DETROIT – Cora Williams knows that her teammates around the perimeter – Vanessa Rodriguez, Ava Rodriguez and Charlotte Miller – draw a lot of attention, and she’s just fine with that.
That’s because Williams and fellow low-post player Saige Edmonson bring yet more components to the Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard game, and that inside-outside approach makes the Fighting Irish basketball team so hard to stop.
Toledo Notre Dame couldn’t do it, as Fr. Gabriel Richard captured its third straight Catholic League Bishop Division championship, 48-31, at University of Detroit Mercy’s Calihan Hall.
“Obviously, it was very nice,” said Williams, a senior. “Our guards are just really talented, and when they get me and our other post the ball, we get to show our talent too.”
Williams scored the game’s first basket on a fast-break lay-up and finished with a game-high 12 points, leading a balanced scoring attack. Miller put up 11 and Vanessa Rodriguez had 9, while Ava Rodriguez and Edmonson scored eight apiece as the five starters accounted for all of Ann Arbor’s points.
“We’re not always that balanced, but everybody on the team thinks when we do share the ball, those are our best games on offense,” Williams said.
“We really just want to play as a team,” Vanessa Rodriguez said. “Everybody gets a touch on the ball, everyone scores, so it’s harder for teams to guard us that way if everyone is playing their game and getting points.”
And that’s by design, coach Tim Cain said.
“We emphasize sharing the ball,” he said. “We’re all about the team, so we all spread it out. If we all share the ball and we’re not selfish, we’re going to win a lot of games. So far, it’s been successful.”
Fr. Gabriel Richard has won 18 of its 19 games, with its lone setback coming Dec. 28 in a one-point loss to Belleville, which has been top-ranked in the MHSAA’s Division 1.
“I tell everybody it takes all five girls,” Cain said. “All five girls can score, so we’re really, really, hard to stop. Tonight, we just established the low post, which we talk about in practice over and over. Cora had some phenomenal power moves in the post. We’ve been working on those for two years, so that was good to see. Saige did a great job defensively and rebounding. It’s going to take all five girls to win a state title.”
The Fighting Irish, which reached the MHSAA Division 2 state finals last March only to fall to Detroit Edison, returns with its lineup nearly intact, so there are some lofty goals.
“We have a goal as a team for five trophies – this is one of them – so we just have to keep working hard in practice, and we know we can get that state championship this year,” Vanessa Rodriguez said.
At Calihan, Fr. Gabriel Richard got out to an 8-0 lead and didn’t allow the Eagles on the scoreboard until Brooklyn Armstead hit a 3-pointer with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter. That period ended with Ann Arbor on top, 19-6, and even though the Fighting Irish’s output slowed in the second quarter (scoring just three points), they had enough confidence to let their defense step up and keep Notre Dame from getting within 10 points the rest of the night.
“We were struggling a little bit offensively, so seeing that early lead really boosted our confidence, and it helped us take the win,” Vanessa Rodriguez said. “They’re just very tough rebounders, and they play defense really hard, so it was really just a defensive game.”
“It’s been their defense all year,” Cain said of the Eagles. “They’re going to take away the girl that’s hot, so then you just have to go to the next girl.”
Ann Arbor limited Notre Dame Academy to making just 25.6 percent of its shooting attempts and 15.4 percent from three-point range. But Cain said his opponent is still a quality team.
“They’re going to win a regional in Ohio,” he said. “They’re phenomenally coached. They’re just really good. We just played really well tonight, and we were locked in defensively. We had some different wrinkles in the first quarter, we had more of a post presence that that beat them.”
Besides the loss to Belleville, Notre Dame Academy has limited Fr. Gabriel Richard to its three lowest-scoring games of the season. So the Fighting Irish knew what to expect on Friday.
“We’ve been in close games all year, and we just know how to grind it out,” Cain said. “But we really do enjoy it.”
Next, Fr. Gabriel Richard hosts Chelsea on Tuesday and hosts the Operation Friendship city championship game against Detroit Public School League champion, Renaissance, on Thursday. It’s a rematch of last year’s game, which the Fighting Irish won, 54-39.
Even though Fr. Gabriel Richard wrapped up a second straight Bishop Division title, the Catholic League playoffs conclude Saturday, Feb. 22, at Eastern Michigan University, with final games in the St. Anne Division (11 a.m.) and the Cardinal Division (1 p.m.). Clarkston Everest Collegiate is the reigning St. Anne champion. Last year’s Cardinal champion, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, played in the Bishop Division this winter.
