Renaissance at Saginaw High

Saginaw- The #1 team in the state opened their season by traveling north to Saginaw to defeat the hometown Trojans 72-54.  The Phoenix used their height advantage, with five 6-footers, to dominate the paint in a lop sided affair.

Renaissance didn’t waste any time to pound the ball inside as Asia Boyd and Lorreal Jones paced first half runs of 9-0 and 12-0 to go up 31-9 early in the second quarter. 

With the big lead coach Diane Jones went to her bench but that didn’t slow down Renaissance as 6-2 Alexis Harris, 6-2 Arrice Bryant, and super soph Joclyn Massey picked up the load. 

Renaissance took a 40-23 lead into the half and a 56-37 lead into the fourth quarter. 

Credit the much smaller but scrappy Lady Trojans for not letting the game get too out of hand after their slow start.  It’s obvious that Renaissance is the #1 team in the state with their skill level and size, but Saginaw should take away plenty from this game and should be able to compete in the highly competitive Saginaw Valley League.  

Junior Sparkle Perkins and point guard Diamond Tolliver make up the Trojan back court while junior Chloe Davis and Shenequa Braggs roam the paint.  Perkins is Saginaw’s deep threat and paced her team with 13 points.  Davis and Braggs did their best to bang in the paint but it was just too much of a task to ask out of the undersized post players.      

Boyd, a 6-0 junior, has the full package and will cause plenty of match-up problems this season for opposing teams, she can get her shot off at will but seems content with dumping it off to her teammates inside.  Boyd finished with 15 points, 9  rebounds, and 6 assist. 

Jones, who is just as effective on the block or perimeter, added 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Boyd and Jones will get theirs this year but what will make Renaissance tough to beat is they have a number of other players that can contribute big numbers, for instance- Harris (14 points), or Bryant (9 points and 9 rebounds).