Tecumseh, Morenci ready for girls basketball quarterfinal showdowns

A word of advice to the Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard fans who might be attending Tuesday's Division 2 quarterfinal at Ypsilanti Lincoln.

Don't heckle the Tecumseh girls basketball team during pregame warmups.

The Lansing Christian student section found out firsthand after yelling things like, "it's going to be a long ride home to the middle of nowhere" and "you can't shoot," Tecumseh shot 59.5% from the field (46.2% from three) and road home with the regional title Wednesday with a 56-52 win.

"It's cool," sophomore Makayla Schlorf said. "It encourages me to do better. It's like motivation."

Tecumseh has plenty of motivation already as it'll look to make the semifinals for the first time since 1975 at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the top-ranked team in Division 2, the Fighting Irish.

"Charlotte (Miller) is a really good point guard and they have the Rodriguez twins (Vanessa and Ava) who are really good shooters," Schlorf said. "Our defense is going to have to be on point."

One thing is for sure, Tecumseh won't be afraid of Gabriel Richard. After playing Lansing Christian, Division 1 ranked teams Jackson Northwest and Detroit Renaissance, Chelsea twice, Blissfield and Detroit Country Day, Tecumseh has shown it can not only play with anyone, but it can win.

Almost a month ago, Tecumseh was scheduled to host Plymouth Christian, but due to illness Plymouth Christian had to drop out. The same day, Tecumseh scheduled Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Renaissance and won, 59-55.

"Anytime we come up to a big game we're like, you guys beat Detroit Renaissance," coach Kristy Zajac said. "You guys locked them up and they were a great, great team. To get that win against a great team, that boosted our level of confidence and help us through this postseason."

The day before Tecumseh, Renaissance took on Gabriel Richard and lost, 54-39. The Fighting Irish have also seen, and beat, Lansing Christian and Detroit Country Day.

Tecumseh knows it'll have to play its best game to knock off Gabriel Richard.

"I think we matchup pretty well with them," Zajac said. "We played them quite a bit in the summer. They have three really great guards, but we have three really good guards. They have two really good posts and we have two really good posts.

"It's going to be whoever knocks down the shots and defend. It'll be a great matchup no matter what."

Division 4

Start the buses.

Morenci basketball parents chipped in and paid for fan buses for each of the Division 4 regional games the Bulldogs played last week at Whitmore Lake.

More fan buses will be needed this week when Morenci makes its first quarterfinal appearance since 2011 at 5 p.m. Tuesday when it travels to West Bloomfield High School to take on No. 2 Kingston.

“Sometimes there is a lack of that in small communities, but they showed up big for us,” Morenci coach Ashley Joughin said. “We had fan buses twice (last) week where our parents are paying for kids to ride the bus if they want to go to the game — kids that maybe don’t get the opportunity to go sometimes.”

The big crowd was loud and noticeable, said Morenci sophomore Evelyn Joughin.

“It nice to see the whole community come out and support us,” she said. “After every play, you get the crowd going wild. That was really cool.”

That support will be needed this week, as well. Morenci is 21-3 and has captured Tri-County Conference, district and regional championships but will battle a tough Kingston team.

“At this point of the tournament, everyone left is tough,” Coach Joughin said. “So are we.”

Kingston is not totally new to this level. It has been knocking on the state tournament’s door for the last several seasons. The Cardinals lost in the quarterfinals last year and in 2019 and reached the semifinals in 2018.

This season, Kingston is led by sophomore Molly Walker (13.2 points a game) and Delaney St. George (16.8 points a game). St. George is a dangerous 3-point shooter who averages 3.4 three’s a game.

Kingston started the season 2-0, lost, and has won 23 straight since.

“They are tough,” Joughin said. “I think person-for-person, they outsize us. They’re patient on offense and look to get transition points by forcing bad passes and getting their hands in the passing lanes.”

Joughin also said she feels the Bulldogs can play with them.

“I think we are quicker and play a little better defense than a lot of the teams I’ve watched them play,” she said. “If we can cut down their point total and take care of the ball and work for open shots on our end, we will be in good shape.”

Morenci has had a tremendous season defensively — giving up an average of just 26.9 points a game.

Offensively, the Bulldogs are balanced. Emersyn Bachelder averages 10 points a game but Alyssa Gibbs, Joughin, Addyson Valentine and Leah Rorick are all capable scorers. Rorick leads the team in 3-pointers with 21.

“Emersyn is dangerous if you give her anything in the middle,” coach Joughin said. “Alyssa takes up some space and you have to honor her. Then you get some of the better inside-out action when they start contesting everything underneath.”

Joughin is smooth handling the point guard duties.

“She’s smart about composing, time management, when to get it out and when to push it,” her coach said. “She can see the open man but when we don’t need it, she’s good at not forcing something we don’t need.”

There will be no lack of excitement by the Bulldogs Tuesday. They also won’t back down.

“I think the girls are excited,” Joughin said. “In comparison to last season, their mentality is a lot different. They aren’t playing timid. They’re staying composed in pressure situations and in a bigger stage and turning towards each other for support.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh, Morenci ready for MHSAA girls basketball quarterfinals