Columbia Central girls have chance to just about clinch conference title Thursday night
By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Brooklyn – It’s been a while, and it’s been all-out dominance.
The Blissfield High girls basketball team enjoys playing on its home court, so much so the Royals haven’t lost there since Jan. 24.
The year was 2012.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Columbia Central coach David McDevitt said of his team’s Thursday night tilt at Blissfield. “It’s not too often we end a game and talk about the next opponent. But Tuesday night after we beat Erie-Mason, all we could talk about was the next one and what’s on the line.”
The Golden Eagles are 11-2 this season and a perfect 10-0 in the Lenawee County Conference standings.
Blissfield, while perfect at home so far this year, is 11-1 overall and 8-1 in conference play.
The lone loss was a 55-46 setback at Columbia on Jan. 7.
“Some of the same things that have got us where we are now worked the first time,” McDevitt said of the first win. “We played solid defense. We played man to man. We limited what they were able and what they like to do.”
“They like to press and fast break, and we were able to handle that,” he continued. “We didn’t turn the ball over much. At the same time, we got back on defense and made them beat us five on five. We didn’t give up many transition buckets.”
So, a Blissfield win Thursday night and the conference is back to all even between the top two teams, and the Royals have a shot at a fifth consecutive league crown.
But a Columbia win, and, well, “we’d be two games up on everyone with three to go,” McDevitt said.
“These are the kind of games you want to play,” he added. “These are the games you work all summer for, why you put in all that time in the summer, to play for a championship. It’s a little more than a basketball game this time around. It’s a great opportunity.”
In the first game, Columbia’s Chelsea Palmer scored 20 points to go with 12 rebounds.
McDevitt expects more of the same, but not just from Palmer.
“She’s going to do her thing,” he said of Palmer, who’s averaging 15.3 points per game . “We hope she has a good night and there’s no foul trouble and all that. At the same time, I think that’s the difference with us right now is we’re a little deeper and little more balanced than Blissfield. We share the ball. We move the ball. We’ll make the extra pass for the extra person and it’s worked well.”
If it works well enough, the Golden Eagles will do something no other team has done in a long, long time.
The year was 2012 when Blissfield last lost at home.
That could all change tonight.
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.