MORENCI — A near-perfect regular season led to the second regional championship in a row for the Morenci girls basketball team.
The Bulldogs made it all the way to the Elite Eight before falling to Genesee Christian in the state quarterfinal. As impressive as that was, head coach Ashley Joughin said the expectation the players set for themselves was even higher.
“It’s a great accomplishment for the girls, but in some ways, we wanted more and were hoping for that,” she said.
And with only one graduating senior on the team, plus three skilled sophomores slated to come up from JV in their junior year, the prospects look good for next season.
Leading the Bulldogs in scoring this year was junior Emersyn Bachelder, who averaged 15 points per game and also led the team in steals with 3.6 per game. She was named a first-team Associated Press Division 4 all-state player this year, as well as a first-team all-league player.
“She’s a dynamic scorer and can score from the inside out,” Joughin said. “She’s great off the dribble and has a knack for getting herself to the rim.”
Junior Evelyn Joughin was also a first-team all-league player, leading both her team and the league in assists at 6.2 per game, as well as racking up 3.2 steals per game.
Senior Alyssa Gibbs was a second-team all-league player and has been a member of the all-league team all four years of her high school career. She scored 9.3 points per game and led the team in rebounding with 6.9 points per game.
Joining the starting lineup this year was sophomore Colbie Ekins. A second-team all-league player, Ekins scored 10 points per game and averaged 6.4 rebounds per game. And a top-notch defense was provided by junior Addyson Valentine, a second-team all-league player who consistently guarded some of the opposing teams’ best players throughout the season as well as averaging 5.1 rebounds and two assists per game.
The Bulldogs came roaring out of the gate on Dec. 3 when they racked up a 67-26 win against Adrian. Nearly a third of Morenci’s total came from Gibbs, who led the team in scoring in the first game of her senior year with 22 points.
They followed up that win with an equally lopsided victory against Onsted on Dec. 5, defeating the Wildcats 40-15.
The Concord Yellowjackets posed a tougher challenge in an away game on Dec. 9, when the Morenci girls had to fight their way back from a double-digit deficit to eke out a 43-41 win.
Morenci handed Reading a 62-46 defeat on Dec. 11. They followed this up with a 33-16 win against Lenawee Christian on Dec. 17 in their fourth road game in a row.
Back on their home court on Dec. 19, the Bulldogs rolled to a big win against Sand Creek, beating the Aggies 52-6. Two days later, they headed into Christmas break undefeated by topping Gorham-Fayette 52-57.
The winning streak continued in the new year with a pair of road wins — 58-23 against Hudson on Jan. 7 and 59-40 against Summerfield on Jan. 9. The following week brought another pair of victories: a huge 54-11 margin against Britton Deerfield in a Jan. 14 home game, followed by a 49-21 victory at Erie Mason on Jan. 16.
A second matchup against Lenawee Christian on Jan. 23 was much closer than the first. In a rare occurrence, Morenci trailed for the first three quarters before rallying at the end to post a 40-38 win.
The wins just kept on coming, with victories of 50-40 victory over Whiteford on Jan. 28, 32-29 over Columbia Central on Feb. 3, 58-21 over Sand Creek on Feb. 7, 49-28 over Hanover-Horton on Feb. 10, 50-25 over Summerfield on Feb. 14, and 54-9 over Britton Deerfield on Feb. 18. That game not only brought their record to 18-0, it also resulted in the team clinching the Tri-County Conference title outright, their third TCC title in a row.
It wasn’t until the next game, on Feb. 21, that the Bulldogs took their first loss of the season. Even that game was closely fought — Whiteford’s narrow 36-35 win came in overtime.
“They did a nice job of slowing us down and kind of taking us out of our rhythm,” Joughin said of the Bulldogs’ one regular-season defeat. “I was proud of how the girls responded to that loss and came out and beat a few tough teams at the end of the season.”
The loss “made them play with a little more fire,” Joughin added. And, indeed, wins of 65-30 against Erie Mason and 44-31 against Blissfield closed out the regular season on Feb. 25 and Feb. 27.
Then it was on to the playoffs — and the quest for a spot in the state finals at the Breslin Center.
The first round of districts resulted in a 56-13 win against Waldron. The district final was a little harder, as the girls faced Summerfield for the third time this season.
“They changed up what they did the first two times,” Joughin said, “and we struggled to get going and really didn’t pull away much the entire game.”
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs managed a 50-46 win, grabbing the district title again.
The first round of regionals was against Whitmore Lake. The Trojans “did a great job of slowing us down and kind of throwing us out of rhythm,” Joughin said, “and we were only up 10-8 at halftime before we were able to get things going.” The final score of that game was 38-19.
In the regional final, Morenci faced the same opponent as last year’s regional final — Allen Park Inter-City Baptist. Their coach said the Bulldogs were expecting Inter-City Baptist to bring a strong and physical game.
“I thought the girls did a great job of making them struggle to get their offense going and holding them from scoring in transition,” she said.
Morenci’s 45-21 win earned the girls their second regional title in a row.
A 31-22 loss to Genesee Christian stopped Morenci from advancing toward a state title, and Joughin said that was disappointing for the team.
But there’s always next year.
The team will lose Alyssa Gibbs to graduation, but will return four starters next season. Three of them — Emersyn Bachelder, Evelyn Joughin, and Addyson Valentine — will be in their fourth year as varsity starters, and Colbie Ekins, heading into her junior year, will be a second-year varsity starter. Lauryn Dominique and Katelyn Ruse will be returning for their second year on varsity and looking to play bigger roles as seniors. And three of this year’s JV sophomores — Tessa Zuvers, Aly Curtis, and Hailey Cleveland — got some varsity playing time this season and will become full-fledged members of the varsity team next year.
“We will work hard in the off-season on a few skills we’d like to improve on and also get some fluidity with adding a few girls to the roster,” Coach Joughin said, “and hopefully when the season rolls around, we can take off from where we left off.”
The coach said that her players are “pretty business-like.”
“They don’t get overly excited and emotional,” she said. “They know what they’re trying to do and go out and do it day in and day out. They know what it takes to win and try to set the tone and work together every night to get it done.”
