By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
When Grosse Pointe North needed a basket in its Class A championship game Saturday against East Lansing, Ariel Braker was there.
When the Trojans needed a rebound, Braker was there again.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore had 15 points and 16 rebounds, not to mention eight steals and five assists, in leading Grosse Pointe North to a 58-46 victory over East Lansing on Saturday in the Class A girls basketball title game at Eastern Michigan University's Convocation Center.
"I have a tremendous respect for my kids," GPN coach Gary Bennett said. "At the beginning of the game, I didn't know if we'd have anything left at the end. We usually press but we pulled it back. We have a tremendous amount of heart."
Jasmine Kennedy was 6-of-10 from the floor and had 13 points before leaving the game in the late stages with a leg injury.
The game was tied 17-17 after the first quarter but GPN led 28-16 at halftime, 36-34 after the third quarter and had a 22-12 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter.
East Lansing, which ended its season at 25-2, was led by Klarissa Bell with 14 points and six rebounds.
GPN's defense had 12 steals.
"Our program is built around defense," Bennett said. "The girls don't always look defensive minded, but we still do that. You just keep playing. We didn't do anything special in the fourth quarter except for going from a 2-3 zone to a halfcourt man-to-man.”
"It all just clicked in the fourth quarter," Braker said.
Thanks to Braker, the champs had a 40-24 rebounding edge.
"They were sending two guards deep and we were getting just one player back," said East Lansing coach Rob Smith. "I'm just so happy for these kids. I would have liked to have seen them win a state championship. They would have been deserving. They work hard. They gave it their best effort. It just wasn't good enough to win the game."
Class D
In the state's smallest enrollment division, New Lothrop prevailed with a 42-36 victory over Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, which had been ranked No. 1 most of the season.
Kayla Gross scored 19 points and had five rebounds for New Lothrop, which ended the championship season at 27-1 overall, having won 27-straight games.
"Mount Pleasant was by far the toughest team we played in the tournament run," New Lothrop coach Tom Kohlmann said. "They pounded us inside and we had to made adjustments in the second half. This is all pretty exciting. I don't know if it's sunk in yet or not."
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart ended its season at 25-2 and was led by Kelsey DeNoyelles with 14 points and four rebounds and Chelsea Mills with six points and seven rebounds.
"We switched up on offense and got the open looks," Gross said.
The game was close most of the way, with Sacred Heart leading 19-18 at halftime but trailing 28-25 after the third quarter.
Gross netted a three-pointer with 2:10 to play, giving her team a 34-31 lead and swished in two key free throws moments later to clinch the victory for New Lothrop.
New Lothrop's only loss was the first game of the season to Clare 39-25. New Lothrop shot 9-of-52 from the floor in that game.
For Sacred Heart, it was a disappointing loss.
"I thought our game plan was sound," Sacred Heart Coach Mark DeNoyelles said. "I was pleased with the way we executed it. These were definitely the top two teams in Class D.”
Class B
Detroit Country Day ended its season at 25-1 with a 46-40 win over Detroit Community in the Class B title game.
Country Day had quarter leads of 10-6, 19-11 and 32-25 and was outscored 15-14 in the final eight minutes.
Detroit Community ended its season at 25-1. Amber Moore and Sharena Taylor both had 10 points for Country Day which also got nine points from Troy Hambric.
Detroit Community was led by Crystal Bradford with 18 points and five rebounds and Inqiuia Snell with 13 points and six boards.
Class C
It wasn't close in Class C with Saginaw Nouvel rolling to a 73-42 championship victory.
Nouvel ended its season at 24-1 while Galesburg-Augusta was at 22-6.
Kelly Kretz had 20 points and eight rebounds while Jenny Ryan had 15 points and 12 steals and Kate McDonald had 12 points and six steals.
Ryan's 12 steals set an MHSAA finals mark for steals in a game.
The winners were up 14-13 after the first quarter, 28-17 in the second and 50-33 in the third and had a 23-9 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes.
Galesburg-Augusta was led by Felicia Stanley with 13 points.
