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Kierra Fletcher, who led Cousino to a return trip to the state Class A semifinals, was named Player of the Year as the Patriots swept Macomb County post-season girls basketball awards.
Cousino also won the Team of the Year award and the Patriots’ Mike Lee was named Coach of the Year in honors presented by the sports staff of The Macomb Daily and MIPrepzone.com/Macomb.
State Class B champion New Haven won the boys Team of the Year award and the Rockets’ Tedaro France II was named Coach of the Year.
Eric Williams Jr. of New Haven and Jermaine Jackson Jr. of Dakota were named co-winners of the Player of the Year award.
Fletcher, who was named to The Associated Press all-state team, and was named the AP Class A Player of the Year, led selections to the girls All-Macomb County First Team.
Also named were Nicole Austin of Lakeview, Julia Cianferra of Ford, Nija Collier of Roseville and Emily Langolf of Dakota.
Fletcher (MAC Red), Austin (MAC Blue), Cianferra (MAC White) and Collier (MAC Silver) led their teams to division championships. Langolf sparked Dakota to the first regional championship in program history.
Williams and Jackson were part of a boys First Team dominated by MAC Blue champion New Haven and MAC Red champion Dakota.
Also named were Romeo Weems of New Haven, Thomas Kithier of Dakota and Jordan Davis of Michigan Collegiate. Davis followed being named Charter School Conference football MVP by winning the league basketball MVP award after leading the Cougars to the CSC championship.
First through Fourth teams were selected for girls and boys (see lists).
The players named all-county were earlier voted to Tier 1 and Tier 2 all-star teams after being nominated by their coaches. Tier 1 schools have enrollments of 1,700 or more; Tier 2 schools have fewer than 1,700 students.
Fletcher averaged 22.5 points, 13 rebounds, six steals, six assists and three blocks per game as Cousino won the MAC Red championship and then went on to capture district and regional titles before winning a state quarterfinal game. The Georgia Tech recruit scored more than 1,900 career points and took more than 1,400 rebounds. As a junior, she led Cousino to the state Class A championship after the Patriots won a regional title for the first time.
Williams scored 22 points in the first half of the Rockets’ 78-49 state semifinal victory over Benton Harbor, and the senior added 14 points the next day as New Haven defeated Ludington 45-36 to finish 27-1 and become the second county team to win a boys state crown. The 6-5 senior who had regular-season games of 50 and 40 points averaged 20.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.5 steals.
Jackson was named MVP of the MAC Red after helping Dakota go 10-0 in the division. The senior who is considering offers from several Division I colleges averaged 26 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals per game. He scored 39 points against L’Anse Creuse North, 38 against Detroit Pershing and 31 against Stevenson. In two seasons, Dakota went 48-0 against county teams with Jackson as its point guard.
The Coach of the Year awards were the third won by both Lee and France.