Martinez Back on Point for John Glenn
December 14, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
BANGOR TOWNSHIP — Laying on the basketball court in pain, Kalle Martinez didn't need a medical opinion to know she was in trouble.
"I knew that the pain I felt I'd never felt before, so I knew something was definitely wrong," she said.
The diagnosis: A torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.
What followed was one of the toughest periods in Martinez's young life — life without basketball.
The injury happened during a team camp at Central Michigan University during the summer of 2014, putting her sophomore season at Bay City John Glenn in jeopardy.
While going through rehab was physically and emotionally challenging, she approached the grind of getting healthy with the same work ethic that made Martinez a star as a freshman on a strong varsity team.
"It just gave me motivation when I found out what happened to get better and keep playing like I know how," said Martinez, who said she first picked up a basketball at age 4.
As a result, she was back on the court by mid-January, well ahead of schedule for someone with a torn ACL. She played in 13 out of the Bobcats' 19 games, averaging 10 points a game after putting up 18.8 per game as a freshman.
"Basketball is her life," John Glenn coach Cory Snider said. "When a huge portion of your life gets taken away from you, it's pretty tough. I tell you what, the same way she plays basketball, she attacked her rehab. She came back in 7½, 8 months from an ACL, which is normally a full year's recovery time. She wasn't herself, obviously, for those first couple months, but we kept saying 60 percent of Kalle is better than no Kalle."
"I was not 100 percent at all, but I wanted to play with my friends," the 5-foot-6 point guard said. "I knew I wasn't able to do what I used to do, so I worked with what I had and built from there."
Unable to physically work on her game during her rehab, Martinez tried to improve herself in other ways.
"I watched a lot of film," said Martinez, who received all-state honorable mention as a freshman. "I really just paid attention to detail and how to correct myself."
"She's back to where she was athletically her freshman year," Snider said. "She looks the same. However, she's become a much more intelligent basketball player, which is a huge difference. She sees the floor so much better. That was part of the process of going through that injury last year. She was forced to learn how to play the game instead of just beating everybody."
Martinez was healthy enough by summer to impress the staff at Central Michigan, which offered her a scholarship before the start of her junior year. Martinez accepted, removing the pressure of the recruiting process for her final two years of high school.
"It's a good feeling," she said. "I feel I made the right decision going there. I feel I'm going to fit in really well. It's kind of a relief to know I don't have to go to this camp to get noticed. I feel at home at CMU."
She also feels more like her old self at John Glenn, leading the Bobcats to a 5-0 start that included a 53-44 victory over a Southfield-Lathrup team ranked No. 1 regardless of class in several preseason polls. Martinez had 18 points in that game, hitting five 3-pointers.
"I feel good," Martinez said. "I feel 100 percent now. I'm blessed, because not everyone can say they came back completely."
Martinez doesn't need to fill up the net every night, because she runs an offense that includes Grand Valley State University recruits Jenai LaPorte and Cassidy Boensch.
LaPorte is a three-time honorable mention all-state pick who is John Glenn's all-time leading scorer with 1,223 career points. She averages 14.2 points per game this season, and Martinez adds 12.6. The 6-foot-3 Boensch averages 15.8 points and 8.3 rebounds. Jamie Brisson averages 8.3 points.
"This is the best team we've had by far," LaPorte said. "Just the way we've been playing together for some people four years, for some three years. We have a lot of experience. We know what everyone likes to do."
It's an experienced lineup that has its sights set on winning John Glenn's first District championship since 1991 — and more.
The Bobcats have been a District championship-caliber team in recent years, but were eliminated by Midland Bullock Creek the past three seasons. Bullock Creek reached the MHSAA Class B Semifinals in 2013 and 2014 and was ranked No. 1 last year when it won a 40-39 overtime thriller against John Glenn in the District Semifinals. The Bobcats reached the District Final four straight years before losing in the semis last season.
In order to be better prepared for the postseason, John Glenn loaded up its nonconference schedule. The first five games included Class A contenders Southfield-Lathrup and Detroit Renaissance, 26-time District champion Frankenmuth and Class A Midland. The Bobcats face five-time MHSAA champion Saginaw Nouvel on Wednesday.
