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Hamady.
Two of Hamady's wins were over Class D champion New Lothrop along with a 24-point win over two-time defending champions Saginaw Nouvel in the regionals.
Class D
Last season, New Lothrop defeated Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart 42-36 for the Class D title. This time, the Hornets did it again with a 50-32 victory over Marine City Cardinal Mooney in the championship game Saturday at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center.
Both teams finished the season at 24-3. Amber Sammons, a junior center, led New Lothrop with 18 points and Monica Confer contributed 13 points and seven rebounds.
Cardinal Mooney was led by Allie Theut with 10 points. But her sister, Sammy Theut, the state's Class D player of the year, was limited to nine points with 2-of-9 shooting from the floor.
“I don't think we could have played the game a whole lot better than what we did,” said New Lothrop Coach Tom Kohlmann II. “We wanted to control the player of the year. I thought Ashley (Root) did an outstanding job in slowing her down. That really set the tone for the whole game.”
“I had to play good defense and keep her out of the lane,” Root said. “Last year was awesome to win. This year was amazing. Two in a row, it's hard to do. We knew we could do it.”
“We got over the hurdle of losing three starters last year and had everybody asking how we could do it without those three starters,” Kohlmann said. “Defensively, it's the best team we've had. We've kept the score low. We talked about all year that you're going to run into teams that will slow you down and if you're not able to play defense, you'll have trouble in the tournament.”
New Lothrop led at halftime 28-17. The Hornets had four 3-pointers in the first half and six overall. Sammons had three triples overall.
“That set the momentum,” she said. “We wanted to make sure I was left open so I could hit the open shot.”
“We knew Amber had a really good match-up with (Breagh Beaton) who isn't really a perimeter player,” Kohlmann said. “So we stretched the defense early. What that does is expand the defense and opens lanes to get to the basket. The girls did a good job of being patient. We did a good job of getting the ball to where it needed to be.”
New Lothrop, a Flint area school, was 13-of-26 from the floor and 6-of-13 from the free-throw line.
“They're very talented players and put in a lot of hard work,” Kohlmann said. 'They understand the system we run. We've run it for quite some time. Knowing you have to shoot the 3-point shot to spread out the defense is what we've been doing for a long time.”
“Defense has always been our main focus,” Root said.
“We played very aggressive on defense. The coach doesn't call fouls,” Kohlmann laughed. “We played very aggressive in practice. I tell my team if we're intense in practice, it will carry over into the game.”
Flint Hamady, which won the state Class C finals, defeated New Lothrop twice in the regular season. They both play in the Genesee Area Conference.