Basketball District Preview: Ferndale Girls Hoping For Title

Class B - Livonia Clarenceville District

Teams - Livonia Clarenceville, Ferndale University, Highland Park Community, Detroit Communication Media Arts, Hamtramck, Detroit Community, Detroit Old Redford, Ferndale

The Ferndale girls basketball team starts the playoffs at Old Redford on Monday night in the first round of districts.

Looking at the bracket, Eagles coach Berwyn Ellis likes his team’s chances.

“I think we have a great opportunity to get to the final game of the district as long as we break that first game curse” Ellis said, referencing his team’s devastating loss to Lincoln in districts last year.

In the semifinals, an inexperienced Ferndale squad blew a 56-55 lead in the final 30 seconds. The Eagles committed a lot of mistakes – an intentional foul, two turnovers – at the end of the game.

Ferndale (9-11; 9-9 Oakland Activities Association Blue) had a lot of players playing on varsity for the first time last season who struggled during the pressure situation.

Ellis hopes another year of experience will help his team handle the pressure.

All eyes will be on leading scorers Janecia Jenkins and Micaela Ellis to lead the way. They give the Eagles a dynamic one-two punch. Jenkins gives her team a solid presence inside while Ellis is a 3-point shooting threat.

A win in the first round would put Ferndale in the semifinals against the winner of Hamtramck and Detroit Community.

The only other team with a winning record in the district is University High School.

Ferndale wouldn’t have to play its city rival until the finals of the district. The schools didn’t play each other in the regular season, but they did scrimmage against each other prior in the offseason.