"Coming into the year, our mindset was we'd rather go 15-5 and make a deep run in the playoffs than go 20-0 and possibly not be ready for tournament time," Snider said. "We want to make sure we're battle-tested and ready to go once that tournament rolls around. This first two weeks for us has been killer."
Bill Khan served as a sportswriter at The Flint Journal from 1981-2011 and currently contributes to the State Champs! Sports Network. 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.
PHOTO: Kalle Martinez sets up Bay City John Glenn's offense during last season's game against Saginaw Nouvel. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Breslin Bound: 2024-25 Girls Report Week 11
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 17, 2025
The final basketball bracket reveal of the MHSAA winter season is coming up Sunday, when Girls Basketball District pairings will be announced. For the first time, all teams in every District will be seeded based on Michigan Power Ratings (MPR).
MPR is calculated using wins and losses for games played between teams entered into the MHSAA Tournament. Scores of games, margin of victory and location of games are not included in the MPR formula. The final MPR number is 25 percent of the team's winning percentage, plus 50 percent of its opponent's winning percentage, plus 25 percent of its opponent's opponent's winning percentage – the total rewarding both success and strength of schedule.
A number of league championship deciders will take place this week, as will a handful of nonleague matchups of potential MHSAA Finals contenders as they tune up for March.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Belleville 62, Wayne Memorial 38 Two weeks after suffering its only loss this season, to Wayne (14-6), Belleville (18-1) stormed back to set up a possible shared title in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East with one league game to play for both.
2. Haslett 80, Detroit Country Day 52 The Vikings (15-2) avenged a 20-point loss from last season to the Yellowjackets (14-5) as both look forward to MHSAA Tournament aspirations in March.
3. Yale 36, Sandusky 19 Both of these teams are closing in on league titles, and maybe more as Yale (18-1) handed Sandusky (16-1) its only loss and they will go separate ways for the postseason.
4. East Jordan 54, Gaylord St. Mary 42 The Red Devils (15-4) shuffled the Ski Valley Conference standings a bit with St. Mary (15-2) and Indian River Inland Lakes now both with just one league loss and East Jordan with two and three league games to play.
5. Midland 62, Flint Powers Catholic 46 The Chemics (16-1) remain one game ahead of Saginaw Heritage in the Saginaw Valley League after Heritage also defeated Powers (12-5) on Friday.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Clarkston (13-6) The Wolves are one win away from clinching the Oakland Activities Association Red title, one spot ahead of reigning Division 1 champion West Bloomfield in the standings thanks in part to a 48-41 win over the Lakers on Jan. 31. Clarkston has won nine of its last 10 games, its only defeat during that time to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (14-3), and with a win over OAA Blue leader Auburn Hills Avondale (15-3) during the run. The Wolves will be ready for high-level competition next month with losses as well this season to Flint Powers (12-5), Hartland (15-4), Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard (18-1), Country Day (14-5) and Detroit Edison (12-3).
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (14-3) The Eaglets claimed their second-straight league championship, sharing the title in the Catholic High School League Central West division after winning the AA a year ago. They split with co-champion Farmington Hills Mercy (13-4), winning the first meeting and losing the second, and their other defeats were similarly strong against FGR and Country Day. Wins over Livonia Stevenson (15-5) and Clarkston (see above) also pop off the page, and OLSM can carry some significant momentum into the postseason with a good result Feb. 27 at Frankenmuth (16-3).
DIVISION 2
Haslett (15-2) The Vikings opened this season with a loss to Division 1 contender Rockford (19-1), but have fallen only one more time since, to Division 1 DeWitt (17-1). Add those to last week’s win over Country Day and a perfect run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Red so far, and the Vikings have steadily raised their profile again after finishing second in the league but then winning a District title a year ago. The most impressive CAAC Red win was 67-56 over second-place St. Johns (15-3), with the rematch coming up Friday. Haslett also closes the regular season with possible Regional Semifinal opponent Parma Western (17-1), although to see Western a second time Haslett must first navigate a District that includes Wixom St. Catherine (15-3).
