Thompson Erases Doubt, Makes History
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 14, 2017
When Jacara Thompson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee this past summer, she thought she was done playing basketball.
The fact it was the second torn ACL of her high school career, along with the timing of the injury, had the Swartz Creek superstar doubting her future.
“I thought I wasn’t going to play basketball anymore,” Thompson said. “This is my second knee blowout and I need to be done – that was my first thought. I was going to miss my whole senior year, and that was really hard.”
Thompson proved her initial thoughts wrong, however, and is back on the court making history. Recently, she broke a school record that had stood since 1979, setting the all-time mark for scoring at Swartz Creek. She had scored 1,179 career points through Feb. 10, now well ahead of the former mark of 1,087.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” Thompson said of setting the record. “Nobody in my family has ever broken a big record like that or anything. It really didn’t hit me until people started telling me congratulations.”
Those congratulations would have been well deserved for any player hitting that mark. For those who have watched Thompson overcome two major knee surgeries and break the record despite missing 17 games, the moment was even more special.
“I was extremely proud,” Swartz Creek girls basketball coach Adrian Trzebiatowski said. “As a player, you have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone that achieves that goal. As a coach, to see a young woman grow up, to blossom, to develop into a very good basketball player and an amazing person, it is an extreme sense of pride and admiration for what she’s gone through.”
It was in Trzebiatowski’s second season at Swartz Creek that Thompson entered high school, and the slashing guard was making an impact on the varsity team as a freshman. But her debut lasted only six games as Thompson’s first torn ACL, in her right knee, came early in her career.
She came back with a strong sophomore campaign, and as a junior joined the state’s elite, averaging 25 points per game and totaling 501. She was named Class A all-state second-team by The Associated Press.
“Early in her career she was a slasher – she could take a bump or two or three and still get to the basket,” Trzebiatowski said. “Last year we really committed to lifting weights, and she could finish with contact. She was able to get herself to the line and finish layups. I wish there was a stat column for how many and-ones she has. She was a strong player who could really plow and weave her way to the basket.”
Thompson also was developing a stronger mid-range game and working on her outside shot to keep defenders even more off-balance. Before she could showcase her advancing skills and build on the momentum of her junior season, she suffered her second ACL tear.
While an initial doubt she could return again was in her own mind, it was something her coach never saw.
“She knew how to rehab, and knew what she had to do to get back,” Trzebiatowski said. “As far as mental toughness, Jacara overcoming this is probably one of the toughest athletes I’ll ever coach.”
As Thompson worked her way back again, she said it was her Swartz Creek teammates who helped her get to the right place mentally.
“I finally got over it when I started to practice with my team,” Thompson said. “I couldn’t scrimmage with them, but they made me feel even better, that you’re going to be even stronger when you come back.”
Trzebiatowski said the team had to learn to play without Thompson over the summer, but despite that, Thompson’s impact on the young Dragons squad remained strong.
“Everybody looked at her as a leader, but I don’t think she’s always felt that way until this year,” Trzebiatowski said. “When we actually voted for team captains, the team decided before we even voted that Jacara would unanimously receive the vote for team captain. That’s never happened to me.”
Thompson missed the first two games of the season, but has come back strong. She’s averaging 17 points per game and has now added a more dangerous 3-point shot to her repertoire, something she said already has caused opposing defenders to take notice.
“I kind of always knew I had to get better at it,” she said. “Shooting wasn’t really my big thing. I always loved driving and getting to the basket and to the free throw line, but I knew I had to add an outside game. I feel like (defenders) look for me to go the basket every time, but now that I have an outside shot, they’re going to have to check me. They’ve caught on. They call me a shooter now.”
She said she feels like her old self now, although it took a while to get there.
“I’d say probably about 90 percent of it is mental, really,” Thompson said. “Because you have to think about what move am I going to do? Am I going to tear my ACL again? You think about every move you do when you’ve been through two ACL surgeries.”
Thompson is undecided on her basketball future, but said she wants to play at the college level. Her injuries have helped her to focus on her off-court future, however. No matter where basketball takes her, Thompson wants to study to become a physical therapist.
“I had always thought about going overseas and even trying to make it to the WNBA,” she said. “I don’t think I want that anymore. I want to do something to help people with ACL injuries.”
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) Swartz Creek's Jacara Thompson prepares to shoot a free throw. (Middle) Thompson, back this season after multiple knee surgeries during her career, looks to get past a defender. (Photos courtesy of the Swartz Creek girls basketball program.)
Senior-Freshman Combo has Hackett Catholic Prep Surging Toward Postseason
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
February 18, 2025
KALAMAZOO – Senior captain Addie Smucker is a stats stuffer who rarely leaves the floor.
Freshman Lucy Young already set a school record, scored a triple-double and received her first Division I college offer.
The veteran and the rookie phenom are instrumental in Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep’s amazing basketball season.
“This team has done more than we expected them to do,” coach Erin Gallagher said. “Our expectations were set with (our previous) teams.
