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30555 SOUTHFIELD RD, CONGRESS BLDG., SUITE 100
(ONE BLOCK SOUTH OF 13 MILE ROAD)
SOUTHFIELD MICHIGAN
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1989
Laker Turnaround Accelerates
In Greenberg's Second Season
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
T
he turnaround of
West Bloomfield High
School's girls basket-
ball team not only continued
but accelerated in this, Ron-
na Greenberg's second season
as coach.
The Lakers won 17 games
and lost three in the regular
season and won the Metro
Suburban Activities Associa-
tion championship with a
perfect 14-0 mark.
In the Michigan state girls
tournament, the Lakers won
three straight times to add
the district crown to their
trophy collection and advance
to regional play this week.
Along the way, they beat
defending Class A state
champion Birmingham
Marian.
"It's nice to beat one of the
superpowers of the Catholic
League," Greenberg said. "It's
a monumental win for our
program, to knock off the
defending state champ is
great."
West Bloomfield downed
Marian 60-53 in overtime on
Nov. 15, then wrapped up the
district with a 50-28 victory
over Bloomfield Hills An-
dover two days later.
The Lakers began regional
action at Berkley High School
on Monday. The regional win-
ner advances to quarterfinal
action next week.
Greenberg had thought
about a possible encounter
with Marian since she learn-
ed a moth before that the
Mustangs were in the Lakers'
district. Last week, she made
sure the Lakers were emo-
tionally ready for the
challenge.
"They were really up for the
game, really looking forward
to it," she said. "They knew
they could beat them; they
knew they had to play well
and they were ready. They did
a nice job."
Unlike last year, when the
improved Lakers may have
taken some teams by sur-
prise, West Bloomfield was
this year's pre-season pick to
win the MSAA.
"These kids are just so
driven," she said. "They're
really self-motivated and they
want it a lot. And they're wil-
ing to put in the time. I knew
if we could put in the time
and do it, we wouldn't have
any problems."
Greenberg's team, ranked
10th in Class A in both
Detroit daily newspapers,
Ronna Greenberg:
Four juniors.
consists of four juniors and
just one senior, forward
Michelle Aerts, who will at-
tend Saginaw Valley State
University on a basketball
scholarship next season. The
team's only Jewish player is
junior Jody Persky, the star-
ting center, who averages
about seven points and seven
rebounds per game. The
leading scorer is junior point
guard Amira Danforth, who
averages about 16.5 points
per contest.
"Our defense has really
been consistent and that's
really the key," Greenberg
said. Against Marian, "Our
objective was, if we could just
play really solid defense and
not let them shoot or have the
ball, then we were going to
win. When it came right
down to it, we did that and we
put our free throws in."
Although Greenberg says
that she did not pick the
Lakers to win the MSAA, she
knew they were capable of
that and of having an
undefeated season.
"That's a really, really big
thing," she said. "That was
one of my personal goals. We
sat down and set some goals
at the beginning of the season
and one of them was to win
the league.
"And I always had a per-
sonal goal to go undefeated,"
she added, "especially when
we went through the first
round of it undefeated. And
we went through it pretty
handily, which is nice. Our
league was a little bit down,
but it was nice."
Greenberg says the hardest
league games were against
teams the Lakers blew out
during the season's first half.
"Hard to get up for those
games," she said. "But we
always managed to work on
some stuff that we needed to,
which worked out fine."
After beating Marian, with
the league title in hand and
a district crown within reach,
Greenberg began to enjoy the
Lakers' success. "I'll never
forget it (the Marian win). It's
a great win for us and my pro-
gram," the coach said.
"It's been kind of tough all
year to enjoy because there's
a lot of pressure on us, with
different rankings, pushing
your kids for college and wan-
ting to do the right thing for
them, as well as preparing for
all the games. There's a lot of
pressure, but I'm enjoying a
little bit of it.
"But we're keeping it in
perspective and trying to
savor all the time that we
have," she said, "because this
tournament is really spooky.
You just never know what's
going to happen."
Greenberg, who played high
school basketball at Livonia
Ladywood, is probably the
only Jewish player enshrined
in the Catholic League Hall
of Fame.
After playing college
basketball at Michigan State,
she took over a West Bloom-
field program which had been
down for several years after
having won three MSAA
crowns between 1982-85.
Greenberg earned raves last
season, guiding the Lakers to
a second-place league finish
and an overall record of .15-7.
Greenberg is keeping half
an eye open to 1990, when she
will have four starters back.
"I think about it; we have
some plans for the summer,"
she said. "It's nice to have
these kids coming back one
more time. I'm going to miss
Michelle a lot, but hopefully
we can get someone to fill in.
"Sure, you always think,
`Look how far we've come this
year, is it possible for us to do
it again?'
"I don't know. I really don't.
We're going to try." ❑
Titan Tickets
Now On Sale
Individual game tickets for
all 13 of the University of
detroit Titans basketball
games at Cobo Arena are on
sale.
Tickets are available at the
Callihan Hall ticket office,
the Joe Louis Arena box office
and all Ticketmaster outlets.
For information, call Julie
Parise, 567-7444.
L-;