Birmingham Marian no longer is the same team that won the past two Class A state titles, but the Mustangs were happy to win another Catholic League A-B tournament title Sunday at Calihan Hall as a sign of continued league dominance and a positive springboard to the postseason.
Birmingham Marian assistant coaches Derrick Thomas, left, and Michelle Lindsey carry head coach Mary Cicerone to the celebrating players after their 51-37 win over Dewitt in Class A girls basketball final on March 21, 2015, in East Lansing.
Marian (13-6) began by going inside to senior center Elizabeth Grobbel, who scored all seven of her team’s first-quarter points. The Mustangs never trailed in the 48-29 win over Farmington Hills Mercy (14-5).
“We obviously lost a lot of people after last year, but keeping the same level of excellence and expectations is important to us,” Grobbel said about the league championship. “I think everyone’s done a great job living up to that, and I’m just really proud of this team, how hard we work and knowing that defense wins championships and everything else goes from there.
“It’s my fourth time on the floor here, so I felt comfortable being out there again,” Grobbel said, adding she thought it was her best career game on both ends of the court. “It’s my senior year, I felt this was the time, I came prepared and felt all my teammates were all ready to go. We had good energy, and we came together to win.”
Grobbel scored 14 points, 12 coming as Marian built a 19-7 halftime advantage.
“Liz set the tone early that they were going to have to watch her, and on defense we threw a little ringer in there of what we were going to do — gap on some players and mark some others, switch off on every interchange or screen,” coach Mary Cicerone said. “We had a couple breakdowns early, but the kids played really well. They played the game plan.”
The fourth quarter started 32-13, but Mercy raised the intensity with full-court pressure that resulted in several Marian turnovers but almost as many fast-break lay-ups for the Mustangs. The closest Mercy got in the final quarter was 38-27 on a basket and free throw by Jackie Bauer (eight points).
“We had a little cushion, so that made us feel a little less crazy,” Cicerone said about the full-court press.
Lauren Montalbano lifted the Mustangs’ scoring output in the second half with 13 points.
■Waterford Our Lakes of the Lakes 40, Madison Heights Bishop Foley 24: Lakes returned to power in the C-D championship after last winning the title in 2013, which was the last of four championships in the previous five years.
Defense was the key factor according to coach Steve Robak as Lakes held Foley to fewer points from the field (11) than the Ventures scored from the free-throw line (13-for-18) at Calihan Hall.
“Our defense was very good and made things tough on their best player,” Robak said. “It’s something we’ve been working on a little bit, so I was happy to see that it was pretty effective today.
“The offense, we struggled a little bit, but we made a few shots in spurts in the first half and we did enough to win, so I’m happy with that.”
Lakes (15-4)took a 23-11 halftime lead and maintained its distance. Sophomore Senerius Tiffany scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half. Teammate Megan Ross tied her teammate’s effort with four three-pointers.
Foley’s leading scorer was Jacki Johnson with eight points.