Three times as nice: Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes wins third straight state title
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
EAST LANSING — Most student athletes never get a chance to play for a state championship. Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes has plaed for three straight in girls basketball — and the Lakers have won all three times.
Lakes put the finishing touches on the rare three-peat Saturday morning at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, topping Athens 53-37 in the Class D state finals at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University.
“I don’t think the girls realize yet how special winning three state championships is,” smiled Our Lady of the Lakes coach Steve Robak. “I’m sure they don’t fully get it yet. There’s not too many teams in Michigan history that have played in three straight finals.”
And Lakes has now joined some elite company.
Since the inception of the MHSAA girls basketball tournament in1973, only 12 teams in all four classes combined have reached the state finals in three straight consecutive seasons.
Now, Our Lady of the Lakes has become the sixth school to win three straight state titles and the third in Class D. Leland pulled the trick from 1980-82, while Portland St. Patrick pulled the hat trick from 1994-96 as the other Class D schools to pull of the hat trick.
HIGHER AND HIGHER: Tori Duffey and her Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes teammates raise the state championship trophy following the Lakers' 53-37 victory over Athens in the Class D finals at Michigan State University. Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com
Lakes (23-4), which is an amazing 107-22 in Steve Robak’s five years at the helm of the program. This year the Lakers were led by its pool of four all-state players, which aided Lakes’ fifth postseason win by double figures.
“They have four all-staters (on the Associated Press) team, two on the first team and two that were honorable mention, and that’s hard to stop,” noted Athens coach Calvin Quist. “They have a lot of girls that are good spot up shooters. They went on that run late in the second quarter and we were down by eight and we were never able to dig ourselves out (of that deficit).”
Lakes ended the second quarter with a 13-3 run for a 29-19 lead at the half. Junior Lexie Robak scored eight straight to close the quarter, including a pair of threes to help the Lakers pull away.
In the third quarter, senior Tori Duffey hit three straight long-distance bombs as part of an 11-2 run to cap the quarter, which put the Lakers in complete control at 42-26 entering the final frame.
In past years, the Lakers went to the sure hands of all-stater Lauren Robak, who is now at Oakland University. This year, Lakes had four players that could hurt teams and did so again in Saturday’s finals.
“I think we have a lot of girls that can score a lot of points,” said junior Ava Doetsch. “It was someone different in almost every game.”
Duffey and junior Ava Doetsch scored 13 apiece to lead the balanced attack for WOLL, with Duffey also scooping up five steals. Lexie Robak added 12 points and Anna Robb and Carlee Cottrell (seven rebounds) scored seven apiece for the Lakers.
Athens was paced by Sierra Stevens, who scored 15 points, 10 in the first half. Stevens scored five in the third quarter, including three-pointer from the top of the key with 4:31 to play that sliced the Lakes lead to 31-24.
Stevens scored a layup 20 seconds later but did not score again. The Indians (21-6) did not score another field goal for the remainder of the third quarter and made just one field goal in the fourth quarter. Payton Wood added eight points.
Lakes outscored Athens 13-7 in the third frame before both teams traded off 11 points in the final stanza.
“We knew coming in that they were an excellent three — point shooting team with a lot of shooters and they were able to knock down a few and we went through a couple of (scoring) droughts ,” said Quist.
CLASS D BOX SCORE
Athens vs Waterford Our Lady
03/17/12 10:00 am at East Lansing, Mich.
Athens 37
|
Total |
3-point |
Rebounds |
||||||||||||
|
## |
Player |
p |
fgm-fga |
fgm-fga |
ftm-fta |
off-def |
tot |
pf |
tp |
a |
to |
blk |
stl |
min |
|
02 |
Payton Wood |
* |
3-9 |
0-0 |
2-5 |
0-1 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
26 |
|
04 |
Leo Plaisir |
* |
1-3 |
0-1 |
2-2 |
1-2 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
31 |
|
10 |
Sierra Stevens |
* |
5-15 |
2-5 |
3-5 |
0-1 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
24 |
|
30 |
Leia Fuller |
* |
0-3 |
0-0 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
20 |
|
40 |
Abbey Fuller |
* |
0-0 |
0-0 |
2-2 |
1-0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
|
12 |
Valerie Rubley |
– |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1-0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
|
14 |
Allysha Beal |
– |
0-1 |
0-0 |
1-2 |
1-0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
|
22 |
Audrey Oswalt |
– |
2-5 |
0-1 |
0-1 |
1-2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
20 |
|
32 |
Allison Fuller |
– |
0-3 |
0-3 |
2-2 |
0-1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
|
TM |
TEAM |
– |
– |
– |
– |
3-1 |
4 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
| Totals………….. |
– |
11-40 |
2-10 |
13-21 |
9-10 |
19 |
18 |
37 |
3 |
19 |
0 |
10 |
160 |
|
|
27.5% |
20.0% |
61.9% |
||||||||||||
|
Team summary: |
FG |
3FG |
FT |
|||||||||||
|
1st Half: |
7-22 |
1-4 |
4-8 |
|||||||||||
|
31.8% |
25.0% |
50.0% |
||||||||||||
|
2nd Half: |
4-18 |
1-6 |
9-13 |
|||||||||||
|
22.2% |
16.7% |
69.2% |
||||||||||||
Waterford Our Lady 53
|
Total |
3-point |
Rebounds |
||||||||||||
|
## |
Player |
p |
fgm-fga |
fgm-fga |
ftm-fta |
off-def |
tot |
pf |
tp |
a |
to |
blk |
stl |
min |
|
12 |
Tori Duffey |
* |
4-7 |
4-6 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
3 |
2 |
13 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
5 |
27 |
|
20 |
Ava Doetsch |
* |
5-10 |
0-1 |
3-3 |
1-2 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
27 |
|
21 |
Anna Robb |
* |
2-2 |
0-0 |
3-6 |
1-6 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
28 |
|
23 |
Carlee Cottrell |
* |
3-5 |
0-0 |
1-2 |
1-3 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
20 |
|
24 |
Lexie Robak |
* |
5-9 |
2-5 |
0-0 |
0-5 |
5 |
1 |
12 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
30 |
|
01 |
Brianna Topolewski |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-2 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
03 |
Micaela Mallory |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
05 |
Gabby Troy |
– |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
|
25 |
Jessica Parry |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1-2 |
2-1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
|
32 |
Emmalee Peck |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
34 |
Marina Anderson |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
55 |
Lindsay Ross |
– |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
TM |
TEAM |
– |
– |
– |
– |
0-1 |
1 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
| Totals………….. |
– |
19-34 |
6-12 |
9-17 |
6-22 |
28 |
18 |
53 |
14 |
21 |
2 |
11 |
160 |
|
|
55.9% |
50.0% |
52.9% |
||||||||||||
|
Team summary: |
FG |
3FG |
FT |
|||||||||||
|
1st Half: |
11-22 |
3-8 |
4-9 |
|||||||||||
|
50.0% |
37.5% |
44.4% |
||||||||||||
|
2nd Half: |
8-12 |
3-4 |
5-8 |
|||||||||||
|
66.7% |
75.0% |
62.5% |
||||||||||||
| Score by Periods |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Total |
|
| Athens |
13 |
6 |
7 |
11 |
37 |
Record: (21-6) |
| Waterford Our Lady |
15 |
14 |
13 |
11 |
53 |
Record: (23-4) |
| Officials: Jason Smith, Jeff Shelton, Warren Kent III Technical fouls: Athens-None. Waterford Our Lady-None. Attendance: MHSAA Class D Finals Waterford wins their third straight Class D championship |
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