Seniorless Mott earns postseason win over Sterling Heights
Patrick Schmidt has coached the Warren Mott girls basketball team for 19 years, and this team has something that he’s never seen with the Marauders.
Or perhaps it’s something they lack — this year’s group has zero seniors.
Despite the youth, Mott defeated Sterling Heights 40-27 on Monday at Cousino to advance to the district semifinals.
“We’ve been developing all year,” It’s a good time to get a district win. No seniors is something that I’ve never experienced in my 19 years of coaching girls varsity at Mott. But every single one of them improved, and we’re just hoping to build on the next game.”
Mott led 12-6 after the first quarter and 18-12 at halftime. It wasn’t the first time the Marauders and Stallions played close — on Jan. 17, the Marauders eked out a five-point win.
But in their second meeting on Feb. 2, Mott won by 11. This time, that deficit grew to 13. And it started in the third quarter, where they held Sterling Heights to just two points and got their lead to 18.
“We made a few adjustments at halftime,” Schmidt said. “We talked at halftime — you’ve got to come out and get after it, and they did. I thought our defensive effort was great tonight.”
Sterling Heights outscored Mott 13-8 in the fourth, but it was already too late.
In addition to playing tighter defense in the second half, Mott wanted to get the ball in the post to junior forward Addison Brown. After getting seven points in the first half with only one made field goal, she bumped that number to 10 points on five makes in the second half.
Brown led all scorers with 17 points. Sophomore Conamore Ndana had 10 for Mott, and Sterling Heights was led by junior Shireen Alyas’ 14 points.
The win advances Mott (9-14) to the district semifinals, where they’ll face MAC Blue/Gold tournament champion Cousino (16-6).
“We have not beaten Cousino in a few years,” Schmidt said. “We’ll be up to the challenge.”
Sterling Heights’ season ends with a 7-16 record.
Like Mott, their roster was young — only two seniors played, with one — Khyra Kimble — missing a large chunk of the season with a torn meniscus.
And despite missing the MAC tournament and falling in the district first round, first-year head coach Mike Gurney feels nothing but pride for the Stallions and how they performed.