Built for this Moment, Western Arrives
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2018
McKenna Walker was a fourth grader when her dad, Tim, returned for his second stint as coach of the Bay City Western girls basketball team.
At that point, she didn’t realize what she and her friends were building. She simply was having fun playing basketball.
But her dad saw the future of his program.
“They were successful at a young age,” Tim Walker said. “I could see the athletic ability. I could see they were competitive and willing to learn at a young age. You could kind of see it coming with putting these pieces together.”
Now, as McKenna enters the second half of her senior season, she and her teammates are proving her father right. The Warriors are coming off their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1998-99, and were 9-0 heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with rival Midland. They’re ranked No. 6 in Class A by The Associated Press, and No. 8 by the Detroit Free Press.
“We have some really strong leadership with my daughter, McKenna – she’s been a big part of the turnaround since her freshman year,” said Tim Walker, who took over the program five games into the 2009-10 season, and also coached the Warriors from 1994-2004. “Also, we have kids in her class that have stuck with it and have been very committed since third and fourth grade. We have a strong group of juniors that have also been committed. They’re all competitive athletes, and I’ve been blessed to have kids who are dominant in other sports and have really meshed well together, accept their roles and play hard. It’s been very enjoyable to be a part of.”
This season, Bay City Western is winning with an uptempo style, sometimes driven by a five-guard lineup. McKenna Walker, who signed with Northwood University in November, leads that charge. She averaged 19 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a junior, and started this season with 1,120 career points. In a recent game against Saginaw, she set a career high with 39 points.
She is one of two four-year players on the team, as Kylie Lukowski also has been playing varsity ball since her freshman year. Lukowski stands at just 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but she finds a home in the post when it’s asked of her.
“I try my hardest because I’m not very tall, obviously,” she said. “So I just have to push them around a little bit and see if it bothers them at all.”
Despite the lack of size, things seem to be working, as the Warriors are keeping teams off balance and taking advantage of the matchups their smaller lineup creates.
“Let’s just say if there were a shot clock, we would not have a hard time getting a shot off,” Tim Walker said. “It’s not that we’re making them all, but we’re playing uptempo and forcing turnovers.”
The hope is that style can translate to victories in the postseason, which have been elusive for Bay City Western. The school won District titles in 1997 and 1998, but none since.
“(Winning a District title) would just be so cool,” McKenna Walker said. “It’s been one of my goals since coming in, because it’s been such a long time, and I just wanted to change that.”
When looking at the competition for a District title, one easily can forgive the Warriors’ current drought.
This season, like most, the bracket includes Bay City Central, Midland, Midland Dow, Mount Pleasant and Saginaw Heritage, which would be a tough path for any team.
“As these kids (were) developing at a young age, we’ve been having to set the bar awfully high,” Tim Walker said. “Because the Midlands have always been good, the Saginaw teams have always been good. You really have to get the kids to buy into the offseason work and just work hard.”
Two seasons ago, Western found itself leading Saginaw Heritage at halftime in a District Semifinal. Heritage came back to win the game, however, and eventually advanced to the Regional Final.
It was a tough loss, but also served as a confidence builder and teaching moment for the young Warriors.
“We definitely learned that every team is beatable,” McKenna Walker said. “Even if we’re playing a team that we’re supposed to beat, you never know, because every team is beatable. You never want to think that it’s UConn playing you. We’re all high school girls. We’re all the same age. Anything can happen.”
The Saginaw Valley League helps prepare the Warriors for this postseason gauntlet, although it’s preparing everyone else in the District as well. The league includes the six teams from the District, plus Davison, Flint Carman-Ainsworth, Bay City John Glenn, Flint Powers Catholic, Saginaw, Saginaw Arthur Hill, Flint and Lapeer all forming one division this winter.
The schedule can be a grind, but it also helps the team stay focused on the day-to-day routine needed to be successful and reach the goals it set at the beginning of the season – and the promise Tim Walker saw in this group so long ago.
“What I have noticed is, mentally, each night they’re in a pretty good place right now,” Tim Walker said. “They just have a really good grasp on what it takes to play with effort, team play and execution.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Bay City Western’s McKenna Walker gets to the basket during Bay City Western’s opener against Frankenmuth. (Middle) The Warriors defend the post against the Eagles. (Photos by Chip DeGrace.)
McLaughlin Building Meridian Legacy with Record Scoring, Unmatched Success
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 15, 2025
Halen McLaughlin wasn’t aware she had broken the Sanford Meridian career scoring record when her coach called timeout to make sure the accomplishment was properly recognized.
She just knew she had hit a layup and was about to go to the free-throw line for a chance at a 3-point play, and she wasn’t super thrilled about the interruption.
