Kohler Earns Place Among Scoring Greats
March 6, 2020
By Tom Spencer
Special for Second Half
A lot has changed since David Wheelock coached high school basketball four years ago at Suttons Bay.
Back then the team was called Suttons Bay. He had a freshman moved up from the junior varsity team named Paige Kohler. Northport High School was a local rival. Jim Champion took over as coach and all the school records were intact.
Today, Wheelock is back after a two-year hiatus. The team is now called NorthBay thanks to a co-op with nearby Northport. He has a senior named Paige Kohler in the school’s record book and she’s ready to lead her teammates in tonight’s Division 4 District Final against Lake Leelanau St. Mary.
“It was surreal to watch,” Wheelock exclaimed. “She took everything in stride and showed great leadership and teamwork throughout.
“I had a feeling she would have a great career,” he continued. “I don’t know if I ever envisioned this, but she has earned everything that she accomplished.”
Wheelock returned to the court where he played high school basketball this winter, inheriting back a player who has shown a knack for scoring in multiple sports – not just in basketball but also as a soccer standout during the spring.
Kohler set the single-game basketball scoring record with a 44-point performance Feb. 27 on Senior Night against Ellsworth. It broke the previous record of 43 set in 1993 by a relative, Suzanne Kohler.
“I was not expecting that at all,” Kohler said. “When the game started, I had no idea how it was going to go, but I told myself that I was going to play as hard as possible for my last-ever home game.
“As the game progressed, I continued to play with intensity,” she recalled. “Setting the record on Senior Night, but more specifically in my last home game, I know that I will remember this forever. Senior night is already such a special night for seniors, but adding this on top of it will make it even more of a special memory.”
Breaking her cousin’s record added an extra significance for the senior point guard.
“She's family, and I come from a very competitive family,” noted the younger Kohler. “If it were a stranger, it would have merely been a record. But by knowing the person, and the story behind that record, it made it special.”
Suzanne Kohler still holds the career and single-season scoring marks at Suttons Bay and is a member of the 1,000 point club. Paige Kohler joined her cousin in the club with a 15-point performance Jan. 8 against her opponent in tonight’s District Final. NorthBay won that contest 32-26.
“I was really excited, and it instantly felt like a dream come true,” Kohler said of topping the 1,000 mark. “After scoring the final points, I looked up into the stands, and seeing how happy everyone was, I couldn't help but feel honored to be a part of something so special. Their support means the world to me.”
Kohler’s family also was in the stands to see the single-game scoring record shattered. Her father, Alex, a former Suttons Bay football coach, and mother, Cindy, are among the role models and mentors she has looked up to over the years.
“Number one is my mom,” the record-holder said. “She was an amazing basketball player and essentially taught me everything I know about the game. I was the kid in the gym running drills 30 minutes after practice ended, because I make a mistake or two in a game.
“I also give credit to my dad, not because he knew basketball, but he taught me what a winning attitude was,” she continued. “Every time I played a game or came home after practice he would ask, ‘Did you win?’ Over the years I've had a number of coaches, none were necessarily constant, but credit can be given to both Coach Wheelock and Coach Champion.”
Kohler has collected postseason awards after all three of her previous varsity basketball seasons. She will likely collect more this year.
“She plays fast and hard,” Wheelock said. “She is relentless on both end of the floor and leads by example.
“She is usually the most athletic player on the floor and is always the hardest worker,” he continued. “That makes for a lethal combination.”
The Eagles all know the number “3” Kohler wears. They will be keying on her tonight as she put in 15 points in the first meeting.
When the postseason ends, Kohler will get back on the soccer field for NorthBay. Some argue she is just as much a threat to score in soccer.
“I think that it is safe to say that I play with the same mindset and intensity in soccer as I do in basketball,” Kohler said. “If there is something I can improve on, I will work on it until I get better. I'm not afraid of hard work, and I think that shows on the field and court.”
Her basketball and soccer coaches concur.
“Her athleticism and determination and will to win,” said her second-year NorthBay soccer coach Randy U’Ren, “help her to create many scoring opportunities for both herself and her teammates on the pitch.”
Kohler contributed an average of nearly 20 goals per season during her freshman, sophomore and junior soccer seasons, and also averaged nearly 10 assists. She set the single-season assists record last spring at 14.
“It just shows how much of an athlete she really is,” Wheelock points out. “Specializing in one sport is hard enough and takes a lot of work, so to do it in both at such a high level is astonishing. I honestly don’t know how she does it.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) NorthBay’s Paige Kohler works to get up a shot over Maple City Glen Lake’s Jessica Robbins (23) this season. (Middle) Kohler looks for an opening to the lane with Liliana Valkner defending. (Photos by Ron Kramer.)
