The coaching carousel helped land Oakland University women’s basketball a great local product late in the recruiting process.
Originally committed to North Alabama before a move by its head coach, West Bloomfield senior Sheridan Beal announced her commitment to the Golden Grizzlies on Thursday night.
“I loved their playing style, I think that’s something I’m really used to with their offense,” Beal said in a phone interview Friday evening. “I like the coaching staff, they have great energy, and I think they have a coaching style that’ll work really well with me. The resources at the school are great, I like the girls and the environment the coaches have built. I like the school in general, the campus, the academics, too. And it’s close to home. There’s a lot of pluses and it made it an easy decision.”
On March 11, North Alabama announced that head women’s basketball coach Candi Whitaker would be departing for the vacancy at Kansas City. The day after, Beal reopened her recruiting process.
Beal indicated that the Whitaker kept an offer to her on the table with the Roos, and reiterated her appreciation for that staff, but she felt going with Oakland and head coach Keisha Newell was the best move for her.
Newell’s Class of 2026 includes Muskegon’s Cece Bonner, but Kyra Lawrence (Farmington Hills) was the only Michigan native on this year’s Oakland U roster.
“When the opportunity came up with Oakland, I told her its great,” West Bloomfield head coach Darren McAllister said. “I told her it fits her style of play, and (for us) it’s a great opportunity to get a good connection with the coaching staff, and hopefully we get some more players from West Bloomfield over there.”
In her final year as a Laker, Beal, a McDonald’s All-American nominee, averaged 22.5 points — including the 1,000th of her career — 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals.
Adversity depleted West Bloomfield’s inside threats and dictated that Beal had to run the floor more, whereas she’d been used primarily as an off-guard throughout her career.
“She was facing a lot of double teams, face-guarding, and she wasn’t accustomed to that with Summer and Indya (Davis) and Kendall (Hendrix), all those guys,” McAllister said. “It made her better, taught her how to utilize screens and move without the ball, and I think she got better at that.”
That and taking her place as the figurehead of the Lakers were things that McAllister and West Bloomfield’s staff worked with her on to make her a better player for the next level.
West Bloomfield’s Sheridan Beal (10) shoots a fadeaway jumper in a game against Stoney Creek on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Rochester Hills. (BRYAN EVERSON – MediaNews Group)
“She was known as a shooter, and (Sheridan) can shoot with the best, but I told her we need to take your game to the next level by getting to the basket and using her pull-up jumper,” McAllister said. “Her pull-up was deadly. When I see it, I think of Summer, without a doubt. She’s a strong kid, and that’s what we were trying to elevate. She didn’t disappoint (in becoming more than a 3-point shooter).
“The other thing was just (working on) being a leader. She’s not a vocal kid, but I said, ‘You’ve got to be more vocal, talk to your teammates and make them better.’ She didn’t disappoint there either.”
When asked if she improved more with her on-court or mental skills more over her senior year, Beal felt it was all the above. “This is the first time I’ve been the oldest, head of the team, so my role definitely changed with that and I saw what it was like to have to lead a team. And my game, too, I think that definitely changed in my game with getting to the rack more, playing point guard, setting people up more.”
A reserve on the Lakers’ state runner-up team when she was a freshman, Beal stepped into the starting lineup for the Lakers’ D1 championship in 2024. As a junior, she became a focal point and helped carry the team to an 19-9 record, reaching the state semifinal. She averaged 16.1 points and was recognized with a first-team nod on the Michigan Sports Writers Division 1 All-State girls basketball team.
This season, Beal kept up her reputation as an elite 3-point shooter. After averaging 37% from the perimeter last season, she shot 38% (65 of 172) from deep as a senior, and knocked down 48-of-59 free-throw attempts.
With all that, Beal certainly left her mark at West Bloomfield despite not winning a district title in her swan song.
“She’s already on our Wall Of Fame, she was there last year,” McAllister said. “The thing with Sheridan is, she had an opportunity to learn from some of the better players who’ve walked the halls of West Bloomfield, to see how they put in the work. And they taught her how to do it the West Bloomfield way. She did it and became one of the best to walk the hallways as well, without a doubt, She’ll be missed. This year, she was the coach on the floor.”
“I had an amazing experience accomplished so many things,” Beal said of her career as a Laker. “I’ve grown so much as a person and player. It didn’t end how I’d have liked it to, but I think i did some good things personally. I got my 1000th point, was nominated for McDonald’s All-American. So many great things came out of it. I’m happy and have a lot of gratitude for my experience.”