Jackson Lumen Christi wins state title behind star sophomores, dominant fourth quarter
· Yahoo Sports
East Lansing — Jackson Lumen Christi head coach Scott Stine might be in his first season leading a new program, but the multi-time champion head coach knew it was time for his star to get a curtain call in Saturday’s Division 3 championship.
Leading by double digits in the final seconds, Stine subbed out star point guard Kenna Hunt after a pair of free throws, and she embraced a line of coaches and teammates as the clock ran out and the buzzer sounded on a historic afternoon.
Visit salonsustainability.club for more information.
BOX SCORE: Jackson Lumen Christi 52, Pewamo-Westphalia 36
Behind 21 points from Hunt and another 14 from sophomore guard Lucy Wrozek, Jackson Lumen Christi (24-3) won, 52-36, over Pewamo-Westphalia to claim a Division 3 girls basketball championship. The teams entered the fourth quarter tied before Lumen Christi went on an 18-2 run over the final eight minutes to win the title.
It’s the culmination of an offseason of commitment for the Lumen Christi girls, welcoming Stine from Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, where he’d won three of the past four girls state titles, and building on an appearance in the state quarterfinals a year ago. Led by the sophomore guard duo and a seasoned senior core, Stine and the Lumen Christi team set out the clear goal at the start of the season.
“Win a state championship,” senior Lily Ganton said at a victorious postgame press conference.
For Jackson Lumen Christi, along with being the first title for the girls in hoops, it’s the first time a girls team from Jackson has won a state title in any division. It’s also the first time a high school basketball team from Jackson, girls or boys, has won a state title since 1955.
“Did I think it could happen?” Stine said, reiterating the question of the possibility of a first-year title at a new stop. “It's really hard to get here. It is really hard. And our kids that are returning, got some right out in front of me, we'll talk about that moving forward. But we gotta put the work in. But yeah, we knew it was — we knew it was capable. I've never hid from high expectations.”
Pewamo-Westphalia (25-3) got 12 points from senior Elly Bengel, and held close in the game through three quarters behind strong on-ball defending and a dominant edge in rebounding, before falling off the pace in the fourth quarter.
To open the fourth quarter, Hunt stepped in and hit a 3, barking in celebration and pounding her chest as she bounced back across midcourt to get set up on defense.
“I thought it was pretty big,” Hunt said. “It really was just a momentum shift.”
That kicked off an 18-2 fourth quarter in which Jackson Lumen Christi seized the game, in large part because Wrozek finally got her offense going throughout the second half and the Pewamo-Westphalia offense disappeared.
After scoring three points in the first half, Wrozek started to attack more in the second half, scoring seven points in the third quarter and then adding four more in the fourth, all on free throws, as she started to put pressure on her defenders.
“I knew that if I wanted to get to the basket, I needed to focus all the way, and I needed to go 100 percent in order to get to the basket and even look for my open teammates,” Wrozek said.
The sophomore duo of Hunt and Wrozek tallied 35 of Jackson Lumen Christi’s 52 points.
And as they did the scoring, the Pewamo-Westphalia offense failed to convert a field goal in the fourth quarter, going 0-for-9 against the Lumen Christi 2-3 zone. The lone two points came at the free-throw line.
Hunt had been sharp offensively, with 13 points, but Pewamo-Westphalia coach Steve Eklund said postgame that his team was happy to let Hunt score, so long as they limited Wrozek and the rest of the opposing lineup. After 24 minutes, that had been the case.
Pewamo-Westphalia also dominated on the glass in the first three quarters, outrebounding Jackson Lumen Christi by 12, and finishing plus-11 on the boards. That came as a surprise to both coaches, as Eklund felt it would be a potential weakness for his team. Stine also didn’t expect that to happen, and remarked that Pewamo-Westphalia had played Jackson Lumen Christi into playing a zone defense, something he hadn’t needed to do all season, he said.
“We played a great, about 24 to 26 minutes, and, you know, it just kind of got away from us a little bit, and then we started taking some tougher shots,” Eklund said.
Stine, who has been on this stage countless times in recent years, thinks it was a simple matter of his team letting the moment get to them early, coupled with an opponent giving them a serious challenge. But all it took to snap into a gear that Pewamo-Westphalia couldn’t match was a simple matter, too.
“I think they stopped thinking so much, and just went out and played like pit bulls,” Stine said of the fourth quarter that won Jackson Lumen Christi a state title.
Andrew Graham is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Jackson Lumen Christi wins Division 3 girls basketball state championship