FITZGERALD AND COUSINO TAKE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Macomb Area Conference girls basketball tournaments were held on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Fitzgerald High School. The host Spartans, Cousino and Grosse Pointe North each came out victorious with MAC tournament titles.
Below are full recaps of all three games:
Fitzgerald repeats behind dominant games from Millander, McWilliams
The energy in the Fitzgerald girls basketball program has officially shifted.
After winning three games in the three years, the Spartans have captured their second-straight MAC Silver/Bronze tournament title, beating Lamphere 55-30 in the Macomb matinee on Saturday.
“It’s very special,” said senior guard Janiya McWilliams. “It’s good to do this for the program. They really needed it. We just got the job done.”
The first quarter was tight — in fact, Lamphere actually led 8-7 after eight minutes. But Fitzgerald responded, outscoring the Rams 15-5 in the second to go up by 11 at halftime.
“Fitz kids are notorious for
waking up late, man,” said Fitzgerald head coach JuWan Shakespear with a smile. “If you catch us in the morning, we wake up late. If it’s a night game, we good. We just have to wake up, take our shot of coffee and get to work.”
Lamphere looked like they could get back in the game with a 5-0 run in the first 48 seconds in the second half, but Shakespear called a timeout, talked to his girls and the rest is history. The Rams only scored 13 points in the final 15 minutes.
“He (Shakespear) basically just told us to move our feet,” McWilliams said. “They came out on fire, we came out lazy, so we just had to pick our effort up, pick our feet up, move our feet, run, get up and down the floor. You know.”
McWilliams scored 20 points, including 14 in the second half. But she wasn’t even close to being the leading scorer.
Junior Kaylynn Millander erupted for 30 points — enough to tie Lamphere by herself — and spread the scoring throughout all four quarters. She started with five in the first, nine in the second, eight in the third and eight in the fourth.
“I hate to be that guy, but girls basketball in the state of Michigan needs to be recruited more,” Shakespear said. “A 30 point game is an easy night for Kaylynn.
She’s had 30 point games. She’s had a 37 point game. She has a 27 point game. It’s time that Kaylynn gets the recognition for being a three-level scorer that she deserves. The kid’s athletic. She can play.”
McWilliams, the Spartans’ lone senior, is especially thankful for Millander.
“Definitely makes my job very easy,” McWilliams said. “She is an amazing player. She plays amazing defense, makes her shots. She’s a good player and I hope that she does good in the future.”
Of course, figuring out how to guard both players is a headache for any opposing coach.
“They control the whole game,” said Lamphere head coach Mike Kobus. “One will be the guard, one will go to the outside. When she gets hot, they’re good. If she’s not, they switch. The other girl will come up top, the other girl goes down low. It’s a tough duo to play against.”
The game capped off something of a Cinderella run for the Rams. Though they finished the regular season 6-4 in the MAC Silver and 11-6 overall, they still had to go through 7-3 Warren Woods Tower and unbeaten New Haven to reach the finals.
It’s something that Kobus thinks will aid his team moving forward.
“This is huge,” he said. “We’re
in a tough district. We have Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, which is #6 in the state. It’s going to be a tough district. I still have two more games left, and our intent is to win those two games and play our best in the district. We’re going to come out hard.”
Defense rules the day as Cousino beats Marysville for Blue/Gold title
The Cousino Patriots had gone seven years without a MAC championship.
After Saturday, that timer has been reset to zero. After allowing the Marysville Vikings to score 14 points in the first quarter, the Patriots held them to just 22 the rest of the way — and a mere 14 in the entire second half — to pull away for a 5036 victory.
When asked what it took to beat the team they split with in the regular season, Cousino head coach Amy Mitchell didn’t hesitate.
“Defense,” she said. “Defense. We know them. They have a lot of really good sets, and they find their players very well, their scorers very well. We watched a lot of film — how to minimize their scorers’ impact. And #21, (Avery) Wolters, she’s a player. And she’s going to find her opportunities. But I thought we