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.)
Cousino Ends Historic Run Atop Class A
March 19, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING — Kierra Fletcher hit the floor with her body, one of the hazards when driving to the basket, then slapped it with her hands when she realized her shot had fallen.
She got up and pumped her right fist in the air before going to the line and making the free throw.
These were just three of the 198 points she scored during Warren Cousino's eight-game run through the MHSAA Class A Girls Basketball Tournament, but they were arguably the most important.
A championship that seemed guaranteed when the Patriots held a 19-point third-quarter lead was slipping through the Patriots' grasp.
Detroit Martin Luther King had all of the momentum and a hot hand in senior guard Micaela Kelly, who virtually single-handedly willed the Crusaders back from the abyss.
A lead that had been chopped to five points was back to double figures at 57-47 when Fletcher made her 3-point play with 5:06 left in the Class A Final on Saturday at the Breslin Center. While King made one final push, coming back from double digits again was too much to ask of the Crusaders, who scored four points in the final seven seconds but ran out of time in a 67-65 loss to Cousino.
Fletcher, who had 27 points and averaged 28.4 over Cousino's last five games, picked up her fourth foul with 44.5 seconds left in the third quarter, then missed two free throws after her return. Her pent-up frustration was released when she made the huge momentum-stalling basket shortly after going 0 for 2 at the line.
"When I got my fourth foul, I was a little rattled," said Fletcher, a junior guard who is already being touted as a Miss Basketball favorite for next season. "Then I came back in the game and missed two free throws when it was crunch time. Once I got that and-one, it lifted my spirits up so we could go and win this game."
By holding off a furious rally by one of the state's most decorated programs, Cousino completed an unlikely championship run. The Patriots had been as far as the Regional Finals only once, losing 50-28 to Mount Clemens L'Anse Creuse North in 1979. They'd won only eight District titles before this season, going 1-8 in Regional games.
Their breakthrough moment came in the Regional championship game, where they beat two-time defending Class A champion Bloomfield Hills Marian, 43-39. Suddenly, Cousino girls basketball was on the radar.
"We figured, hey, if we can beat this team, we can beat any team," said forward Mackenzie Anderson, the team's only senior, after scoring 20 points Saturday. "Our defense was strong. We just didn't want to be done. We wanted one more day together."
Cousino (23-4) joined the 1999 Utica team as the only Class A champions from Macomb County in the 43-year history of the girls basketball tournament.
"Honestly, our team believed this was a realistic goal back in November," Fletcher said. "Our group message name was 'State champs, 2016.' I think at the time, even our parents didn't think we were going to be this far. We were the only ones who believed until we got to where we are today."
To earn their place in history, the Patriots had to knock off a King program that had more MHSAA Finals appearances (12) than Cousino had District titles (nine). King's last championship, its fifth, came in 2006.
It was Cousino that looked like the program accustomed to the big stage, as the Patriots scored the first five points of the game and built a 31-12 lead with 5:05 left in the second quarter. They outrebounded King 16-3 in the first quarter, grabbing 13 of the game's first 14 boards.
"We played our game in the second half," 33rd-year King coach William Winfield said. "In the first half, not so good. We had some shots that did not fall and drives to the basket that did not go; that was about the size of it. They played an excellent game and were able to get the ball down the floor."
Cousino led 35-19 at halftime, with Fletcher scoring a relatively modest (by her standards) 12 points. Freshman Kate McArthur had nine points on three 3-pointers, while Anderson had eight to help the Patriots dominate the first half. In each of Cousino's previous four games, Fletcher scored more than half of the team's points, including 37 in a 60-45 Semifinal victory over Hudsonville on Friday.
"What's great about this victory is for the first half (Fletcher) played a big role, but there were other people who stepped up today, as well," Cousino coach Mike Lee said. "In a championship game, we said we needed people to step up, and they did. The sacrifice, the heart, the will and the belief — this team believed more than any other team. Once we got to a certain point in the Regionals, we felt good about at least giving this a good shot."
When Cousino began the second half by extending its lead back to 19 points three times, it looked like the fourth quarter would simply become a coronation ceremony for the Patriots.
Kelly had other ideas.
The DePaul-bound guard scored 11 points during the third quarter, as King (24-2) cut the lead to 50-40 heading into the fourth. Despite playing with four fouls, she kept it up in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 more points to finish with a game-high 34. Kelly's total tied the sixth-highest for an MHSAA championship game.
"Since I was supposed to be the leader, I just decided this is my time to put my team on my back before I leave," Kelly said. "I wanted to leave knowing I left it all on the floor."
Kelly, who was 11 for 11 from the line, hit two free throws with 5:53 left to put King back in the game at 52-47.
Fletcher held off the charge by making two free throws with 5:15 left, then making the three-point play with 5:06 to go. King got back to within five points with 1:11 left, but Aubrey Fetzer got a layup off a pass from Anderson on the press break with 1:02 to go.
A basket by King's Tia Tedford, who had 14 points, made it 66-61 with 46 seconds left. Anderson went 1 for 2 from the line with 22.6 seconds to go. King got two free throws from Erica Whitley-Jackson with 7 seconds on the clock to get within four. A shot at the buzzer made it a two-point final.
King was able to reverse the early rebounding discrepancy, trailing only 41-32 in that department by the end, but couldn't overcome its 5 for 31 shooting from 3-point range. Cousino attempted only nine shots from beyond the arc, with McArthur going 4 for 8 to finish with 13 points.
"Today we rushed our threes," Kelly said. "We didn't take our time."
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Warren Cousino bench erupts as the final seconds tick off the clock during the Class A Final on Saturday. (Middle) Mackenzie Cook works to get through the Martin Luther King defense on a drive to the hoop.