“With Lucy coming in this year, you don’t count on your freshman leading scoring, averaging 23 points a game and (scoring) a school-record 41 against Kalamazoo Christian.”
After four games in six days, the Irish take an 18-2 mark and school record 16-game winning streak into the final weeks of the regular season, hoping to carry their success into MHSAA District play next month.
Smucker is the most consistent on the team, averaging 8.7 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals a game. She and Natalie Burhans are the only seniors on the team.
“Addie’s steals and assists turn to points for other girls,” Gallagher said.
Smucker averages 28 minutes a game, and it is not unusual to see her on the court all 32 minutes.
“If she didn’t get in foul trouble, she’d probably have more 32-minute games,” Gallagher added, smiling. “Over half her games, she’s played all 32 minutes in four years.”
At 6-foot-2, Young is the tallest player on the team, and if she continues scoring her average, could hit the 500-point mark by the end of the season and reach the magical 1,000-point career milestone during her sophomore year.
“Lucy’s biggest adjustment has been defense,” Gallagher said. “As a scorer, she comes in as a senior but as a defender she comes in a little bit like a freshman because (she hasn’t) played the fast pace like (varsity).”
Young said she had no idea she would start her high school hoops career on varsity.
“I was so nervous,” she said. “My first game (Smucker) asked if I was ready, and I told her I was so nervous.
“It was honestly nerve-wracking, but I know I can lean on my teammates and they can help me through the game. It’s been a really fun season.”
Young did not realize she set a school record with her 41 points against Kalamazoo Christian, a game that Smucker iced with a free throw during the final seconds.
The 56-55 win was the first for the Irish over K-Christian in four years (nine games).
“When they post me up, it’s a little easier to score,” Young said. “I do like to block shots, very carefully, of course.
“I always know where (Addie) is on the court and if I’m stuck in the post, I can pass it back to her. She has a great shot. Whenever she steals the ball, I know I can just run down the court and she can pass it to me, so I feel we complement each other well.”
Young’s triple-double came in a 55-31 win over Maple City Glen Lake when she recorded 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 steals.
Young said her strengths include “driving to the basket and posting up, using my height as an advantage to score. Maybe a little bit of passing, too. I can sometimes find some people in the corner and they can shoot it.”
Putting up such impressive numbers, Young has attracted the attention of several college coaches and got her first scholarship offer from Division I Western Michigan.
“ I was so proud, so happy,” she said. “That’s something I was working for because I really want to play in college.
“That’s my dream. It just felt like all the stars aligned. It was so cool. I was so happy.”
Young played volleyball in the fall and said that helped her get in shape for basketball.
“Volleyball can be fast-paced, but you don’t really move a lot,” she said. “I stay up at the net most of the time, so I only move side to side.
“Basketball is also fast-paced, but you’re sprinting, changing direction.”
Although Smucker is making her mark on the basketball team, soccer is her first love. She earned third-team all-state honors her sophomore year and first team last year.
“I’d say basketball is harder to get ready for because it’s more quick-paced,” Smucker said. “In soccer, you’re still running but it’s for a longer distance.”
She said she brings a common strength to her two sports.
“I feel like I’m a good passer,” she said. “In basketball, I’m always looking for Lucy and the same with soccer.
“That’s one thing I translate from both, looking for my teammates, the good pass.”
The team’s success also led to a milestone for Gallagher.
Hackett’s victory over Schoolcraft on Jan. 31 was the coach’s 100th varsity win, all at Hackett.
“I didn’t know even where I was at until two years ago when we made the (Division 4) Quarterfinals and had to turn in our stats to the MHSAA. I was 70-something,” he said. “Last year we won 16 and (during this season) coach Jared Butler asked where I was at and it was 97, so then I was keeping track from there. I didn’t want to miss that.”
While Young is getting much of the attention, Gallagher points out that everyone on the team is contributing.
“We don’t win those last few games without Addie putting in 10 points, (junior) Leah Smith putting in 10 points a game, (junior) Marissa Toweson’s hitting some big shots for us, timely shots.
“(Junior) Erin Cook has probably sacrificed more than anyone this year. As a freshman, we brought her up halfway through the season because we needed a post player and she just played defense and scored when she was able. Her defense and her rebounding have been incredible for us.
“Everybody has played very well all year. (Junior) Bethany Carpenter can score two points a game and have the biggest impact on the game. She is on the other team’s best player every single game.”
Young is not the only tall player in the lineup. Junior Lily Arechiga is 6 feet, Cook 5-11, and Smucker and Carpenter each 5-10.
“They’re all really good teammates,” Gallagher said. “I think this is the best group I’ve had. They all get along, which makes it easier to coach.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep's Addie Smucker, coach Erin Gallagher and Lucy Young chat during a recent practice. (2) Smucker (2) takes on a pair of defenders during the Irish’s Feb. 7 win over Lawton. (3) Young (34) gets to the basket against Lawton. (4) Gallagher is celebrated on-court after his 100th win. (Top photo by Pam Shebest. Action photos by Chris Ogrin. Gallagher celebration photo by Rachel Ogrin.)