Recruiting Report: Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Sophie Ruggles

GRAND RAPIDS — When teammate Grace Reetz tried to lighten the mood after Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart’s last-second, overtime loss in the Class D semifinals, Sophie Ruggles couldn’t help but giggle. “That’s such a downer,” she said through her laughter, when Reetz explained in the postgame press conference that Ruggles had come up one point shy of 1,000 in her career. On the court, at least, it’s one of the few things that’s gone wrong in that four-year span. Well, aside from coming up just short of winning another state title for the Irish. After a quarterfinal exit in Ruggles’ freshman season, the Irish went as far as the semifinals each of the next three seasons, including a title-game loss to Pittsford in 2016. Sacred Heart won 94 games and lost nine, including just two of the 52 they played the last two seasons. Oh, and the points thing? After a bit of late-night research that evening, it was discovered that Ruggles hit the 1,000-point mark on the nose, becoming the fifth player in program history to reach that plateau. Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart's Sophie Ruggles (left) tries to put up a shot over the defense of Adrian Lenawee Christian's Bree (35) and Dani (23) Salenbien in the Class D semifinals. (Photos courtesy of the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun/Skip Traynor) She spent the first two years of her career playing next to 6-foot-3 Central Michigan-bound Averi Gamble, who was the Class D player of the year as a senior, when the Irish made it to the title game. But the 6-foot Ruggles may have ended up a better technician in the post than Gamble, who often dominated with her size alone. “This season has been extremely fun, with the seniors. I’ve been playing with them for two, three years, and I've never come across teammates like them. I’ve never come across a post like Sophie, so it’s been great having them on my team,” said junior point guard Scout Nelson, likely the next Sacred Heart player to go over 1,000 points, who will have to go on without the five seniors who graduate. “And I’m not looking forward to not having them next year.” The spotlight was on the front court when the Irish met Adrian Lenawee Christian in the semifinals, as Ruggles matched up against the Cougars’ freshman sensation, 6-2 Bree Salenbien. The youngster had 16 points — including the game-tying free throw at the end of regulation, and the game-winning pull-up jumper in the waning seconds of overtime, and eight rebounds, but little of the scoring came in the post. Ruggles had five blocks in the game. “You know you’ve just gotta play tough, gotta play smart through that kind of thing,” said Dani Salenbien of playing against an interior presence like Ruggles. “Passing through it when she commits. Just look for the open players.” On the offensive end, Ruggles looked like the wily veteran, using her accumulated tricks — drop-steps, up-and-under, an innate sense of where she is on the floor, pinning a defender for the lob — to go for 19 points and 15 rebounds, seven of them on the offensive glass. She shot 8 for 13 for the game (including her fourth 3-pointer of the season), while the rest of the Irish shot 10 for 38. “Both of those players battled hard tonight. I couldn’t be more proud of Sophie. She held her own tonight, and Bree had a great game, as well. We knew she was a good player. She’s a freshman, but she plays well beyond her years. It was fun watching her play tonight, and she’s got a very bright future ahead of her,” Sacred Heart coach Damon Brown said. “Sophie’s been doing this for four years, and she goes down as one of our best players of all time at Sacred Heart. She had a tremendous game tonight.” While she could probably play basketball in college if she wanted, Ruggles’ hoops career came to an end in the semifinals. She’s going to be a member of the rowing team at Michigan State, where she fell in love with the squad after being recruited.