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North senior Sophia Borowski, who has been a primary ball handler for North this season, passes the ball up the court during practice.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
GROSSE POINTE WOODS — A loss in the regional finals ended a monumental run for a Grosse Pointe North girls basketball team that earned 12 straight wins during the 2022 season.
Returning the entirety of its starting five and graduating only one senior entering this year, North is not only eyeing its third straight Macomb Area Conference-Red title, but a trip to one place in particular.
“The goal is to make it to Breslin,” North senior Sophia Borowski said.
While an 11-2 start has set North on the right path to the state finals, the team has had to adapt to an injury to the 2022 MAC-Red most valuable player and first team all-state honoree.
North senior guard Annabel Ayrault, the team’s leading scorer last season, suffered an injury in North’s 58-24 win over Grosse Pointe South on Jan. 11. Ayrault was averaging 12 points per game and led the team in assists (44).
While the Wayne State commit will be off the court for now, Ayrault said she’s found a new role to help impact the team’s success.
“It’s definitely not fun, but I think it’s cool to gain a different perspective,” Ayrault said. “It definitely made me more appreciative of being on the floor and finding ways to contribute off the floor.”
As Ayrault contributes leadership off the floor, seniors Borowski and Mia Stephanoff and juniors Natalie Babcock and Jenna Winowiecki have provided the on-floor veteran presence.
Already showing what they could do as a starting unit last year, North coach Gary Bennett said the group has progressed both on the floor and off the floor.
“I think our leadership from the kids that have come back has just been outstanding,” Bennett said. “Last year, I think we had a ways to go. This year, we have a more mature attitude towards competing every single night, and for being exciting and enthusiastic about playing. There’s just a maturity here now that wasn’t quite there last year.”
Borowski, who averages just under 10 points per game and five rebounds this season, has played a vital role in the leadership category for North this season.
More than doubling her points per game from last season, she’s also become one of the primary ball handlers in the absence of Ayrault.
Borowski said she emphasized one thing in the off-season on the offensive end.
“I think, definitely for me, it was finishing around the basket, and I think I’ve developed some new moves and footwork,” Borowski said. “I had trouble finishing around the basket sometimes last season, so I really wanted to work on that.”
Winowiecki (13 ppg) and Babcock (11 ppg) have headlined the leading scorers for North, but it’s a balanced effort every night.
North’s defense has been arguably its best offensive player this season, allowing only 34 points and tallying 13 steals per game.
“Our program is built on defense; it has been for all this time,” Bennett said. “That’s where that sustaining your effort and really competing comes in. I think that because we emphasize defense and our girls believe in defense, it keeps us in games where the offense might not be there or we might not be shooting too great. Defense, to me, is a way of expressing your competitiveness. This team, I think they’re one of the better offensive teams we’ve had here.”
While Borowski, Babcock, Winowiecki, Stephanoff and Ayrault have served as the core offensive and defensive contributors, junior Julia Liagre and freshman Eva Borowski have been reliable on both ends of the floor for North.
Borowski has shot 50% from the floor and tallied 21 steals while Liagre is equally impressive with 59% shooting from the field.
Sophia Borowski said Liagre, who has stepped in for Ayrault, made an immediate impact on the starting unit.
“She has so much more control now; she’s basically dominating,” Borowski said. “Her defense is outstanding, and her whole game has just gotten so much better.”
While North sits with a favorable record and in first place in the MAC-Red, the team suffered a tough loss, and a potential teaching moment, against MAC-Red rival Utica Eisenhower on Jan. 19.
Still a game ahead of Eisenhower, Bennett said there were glaring miscues that needed to be corrected before the state tournament.
“We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball and defending without fouling,” Bennett said. “We didn’t do a quite good enough job at those things. I think we turned the ball over 28 times, so that’s 28 times we didn’t get an opportunity to score, and we lost by 1 point.”
As North looks to secure its third straight MAC-Red title and first state title since 2008, ball security will be a focal point moving forward.
An added year of experience for North’s star-studded starting five should bring them to the Breslin Center, even if Ayrault is unable to return this season.
“I think we definitely want to go farther than we did last year, especially in the tournament,” Ayrault said. “We only had one senior that left last year, so we’re kind of the same core group. I think we have a lot of expectations of improving and going farther than we went last year, and I think we’re very capable of doing that.”
