MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals Flashbacks Feature

1973 Senior guard Melanie Megge fired in 38 points to lead Detroit Dominican to a 70-43 victory over Grand Rapids Christian in the first-ever MHSAA Class A Girls Basketball finals, played at Grand Blanc High School. Megge hit 16 of her game high total in the final eight minutes of the contest. Jan Slotsema paced Christian with 22 points, including 10 in the first half.

Hudsonville Unity Christian jumped out

to a 33-30 halftime lead, then held on for a 49-45 victory over Saginaw MacArthur in the Class B title game, played at East Kentwood High School. Cindy Masselink and Deb Aukeman led the winners with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Center Linda Balabuch scored 27 points while guard Donna Travis added 24 as Hamtramck St. Ladislaus defeated Blissfield in the Class C Final, 67-43, at Owosso High School. The Greyhounds opened up a 14-0 lead in the first four minutes, and never looked back. Connie Nichelson and Lori Spotts paced Blissfield with 14 points each.

At Alma, Ewen-Trout Creek bounced back from a 13-6 first-quarter deficit to notch a 57-48 win over North Muskegon in Class D. The Trout Creek squad, which had traveled 600 miles for the contest, shifted to a full-court press to open the second quarter and grabbed the lead, 27-19, at the half. North Muskegon, led by Nancy Nyblade's 20 points, pulled within four with a minute and a half to play, but fell short. Sandy Lannet led the winners with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while teammate Jamie Fleming added 14 points and 16 boards.

1978 Behind the play of 6-3 twin sisters Paula and Pamela McGee, Flint Northern posted its 23rd consecutive victory with a 60-48 win over 1977 Class A runner-up Detroit Mumford. Mumford was dealt a blow when its leading scorer and rebounder, Debra Walker, twisted her ankle early in the second period, but the team was still able to cut a 14-3 Northern lead to one point, 27-26, before the half. Although Walker--who averaged 27 points per game--was able to return to the lineup, she was held to 14 points in 16 minutes of play. The loss was the first setback of the year for the Mumford squad, while Northern's title was the first of four consecutive Class A championships for Coach Dorothy "Dottie" Kukulka and her Vikings.

A Tammy Brehen basket with 38 seconds left in overtime capped a 59-56 comeback victory for Mt. Clemens L'Anse Creuse in the Class B title game with Flint Beecher. Down by seven points with less than a minute to play in regulation, the Lancers rebounded with four points from Julie Peltier, a free throw from Nancy Valliere, and a bucket from Brehen to send the game into overtime. Ann DeLoder led the winners with 22 points. Janice Sparks scored 19 points for Beecher, while teammate Vennette Watkins finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Sue Sommerville's basket with 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter gave Allen Park Cabrini the lead for good, as the Monarchs downed previously unbeaten Norway, 50-43, in Class C. Led by the strong outside shooting of Dianna Milligan (18 points), the Knights led throughout the first half and much of the third. But Norway went cold, going scoreless on 11 straight possessions, while Anita Shea and Debbie Syer, a pair of talented Cabrini freshmen who entered the game in the third period, fired up the Monarch offense. Jane Shaffer paced the winners with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Sommerville ended the day with 12 points.

Freshman Laura Wiesen came off the bench in the second quarter and combined with Kim Kaiser to spark the Maple City- Glen Lake Lakers to a 52-32 win over Portland St. Patrick in Class D. Kaiser topped the Lakers with 14 points and 18 rebounds. Terri Hoppes led the Shamrock attack with 10 points.

1983 For the sixth consecutive year, the city of Flint was represented in the Class A finals, as the Wildcats of Flint Northwestern defeated a tough Harper Woods Regina squad, 50-47, at Western Michigan University's Read Fieldhouse. With the game deadlocked at 47, the Wildcats slowed the pace for the final minutes of play. A free throw by Cynthia Lyons and a lay-up by Shanta Burks proved to be the margin in the game. Northwestern, who played in the shadow of Saginaw Valley Conference rival and five-year finalist Flint Northern, downed the crosstown Vikings twice during the regular season and again in the regionals en route to the school's first MHSAA title.

Strong defense and a 30-point performance by sophomore Lisa Horne gave Flint Hamady a 60-48 come-from-behind win over Pewamo-Westphalia in the Class C Final. Hamady's press accounted for a 25-8 scoring advantage in the third quarter of action.

1988 Birmingham Marian established a new Class A scoring record with a 71-49 win over Flint Powers at the Grand Valley State College Fieldhouse in Allendale. The Mustangs, led by Jennifer Shasky's 30-points, grabbed an early 24-10 and were never threatened. Defense was the key as the Mustangs held Powers all-stater Nikki Beaudry to 10 points in the contest.

Averaging more than 20 points per game, Carla Sterk erupted for 31, including 19 points in the first half, as Grand Rapids South Christian topped defending state champions Flint Beecher in Class B. The win marked the second big victory over Beecher in 1988 for South Christian High School. In March, the boys basketball team downed Flint Beecher in overtime in the semifinals on its way to the MHSAA Class B championship.

With 34 second remaining, Tirzah Wilson nailed both ends of a bonus situation, to give St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic a 41-39 win over Ontonagon in Class C. Catholic's Kelly Rose led all players with 17 points and a Finals record 25 rebounds. Jill Mattson paced Ontonagon with 13 points.

Walkerville cruised to its second consecutive title in Class D with a 70-52 win over Portland St. Patrick. Debbie Bettys scored 30 points to become the eighth player in MHSAA Finals history to reach the 30-point plateau. Two other players would join the exclusive club by the end of the day. Teammate Angie Bond added a triple double, with 14 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Terri Boos and Mary Schrauben paced St. Patrick with 18 and 17 points respectively.

1993 A pair of layups by Nicole Massey gave the Wildcats of Flint Northwestern a 44-43 come-from-behind victory over Detroit Martin Luther King in the Class A contest at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek. Trailing 43-38 with a minute remaining, Northwestern's Larecha Jones pulled the team within three points on a putback with 46 seconds left. After a missed free throw by the Crusaders, the 5-4 Massey added a layup with 36 seconds to play making the score 43-42. King missed another free throw with 19 seconds left, but retained possession when the Wildcats knocked the ball out of bounds. Massey then stole the ball and scored the game-winner on another layup. With the victory, Northwestern's Tonya Edwards became the first girls coach in MHSAA history to play on a championship squad, then return to coach her team to a title. Edwards won prep titles as a player in 1983 and 1984. She also was a freshman starter on the University of Tennessee's 1987 national championship squad.

Dearborn Divine Child shot an impressive 67 percent in the second half en route to a 50-43 victory over defending Class B champ Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth, led by Ann Lemire's 15 points, made a 9-0 run late in the game to pull within two points, 41-39 with 3:34 left to play. But strong defense by the Falcons in the final minutes of play preserved the victory, giving Divine Child its third MHSAA title. Mary Murray scored 14 points while teammate Carrie Carpenter finished with eight for the Falcons.

In Class D, Emily Carr's three-point play with nine seconds remaining gave Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard a 43-42 double overtime victory over Mio. With her team trailing 42-40, Carr drove to the basket and scored. Fouled on the shot, she stepped to the line and calmly sank the game-winner. Gabriel Richard had built a 31-26 lead in the fourth quarter, but watched it slip away. Mio's Joslyn Hemingway scored off a steal with two seconds remaining to knot the game at 35-35, forcing overtime. The teams remained deadlocked 37-37 after the first OT. Hemingway finished with 12 points, while Michelle Johnson led the Thunderbolts defensively with a game-high 10 rebounds. Richard's Shauna Sikorski led all scorers with 16 points.