By Don Horkey | Special to The Michigan Catholic



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Bloomfield Hills -- The coaches were right.

Mary Laney, coach of Dearborn Divine Child, paid no heed that her team’s 9-1 record was better than Birmingham Marian’s 5-4.

“No matter what the record, you’re playing Marian,” she said before the start of last night’s game. “Marian is Marian.”

Across the gym, Mary Cicerone, Marian’s legendary coach for the past 28 years, bemoaned that she’d lost two starters to injuries this season and has only one starter returning from a year ago. “But the team is getting better. We’ll surprise some teams yet.”

The surprise came sooner than perhaps she thought. The Mustangs recovered from a horrible start to beat the Falcons 41-32. The loss dropped Divine Child (9-2) into a tie with Farmington Hills Mercy in the Girls Central Division with identical 2-1 records. Marian (6-4)is 1-2.

Cara Miller hit a triple, Nicole Urbanick scored two baskets, Rosanna Reynolds scored, and Miller scored again, and before the crowd settled in the stands, Divine Child had an 11-1 lead.

Cicerone was beside herself along the sidelines. Marian missed 10 shots and made a half-dozen turnovers. It looked like a long night.

It would be – for Divine Child.

In the next 10 minutes heading into the intermission, Marian went on a 16-5 tear to lead at the half, 17-16. Six-foot-1 senior forward Michelle Perkovic paced the comeback with seven points and spirited play under the boards. Guard Skye Acho hit a double and a triple, and Kilyn Bulluck chipped in three points.

In a stark reversal of fortunes, Divine Child came down with whatever was bothering Marian in the beginning of the game, managing just five points, two at the end of the first quarter and three at the start of the second, all by Miller, who as it turned out, would not score again in the game.

In the third quarter, the lead changed hands four times. Reynolds’s basket gave DC a 21-20 lead, Mackenzie Fleischer got it back for Marian with a three -point play, Reynolds connected on a triple to make it 25-24 Falcons, and Sara Zawacki matched that with one of her own to put the Mustangs on top 27-25.

The Falcons’ Mallory Myler scored back-to-back baskets in the final minute to tie the game at 29, but Fleischer hit a triple as the third-quarter buzzer sounded to give her team a 32-29 lead going into the final eight minutes of play.

Perkovic opened the fourth quarter with a steal and basket, but the Falcons’ Alicia Morrone countered with a triple to cut the Mustangs lead to 34-32 with 7:22 left to play.

Those were the last points Divine Child would score for the night. Laney probably couldn’t remember a team she coached that scored three points in one quarter and two in another – and she probably wouldn’t care to research it either.

Perkovic wound up with a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Fleischer and Zawacki each had eight points.
Miller had eight, Reynolds seven and Urbanick six to lead Divine Child.

After the game, Laney repeated her pre-game caution: “It’s always a challenge to beat Marian, but very difficult on their home court.” It didn’t help, though, that DC’s defense was porous and the offense not aggressive enough. “We didn’t get any free throws in the first half,” she said. In fact, DC had only two free throw attempts for the game, coming in the third quarter, and missed them both.

Cicerone praised her defense and gave special kudos to Perkovic. “She’s great on the perimeter and strong in the post.”

The two teams meet again Feb. 4 at Divine Child.

Footnote: Divine Child had its perfect record spoiled last Saturday in a game against Magnificat High School in Rocky River, Ohio, losing 52-39. Mt. Clemens Cardinal Mooney also fell from the unbeaten ranks (see story below). Warren DeLaSalle remains as the only unbeaten school in the Catholic League.

Lakers’ Lauren Robak too much for Cardinal Mooney

Here, there, everywhere.

That was the whirling dervish named Lauren Robak Monday night in Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 53-44 victory over Mt. Clemens Cardinal Mooney.

The 5-foot-10 senior poured in a season-high 31 points and ripped down 17 rebounds, overcoming a scary moment midway through the second quarter when she fell to the floor after a collision with an opponent.

“It was a knee-to-knee bump, a stinger,” she said afterward.

The Cardinals were the ones who got stung when Robak tallied 21 of the Lakers’ 35 second-half points to expand a slim four-point lead at the intermission into one as much as 13 points at one time.

Mooney had the height advantage with 6-foot-2 freshman Michela Coury (15 rebounds), 6-foot senior Breagh Beaton (10 points, 8 boards) and 5-foot-11 junior Sarah Thuet (21 points) clogging the middle.

“We got the ball inside the way we wanted to,” said Cardinals coach Susan Everhart, “but we couldn’t make the shots.”

Both Everhart and Lakers coach Steve Robak said the game was a “learning experience.” The next test will be a rematch on the Cardinals’ floor Feb. 4.

The loss knocked Mooney from the unbeaten ranks. Both teams are identical at 8-1 overall and 3-1 tied for the East Division lead.