Vicksburg (16-2) Back-to-back losses to Paw Paw (14-3) and Niles Brandywine (17-0) as January turned to February have been just a momentary detour as Vicksburg has clinched at least a share of the Wolverine Conference title, the Bulldogs’ third straight. They reached the Division 1 Quarterfinals a year ago and have continued to impress again, winning the first meeting with Paw Paw and earning other notable victories over Stevensville Lakeshore (12-3) and Coldwater (12-6) among others. Vicksburg can clinch the league title outright against Edwardsburg on Friday and should be the favorite in its District that also includes Marshall (13-5) but three sub-.500 teams.
DIVISION 3
Bronson (15-2) A 51-32 win over Concord on Feb. 4 has Bronson in position to share the Big 8 Conference title with the Yellow Jackets (16-4), who won the first meting 49-46 on Jan. 3. That would be a jump from finishing third in the league and 16-7 overall a season ago, and the only other loss this time was to undefeated Brandywine. Games against Division 1 Sturgis (11-7) and Division 2 Buchanan (10-8) should provide some additional prep as Bronson prepares to host a District that will include Southwest 10 Conference leader Centreville (12-4) and Quincy (10-7), which Bronson has defeated twice.
Grass Lake (15-3) Grass Lake has clinched a share of the Cascades Conference East title, its seventh-straight league championship, and jumped from No. 15 to 12 to No. 6 in statewide Division 3 MPR over the last three weeks. The Warriors are on a 12-game winning streak that’s included pairs of victories over Michigan Center (15-2) and Leslie (13-5) and handing Division 1 Detroit Renaissance (18-1) its only loss. The run kicked off after a 3-3 start that included losses to Chelsea (14-2), Country Day and Jackson Lumen Christi (12-5) – and Grass Lake could see Lumen again in the District the Warriors will be hosting.
DIVISION 4
Clarkston Everest Collegiate (13-2) After finishing as a league runner-up the last two seasons, Everest has won its first championship since 2012-13 with a perfect run through the CHSL Intersectional 1. The only losses this season were to Division 2 Warren Regina and Wixom St. Catherine, and all of the Mountaineers’ wins have come by at least 15 points. Everest will face two of its toughest opponents to close the regular season, Division 3 Rochester Hills Northwest (13-4) and Division 2 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (12-5), both next week.
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (13-0) A 40-37 win over St. Charles last week kept Sacred Heart undefeated and atop the Mid-State Activities Conference alone after finishing a regular-season sweep of the second-place Bulldogs. A league title would be Sacred Heart’s first since 2019-20 and follow last year’s run to the Quarterfinals. The Irish will fit six league games into the next two weeks, including matchups with third-place Fulton (11-6), fourth-place Merrill (10-6) and fifth-place Breckenridge (9-6). Sacred Heart also had a notable two-point opening win this season over Beaverton (12-5).
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Rockford (19-1) at Frankenmuth (16-3) – These Divisions 1 and 2 powers, respectively, meet again with Rockford having taken last year’s matchup 67-44.
Thursday – Detroit Renaissance (18-1) at Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard (18-1) – The annual Operation Friendship game between Detroit Public School League and Catholic High School League tournament champions also matches up contenders statewide in Divisions 1 and 2, respectively.
Thursday – Yale (18-1) at Armada (15-1) – At least a share of the Blue Water Area Conference title could be decided with Yale a game ahead in the standings after downing Armada 69-62 on Jan. 28.
Friday – Detroit Edison (12-3) at Belleville (18-1) – Two more potential favorites in Divisions 2 and 1, respectively, will meet again after Edison won last year’s matchup 57-46.
Friday – Utica Eisenhower (18-1) at Utica Ford (17-1) – Eisenhower has a one-game lead going into this Macomb Area Conference Red finale after handing Ford its lone defeat, 64-49 on Jan. 28.
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PHOTOS (Top) Oscoda’s Kingsley Backstrom (22) drives to the basket during her team’s 59-26 win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran on Feb. 11. (Middle) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Alonna Thelen (40) puts up a jumper during her team’s 59-53 victory over Fowler on Feb. 5. (Oscoda/Valley Lutheran photo by Kolleth Photo. P-W/Fowler photo by Team Arreguin Photos.)