LBI: Inside the Game Summary

2016 Regionals No. 4-A Championship

“King Explodes Over Lathrup”

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Fordson High School

Fordson High School played host to the 2016 Regional 4-A Championship between the Detroit Martin Luther King Crusaders (20-1) and the Southfield Lathrup Lady Chargers (20-3).  The winner of this game moves on to play Ann Arbor Huron next week.

King wasted no time getting on the board as Freshman Del’Janae Williams took the tip off down for a quick layup.  Lathrup would answer right back though as Senior Antoinette Miller managed to get through a couple bodies to get a layup for the Lady Chargers and give them the early lead.  Moments later Micaela Kelly would tie it at 9 with a big triple for the Crusaders.  King would get cold though as they missed a lot of shots late in the second and Junior Tia Tedford got denied on what would have been a pick and roll by Lathrup Junior Deja Church.  Lathrup would end the quarter on a 6-2 run to lead 17-11.

Things would change quickly in the 2nd quarter for the Crusaders.  “We just told them to relax,” said King Head Coach William Winfield.  “Because (Lathrup) was getting to them, especially Tedford.  Just relax and knock those shots down.”  King would again start the quarter with a breakaway layup by Williams, this time 15 seconds in, to start a 9-0 run to give them a three point lead.  Lathrup would answer with their own run, 6-0, thanks to a couple layups by Miller but their momentum wouldn’t last.  King would put together a second 9-0 run, this one all from triples by Tedford, Sophomore Jordan Lewis and Sophomore Erica Whitley-Jackson.  The Crusaders would head into the lockers up 29-15.

The 3rd quarter would be more of the same.  King would knock down 3-pointer after 3-pointer which would end up doubling their first half points in the 3rd quarter.  Things would begin to sour at the other end of the court as Lathrup would begin to miss plenty of shots, part of the reason why they were outscored by 17 points in the 3rd.  The exclamation point for King would come right at the buzzer as Williams would nail a half-court shot with one second left, which would be the fifth triple of the quarter.  King led 58-37.

In the final quarter it seemed as though King was letting off the gas despite the big lead but Lathrup was not at all ready to quit.  For half of the 4th quarter, the Crusaders were held to only 2 points while Church would add a layup to cap off a 9-2 run.  It would not be enough though as King would go on to win 74-56.  Next week they will take on the Ann Arbor Huron River Rats at Southfield High School.

Leading scorers of the night: Detroit Martin Luther King: Tia Tedford 20, Del’Janae Williams 13, Erica Whitley-Jackson 11.  Southfield Lathrup: Deja Church 20, Antoinette Miller 15, Taiye Bello 13.

Game and Team Highlights

Detroit Martin Luther King:

• Tia Tedford may have been getting frustrated early by Lathrup but she would shake that off in the 2nd onwards.She would tie the game at 17 with a jump shot then knock down a couple threes later on.

• King really kept the onslaught coming as they scored 29 points in the 3rd quarter, the same amount of points they scored in the first half.

Southfield Lathrup:

• Deja Church led her team with 20 points in the game and that was due to her aggressive style of play.She would always put pressure when driving to the basket as well as look for any opportunities for a pick and roll on defense.

• Despite the large deficit, the Lady Chargers never quit and actually outscored the Crusaders 19-16 in the 4th.