Godwin Heights girls basketball ‘family’ finishes season in District finals

Godwin Heights head coach Cassie Medina., center, talks to her team during a time-out in the Wolverines District final game. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org

After two impressive wins in the MHSAA girls basketball Division 2 District 44 tournament at Grand Rapids Christian High School and a spot in the district finals Friday, March 8, Godwin Heights’ season ended against a very good South Christian squad.

Despite being offensively overwhelmed by the Sailors in a lopsided first half, which ended with a 44-7 South Christian lead, the Wolverines’ “family” stayed together, stayed aggressive on defense, and made respectable the final score of 55-19.

“I just wanted us to bring it back … to respectability,” Godwin Heights coach Cassie Medina said to WKTV about how her team handled the second half of the game. “With a score like this it is easy to fall apart. The family thing is: ‘Stay together. Talk together. Be family’.”

Against South Christian, senior guard Raviear Koppenhofer led the Wolverines in scoring with nine points, all in the second half. And Koppenhoffer was also an offensive force in Godwin Heights two district early-round wins, a 51-17 victory over West Michigan Aviation, and a 56-40 semifinal win over Kelloggsville in which she scored 28 points.

Koppenhofer was joined by Destiny Craig and Josefa Shields as the only seniors on the squad.

The seniors “have definitely brought a lot to our team,” Medina said, and Koppenhofer “has been one of our bigger scorers (all season). She makes this team go.”

Medina also sees progress in her team, despite finishing at 11-11 after last year’s similar 11-10 season.

“Every year I want to progress, not go backwards,” she said. “Next year … I just want us to progress.”

One reason for her optimism is that the Wolverines fielded a team in the district tournament with only two juniors (Jordan Ballard and Chanelle Hatchett) but six sophomores.

“This is a young team,” she said. “I am definitely looking forward to this summer and next year.”

The sophomores on the team include Lanaja Polk-Craig, who scored seven points against South Christian; Lashay Lee and Hannah Barns, who scored eight points each in the win over Kelloggsville; as well as Diamond Johnson, Anika Clark and Jakaya Lay.