Warriors have Golden Oppertunity Awaiting Them.

Written Sunday March 17th at 12:00 PM

The Southfield Arts and Tech Warriors are ready for another State title run.

The Warriors have been clearly the league’s top team and ranked number one in the State has been through a lot this season.

As Southfield Arts and Tech prepares to play St. Clair Shores Lakeview on Tuesday at West Bloomfield, the road hasn’t been easy for the Warriors this season especially starting out early with a loss to defending State Champ Saginaw Heritage by two points.

Southfield Arts and Tech has played a brutal schedule playing the likes of Saginaw Heritage, Flint Carman Ainsworth, Midland Dow, Birmingham Detroit Country Day, and Ypsilanti Arbor Prep to name a few in the non conference. They also compete in the Red with the likes of Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, Stoney Creek, Groves, North Farmington, and Royal Oak.

The district has not been easy for them either as they had to deal with Detroit Renaissance and Detroit Mumford, both teams they advanced by convincing margins. They hosted a tough regional that had the likes of Warren Cousino, Birmingham Marian, and Grosse Pointe North by beating the Patriots and Norsemen in the regional.

The key to this run has been coaching and a ton of credit has to go to legendary coach Michelle Marshall and her talented staff. Marshall coached at Southfield-Lathrup until the merger with Southfield High School back in 2016. She led the Chargers to the 2005 Class A State title. 

Marshall has gotten the most and then some from her very talented team.

Southfield Arts and Tech does has some talent as mentioned which could be one of the best starting fives in the State.

The first is post Alexis Johnson, Johnson whom is a Marshall commit is a four year varsity player. She can score inside and out and has a ton of athleticism. Johnson has become truly the heart and soul of this Warriors team. She has had big games against quality competition thus far. Johnson did get hurt against Grosse Pointe North in the regional final but did return in that game. Marshall knows the importance of having Johnson on the floor because she is a big who can get whenever she wants.

The next one is Cheyenne McEvans, McEvans is a very talented player who can play both the guard and wing. She dribble drives, shoots the ball very well and has the capability of taking over games. McEvans had a 23 points, 22 rebound game at Royal Oak. McEvans is another player more than capable of playing at the next level.

The next one is Sodell Barnes, Barnes is a guard/forward whom transferred in from Ohio and is a Toledo commit. She was an all-state honorable mention last season. Barnes has made an impact this season and can play anywhere where it is at the guard spots or at the wing like McEvans. She has had games where she has taken over and has bought in to the Warriors way.

The next one is Kayonia Wills. Wills was a transfer from Detroit Renaissance and has really been a very good game manager from the point guard spot. She has had games where she hasn’t needed to score and what’s key to having a successful title run is you have to have a great game manager and Willis fits the bill perfectly.

The last one is Jasmine Worthy. Worthy transferred from Groves to play for Southfield Arts and Tech this season. She is big and lengthy whom block shots, rebound, and alter shots in the post. Worthy does have a bit of an outside game as well. She is more of a threat on the defensive end which helps the rest of the team not only to get into the fast break but controls the post out there.

The bench is a concern besides these five talented players play a ton of heavy minutes. There are some questions especially when they get into foul trouble. It has to be something that has to concern Marshall heading into the State quarterfinals and into the later rounds.

Looking Ahead.

Southfield Arts and Tech’s road will be interesting. The Warriors play St. Clair Shores Lakeview on Tuesday at West Bloomfield. The Huskies have a relativity young team but talented team for a reason. St. Clair Shores Lakeview beat Port Huron Northern in the regional final 46-37 which was the first ever crown. The Huskies will pose some trouble especially where Worthy is expected to have her hands full going up against 6.6 Joslyn Benson in the interior.  St. Clair Shores Lakeview has two sophomore starters in Tricia Sankiewicz and Kayla Austin along with seniors Julia Decker, Ri’Shyna Lewis, and Kelly Wandzel.

Both the Warriors and Huskies have played one common opponent in Stoney Creek. The Cougars lost to Southfield Arts and Tech in their only meeting while they beat St. Clair Shores Lakeview back in December.

If Southfield Arts and Tech were to advance past St. Clair Shores Lakeview then they would have to play either Muskegon or DeWitt at Calvin College. The Big Reds had a tough district and regional beating Muskegon Reeths Puffer, Grand Haven, East Kentwood, and Hudsonville and they have a very good player in Alyza Winston along with a very scrappy defense. DeWitt plays in the very competitive Capital Area Conference where they had to get by Caledonia, Grand Ledge, St. Johns, Portage Central, and Coldwater and they have a ton of talent led by Maddie Peterson.

If the Warriors get to Saturday then you’re looking at a rematch with the defending State Champion Saginaw Heritage in the State Finals. The Hawks are loaded with talent led by Division One players Mo Joiner and Shrine Strickland-Gills along with Lolo Reed. Saginaw Heritage has knocked off Flint Carman Ainsworth, Midland Dow, Flushing, Owosso, and Swartz Creek. Saginaw Heritage beat Southfield Arts and Tech 45-43 back in December but the Warriors are a much different and better team since that loss at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep.

It has been a magical run for Southfield Arts and Tech Girls Basketball but can they keep it up which will be the test this week.