“She was like, ‘Why are you calling a timeout? Are you trying to ice me?’” Meridian girls basketball coach Tanner Smith said. “I was like, ‘No, you just broke the record.’ For me, that shows she’s more of a team-first kid. She just knew she had to score to help us.”
McLaughlin has been scoring to help Meridian win games for three-plus seasons, and now she’s done it more than anyone to ever wear a Mustangs uniform. As a junior, she became the first girls basketball player in school history to eclipse 1,000 points, and on Jan. 9 she passed Ron Fillmore for the most in school history regardless of gender. Filmore’s old record was set at 1,641 in the early 1980s, and McLaughlin scored 30 in a win against Pinconning on a night she needed just 10 to break it. Her total is up to 1,689 with more than half this season to play.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” McLaughlin said. “I couldn’t have done it on my own. … It means a lot (to pass Fillmore). I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s done. I was told that he played three sports and was really solid at all of them. It’s cool that I was able to accomplish something like that, but honestly for me it was so surreal because I’ve put in so much time and effort and energy into this game.”
McLaughlin is averaging 28 points per game for the Mustangs, who are 7-2 on the season. For her career, she’s averaging 21.4 ppg.
But more important for her, she has a career winning percentage of .886, as Meridian is 70-9 during her time. The Mustangs haven’t lost a Jack Pine Conference game during McLaughlin’s career, a win streak that has reached 48 games, and they’ve won 20 or more games all of her three full seasons.
That’s a remarkable record on its own, but even more so when considering her freshman season was the first winning season for the program since 2011-12.
“Coming into high school, I knew how their record was and I wanted to change that,” she said. “I’ve never been one that liked losing. I’m a big competitor, and I definitely wanted to get more wins than they had been. So much has changed, and I’ve been so happy to be a part of that, to help put in the work and be a part of that, and help show the younger players how hard work can help change a program and impact a game.”
Smith knew before McLaughlin enrolled in the high school that she had the potential, along with a strong Class of 2024, to lead a program renaissance.
“I saw her back in seventh grade,” Smith said. “They were double-, triple-teaming her, and she’s got her head up, making all the right passes.”
By that time, years of work had already been put in by McLaughlin, who began playing as a second grader and moved on to travel ball as a fifth grader after being noticed by Tim Kolnytis with Fast Break out of Midland. She’d eventually move to the Michigan Mystics, but credits Kolnytis for helping jump-start her career.
While her parents are not basketball players, she also credits them. Her mom coached her first rec team, and her dad has spent countless hours with her in their driveway, working on her game.
“I always say that’s where I get my handle, from playing on rocks,” McLaughlin said. “There were times where we were out there until 12 at night, 1 in the morning. I fell in love with it. There’s just something about the ball bouncing up to me. If I’m having a rough day at school or anything, I would go outside and play basketball. It was an escape for me, and I just loved it.”
As ready as she was when she got to high school, her first game still provided a rude awakening, as McLaughlin managed just six points in a 36-20 loss against Freeland.
“(Coach Smith) got into me right away,” McLaughlin said. “He said, ‘You’re scoring the ball. That’s what we need you to do.’ It hit hard, but I knew I was better than what I showed. Ever since then, it was a reminder to me that no matter what, you have to give it your all. That was definitely a turning point for me.”
It was a turning point for the program, too. The Mustangs won their next 18 games, and McLaughlin averaged 17.5 points per game as a freshman.
She’s only improved, averaging between 23 and 24 points per game both of her next two seasons before settling in near 30 this year. She’s also filling the stat sheet in other ways, averaging 4.5 assists, eight rebounds and 5.1 steals per game this winter.
“You’re not going to take the ball from her; she’s that good of a dribbler,” said Smith, who called McLaughlin a three-level scorer who can finish equally well with either hand at the rim. “I think one huge trait that people overlook is that she’s a phenomenal passer. … I think some people question her top-end speed, but to me, she’s like a comparison to Luka Doncic. She’s not going to blow you away with super speed, but she plays with pace and has a variety of moves and counters to get her to where she needs to be.”
McLaughlin is zeroing in on a college decision, with Lake Superior State and Wayne State as her finalists. When that announcement is out of the way, all her focus can turn to helping the Mustangs win a third District title during her four years. Her main goal, however, is to win the program’s first Regional title, something she and her teammates were a game away from accomplishing a year ago.
“Since I was a freshman in high school, I always wanted to have a Regional win on the board,” McLaughlin said. “All these achievements, all these awards are amazing, and I’m so blessed and grateful. But for me, it’s about winning. I want Meridian, these girls, to have a Regional win on the board. That’s the goal for me.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Sanford Meridian’s Halen McLaughlin puts up a layup against Hemlock during last season’s District Final win at Pinconning. (Middle) McLaughlin holds up the celebratory basketball she received after becoming her school’s all-time leading scorer. (Photos courtesy of the Sanford Meridian girls basketball program.)