Renaissance bounces Avondale in regional finals
NOT SO SWEET 16: Auburn Hills Avondale found itself in the Class A Sweet 16 Thursday night, but ran into a roadblock and fell prey to Detroit Renaissanse 57-52 in the regional finals. File Photo.
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
WATERFORD — Finally, Auburn Hills Avondale met its postseason match Thursday.
That meant the end of the road for the Yellowjackets.
Avondale, making its first appearance in a regional final since the fall 2006 season, could not sustain an 11-point lead and finally succumbed to Detroit Renaissance, 57-52, in a Class A regional final at Waterford Kettering after the Yellowjackets lead for much of the first three quarters.
Renaissanse advances to the state quarterfinals Tuesday at Calihan Hall in Detroit to face Warren Regina.
“It was a good game. Renaissance has some great players and they made the plays in the end,” conceded Avondale coach Dave Muczynski, whose team finished 22-3. “They made a lot of adjustments in the second half and started to go inside more in the second half. They came back on us and took the lead. We were within two points in the last minute and they hit their free throws at the end. We had a hard time with their size.”
Playing stingy defense, Avondale built a 29-23 lead at the half and held a 41-30 advantage with just over three minutes to go in the third stanza before Renaissance made its comeback, putting together a 20-2 run over parts of the third quarter and fourth quarter.
The Yellowjackets were up 41-36 entering the fourth quarter but quickly trailed 50-43 with under four minutes to go. Avondale simply could not weather the storm.
“They made some adjustments,” offered Muczynski. “The things we did defensively in the first half didn’t work in the second half. I thought we did a good job of not allowing them to get inside to their (post players). We also made out shots in the first half. We hit a lot of threes and that helped us a lot. But we knew they would make a run at us. They switched defenses on us and closed down on our shooters.”
Avondale hit 10 3-pointers in the contest. Andrea Strauss scored all 15 of her points from outside the arc and the senior bowed out as the school’s all-time best three-point shooter. Courtney Williams added a trio of threes and also scored 15 points and junior Hannah Little scored 12 for the Yellowjackets, who only had six players score points and shot a dismal 6-for-15 from the foul line.
Arrice Bryant scored 18 points on the inside for Renaissance. Asia Boyd and Elizabeth Badgett added 15 points apiece for the Phoenix, who were 13-for-25 from the charity stripe.
Renaissance did hit 6-of-7 free throws in the final minute to hold off Avondale, which picked up a three-pointer from Loreal Ferris that cut the deficit to 54-52 with only 10 ticks to go.
“We had a good run,” added Muczynski, whose took over a six-win program two years ago. “We won our league two years in a row, we won a district, we won 22 games this season and we played for a regional championship against a very good Renaissance team. I am proud of the girls for their effort.”
To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com. To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com
Category: Auburn Hills Avondale, High School
