Girls basketball: Notre Dame calls on reserves for win

12/6/2001

Notre Dame called on the reserves last night in girls City League basketball, and came out with a 68-64 victory at home over Woodward.

Down 10 midway through the third quarter, coach Bob Brown sent in the second team to press, and the Eagles got back in the game. The starters took over midway through the final quarter and finished off the Polar Bears.

Shayla Bell led Notre Dame (3-0, 2-0 City) with 21 points. Marissa Fields added 16 and Kristin Eisel 11.

Ebony Jones led Woodward (1-5, 0-2) with 31, Markeshia Hudgins added 14 and Tamika Jones 11.

ST. URSULA 62, LIBBEY 15

Andrea Romano and Kaycie Carr scored 10 points apiece for the Arrows, who led 14-3 after one quarter and 31-5 at the half.

Janea Wilson tallied seven for the Cowboys.

CENTRAL 61, BOWSHER 46

The Irish advanced to 3-0 with the win on the Rebels' court.

Kelly Helvey totaled 17 points and Lauren Muller 16 for Central.

Kamesha Hairston scored 17 to pace Bowsher (3-1).

START 76, WAITE 31

The first quarter was one-sided enough at 17-8, but the Spartans' press really took effect in the second for a 30-6 advantage.

Brooke Walker and Che Rogers paced Start (2-1) with 17 and 10 points, respectively, and 12 Spartans scored; the starters did not play in the second half.

Laquita Temple was high for Waite (0-3) with 10 points.

SCOTT 98, ROGERS 56

Mattie Mays and Taria Blanchard scored 22 and 20 points, respectively, as the Bulldogs pounded the Rams.

Krystale Sudduth (12 points), Cynthia Wright (12) and Tamika Sheares (11) also scored in double digits for Scott (2-0).

Candace Brown of Rogers (0-4) captured game scoring honors with 23 points.

Women make debuts as boys varsity coaches

Two women who reached their positions in very different ways have kicked off their careers as head coaches of boys high school varsity basketball teams.

Geraldine Fuhr and Carmen Brown both lost Tuesday in their debuts. Madison Heights Lamphere defeated Fuhr's Hazel Park team 70-52, while Brown's Saranac squad lost to Belding 45-25.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association says only two other women have directed boys varsity basketball teams in Michigan. Neither are still coaches.

“It may sound selfish, but I'm not doing this for anyone else,” Brown, 25, told the Grand Rapids Press. “I'm not a feminist. I'm not trying to make waves. I'm doing this because this is what I love. It's where my heart is.”

While Saranac school officials supported Brown, Fuhr sued the Hazel Park school district to become her team's coach.

Fuhr alleged sex discrimination in a 1999 federal lawsuit after the district gave the boys varsity job to a male colleague with two years of experience coaching boys non-varsity teams.

Fuhr, 38, has coached a total of 28 seasons of boys JV and girls varsity basketball at Hazel Park, and her teams have won several league championships, the Detroit Free Press reported.

By 1999, she was an assistant coach on the boys varsity team. When head coach Charlie Kirkland retired that year, Fuhr assumed that she would be offered the job. When she wasn't, she sued.

In August, a jury of eight women ruled that the school district had discriminated against her and awarded her $455,000. She was given the option of accepting the head coaching job with a reduced award of $245,000, and she accepted the offer.