Roseville embraced the spirit of the Lisa Downey Memorial Game.

The Panthers wore blue t-shirts honoring the late L’Anse Creuse basketball coach during warmups, and then they played like a team intent on holding down first place in a 66-36 victory over the Lancers on Friday night.

L’Anse Creuse honored Downey, who died of cancer on April 10, 2024, with fundraising for the Lisa Downey Memorial Scholarship. The school had a bake sale, raffled Tigers and Pistons tickets and sold t-shirts printed with Downey’s mantra, “Poise. Confidence. Intensity.”

“To be part of it was an honor for us,” Roseville coach Andy Houghton said. “We all loved Lisa. Lisa is on the Mount Rushmore of girls high school basketball coaches. She was a special person.”

Houghton didn’t know until he saw “Poise. Confidence. Intensity.” on the t-shirts that those words were special to Downey, who also coached softball.

“As soon as I saw that, I said, ‘I’m stealing that,’” Houghton said with a smile. “It’s a perfect motto to use. It sums up her and her programs.”

Meko Barbee scored 21 points to lead Roseville, which improved to 3-0 in the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division and 10-1 overall.

Keyonna Scorpio and Dionni John had 15 points apiece and Kimari Lang 12.

Scorpio scored nine points and John seven to help Roseville build a 20-7 lead in the first quarter.

John’s three-point play gave the Panthers a 34-12 lead with 1:59 left in the second quarter. Roseville led by that score at halftime and 51-23 after three quarters.

“They’re athletic; they run; they jump,” L’Anse Creuse coach Dave Kuznia said of the Panthers. “They’ve also got size. We knew it was going to be a difficult matchup. True to form, they got a ton of offensive rebounds, and they ran the floor really quickly.”

Sophomore guard Allison Tuladziecki led L’Anse Creuse with 15 points. The Lancers fell to 1-3 and 4-8.

The Downey scholarship annually benefits a L’Anse Creuse girls basketball player and a softball player.

“We thought raising money for that would be the best way we could honor her,” Kuznia said. “We really appreciate Roseville. They took part in it and showed their support.”

Kuznia said the L’Anse Creuse community has used a “team effort” to cope with the loss to Downey.

“We try our hardest to carry on how she would see fit,” he said. “She was the school’s biggest cheerleader. You can never really replace someone like that.”

Roseville is tied with St. Clair atop the Gold Division.

“We have six seniors; we have great senior leadership,” Houghton said. “These girls started working in April and all throughout the summer, doing weight training and so on. They’ve put in the work.

“We’ve been telling the girls all season long that it’s one game at a time. We’re going to keep our heads down and keep working.” On Tuesday, Roseville plays host to Fitzgerald while L’Anse Creuse visits St. Clair.