BY DAN STICKRADT
CORRESPONDENT
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
EAST LANSING — Maddie Clark put her entire school and town on her shoulders Saturday morning.
The junior three-sport All-State standout wasn’t about to let Pittsford fall short again. In fact, she helped her teammates cap an unbeaten season behind a dominating performance.
Clark did everything, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting, added 10 rebounds, collected four steals and swatted two shots in leading Pittsford to a 48-30 victory over third-ranked Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in the Class D state finals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Pittsford, which lost in the Class D state finals last season to St. Ignace-Lasalle in overtime (64-60), ran the tables this season to finish a perfect 27-0 this season and is 52-1 over two seasons.
“We just wanted to win, do whatever it took to get the W,” smiled Clark, who is a part of the Wildcats’ 75-2 run over three seasons. “This was our goal the whole season, getting back here (and winning the title).”
The loss in last year’s title bout was enough of a motivator, even if the coaching stff did not bring it up much throughout the past severla months.
“We didn’t talk about (the loss to St. Ignace) much this year,” said Pittsford coach Chris Hodos. “We brought it up (briefly) at halftime and said ‘here we are. Let’s not make the same mistakes again.’”
Junior guard Jaycie Burger chipped in with 11 points, four steals and three assists, while teaming up with senior guard Laura Smith (four points, three assists, two steals) to lead the defensive charge. The Wildcats picked up 17 steals in the finals and 59 steals over their final three games. Senior forward Madison Ayers, who elected not to play as a junior, also contributed to the Wildcats’ effort eight points, three rebounds and two steals.
Throughout the season, Pittsford held 11 opponents to under 20 points, including five to single digits, and also held 23 of 27 opponents to under 40 points.
“We worked all summer. We took off (the mandated) 15 days and it all more than paid off. We had a great effort today,” smiled Pittsford coach Chris Hodos, who has a 91-8 record in four seasons with the Wildcats. “We had a game plan to neutralize (Averi) Gamble and we did a great job on her.”
Clark out-dueled Sacred Heart’s Averi Gamble, who was voted as the Associated Press Player of the Year a few days earlier. Pittsford’s defense was sweltering all over the court and Averi picked up two quick fouls in the game’s first three minutes.
Gamble was held in check, as the 6-2 senior center was limited to just seven points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Pittsford’s perimeter defense and double-teaming of Gamble caused problems for the Irish the whole game — all over the court.
“Kudos to our girls. They battled and did what they had to win the game,” smiled Hodos.
Sacred Heart was forced into a season-high 29 turnovers and Pittsford held the Irish to just 35.7 percent shooting (10-for-28) for the game. Simply put, Sacred Heart had more turnovers than shot attempts.
The Wildcats’ defensive style created seven postseason wins which they allowed only 25.3 points an outing. Over 27 games, Pittsford allowed only 24.1 points a contest.
“It started against Waldron in our district finals. We went to Tornado, which is our trapping game, and I thought their ball-handlers were kind of intimidated, so we wanted to play like that (the rest of the tournament),” said Burger. “That defense works. I thought we frustrated (Sacred Heart) again today.”
Freshman guard Scout Nelson led Sacred Heart (24-2) with nine points, but was pressured into 14 turnovers by Pittsford’s stifling defensive pressure.
“I guess our defense isn’t so bad,” laughed Hodos.
Pittsford held a 11-8 lead after the first quarter and used an 11-5 surge in the second stanza for a 22-13 halftime lead. An 18-7 run in the third period pushed the lead to 40-20 — yet the Wildcats didn’t put on the brakes until the final minute.
“I’m proud of the effort of my girls today, especially the seniors,” said Sacred Heart coach Damon Brown. “We’ll be back. We’re a little disappointed today. We lost to a great basketball team.
“I thought the officiating was a little sketchy. I thought we let that get to us a little bit, We tried to manage it the best we can,” noted Brown. “I thought we had a good first half. We kept it somewhat close. But it got away from us a little bit in the third quarter.”