'Double-Double Machine' Bowman Leading as Alanson Begins To See Success
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
December 6, 2024
Times are changing for Alanson’s girls basketball opponents.
Simply put, the Vikings are no longer an easy win.
And by the way, they are undefeated at this early-season junction.
Mother nature’s snow machine caused a postponement of Wednesday’s scheduled game against Traverse City Christian. Alanson’s “machine” is Gretchyn Bowman, the leading reason the Vikings are no longer an easy “W.” Bowman, a 5-foot-7 senior center making a move to shooting guard, is a threat to score double digits and grab as many rebounds every game.
Such a threat, she was labeled a double-double machine by a local newspaper as the Vikings entered the season.
“I think it is really cool that I am being called that – like I am a machine?” Bowman humbly asked with a little laugh. “That actually makes me real happy.”
It makes her team and her coach even happier. The results Bowman gets have led to many more victories than the Vikings have been accustomed. In fact, at one point early in Bowman’s career, the Vikings played through a 28-game losing streak. That ended with a win over Pellston in early December of the 2021-22 campaign.
It’s not the personal stats motivating Bowman, who will sign next week to play basketball for North Central Michigan Community College.
“I work really hard to try to put up as much stats as possible for the team for a win,” Bowman said. “I usually get double-doubles in points and rebounds, and I’ve been working toward my triple-double.”
Bowman would like to add double-digits in blocked shots to her game stats. She will leave steals to her younger sister, sophomore Hazel, the Vikings’ point guard.
“They are the dynamic duo,” said Alanson coach Nikki Leech. “It is really special when they get out there.”
The Vikings are 1-0 with the season tipping off this week. They were 5-22 last year. They won’t play again until Dec. 13 at Northern Lakes Conference rival Mackinaw City.
Alanson will go into the game with aspirations of winning a league title. The other conference foes are Wolverine, Boyne Falls, Ellsworth, Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian, Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian and Alba. Boyne Falls, Northern Michigan Christian and Harbor Light could be District opponents as well, along with Harbor Springs and Pellston.
“Even though we are small, we are definitely mighty and we are building momentum,” Leach said. “People used to think, ‘We are just playing Alanson. No big deal. We’re going to win.’”
Leech took over the Vikings’ girls basketball program a few weeks before the end of the 2021-22 season. Alanson’s tiny enrollment had led to eighth graders regularly starting for the varsity, and Bowman herself played as an eighth grader on the team. Leech’s focus has been on fundamentals, sportsmanship and confidence-building.
Her work has really paid off for the Vikings. Things are moving so far forward, Alanson now has a junior varsity girls team.
“That year we scored 200 points the whole season,” Leech recalled of her first season. “So going into the next year it was fundamentals, and we were really starting from the ground up.”
The focus on fundamentals were welcomed by all, especially Gretchyn Bowman.
“Gretchen did a really good job of embracing the fact we had to start with a foundation of the house before we built the team,” Leach said. “The best thing is all of these girls have been working together for the past four years. This year is finally the first year everything has clicked, and Gretchyn is a big part of it.”
The Vikings opened the season with a 28-27 win over Atlanta. Bowman had six points, six rebounds and five blocks. Her career stats to date are now 402 points, 376 rebounds, 134 blocks and 55 steals. She’s racked up the points despite scoring just 35 as a freshman as the Vikings struggled.
Bowman’s tenacious play has also led to foul struggles. It’s no secret the Vikings play better with her on the court. Her desire to block shots led to her fouling out in almost half of her freshman and sophomore games.
“There is no question that when Gretchyn is off the floor, we miss her because she just has the presence that kind of pulls the team together and she has the magnetism that just makes us successful,” Leach said. “The last two years it’s been a lot better, but the first couple of years it was like every other game she founded out.”
The coach and captain developed a foul-tolerance strategy.
“We’ve been working really hard on you can have four,” the coach said with a laugh. “We try to push like two (fouls) per half.”
Bowman, an all-conference selection last year, has been almost as much an assistant coach as she has a captain and player.
“She goes over if someone is struggling in practice and gives them tips on how she does it or how to move or how to dribble back and do a fade,” noted Leech, who also serves as Alanson’s athletic director. “She is good at reaching out and helping people but not making them feel bad about not knowing how to do it. She is a natural leader, and her presence on the court is definitely going to be missed next year.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Gretchyn Bowman, here against Atlanta this week, is expected to lead a much-improved Alanson girls varsity team this season. (Middle) Bowman shoots a free throw during the season opener. (Photos by Danielle Plastino.)