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Bowers' Balance Paying Big for Kent City
December 20, 2018
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
KENT CITY – Kenzie Bowers’ mother made sure her daughter wasn’t going to grow up to become just a scorer.
An extra incentive did just the trick.
“When I was younger my mom would record my games, and she would give me a dollar for every five or 10 points, but then she would also give me a dollar for every assist, too, because she didn’t want me to go out there and think that I was just going to score,” the Kent City standout sophomore said. “That was my way of thinking I was going to score, but I’m not going to be selfish with the ball because I wanted money both ways.”
Bowers, a 5-foot-10 guard, is still doing her share of scoring and distributing, and she’s picking up where she left off after a sensational freshman season.
In her debut campaign on the varsity, Bowers averaged 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while also leading her team in assists and steals en route to being named to the Class C all-state first team.
Bowers also helped spark Kent City’s historic postseason run to the Class C Quarterfinals.
“I’ve talked to Coach since seventh grade, and he told me if I kept working hard then he would have a spot for me on the varsity,” Bowers said. “He wanted me to be a leader, and I knew I was going to have to be a leader. I was ready for it, and I expected it.”
Kent City girls basketball coach Scott Carlson has known Bowers since first grade and helped coach her at every level leading up to high school.
He knew early on that she had a bright future ahead.
“By third grade you knew she was going to be a ball player because she was playing with our fifth and sixth-grade travel players at that point,” Carlson said. “She could handle the ball, and she loved the game. She was a baller from the word go.”
Bowers’ passion for the game developed from watching her two older brothers, and she started playing with older girls when she was in third grade.
“I was the only third-grader, and I think it was definitely good to have that experience going into my fourth and fifth grade years when I was playing against girls my own age,” Bowers said. “You could tell I had played recently, and I was the second or third tallest girl on my team, but I was very skinny.”
Bowers’ overall skill set quickly progressed. She attended multiple basketball camps and started playing AAU.
As middle school began, college coaches became aware of Bowers’ rare abilities.
“Seventh grade was the first time someone told me that college coaches were watching me and they thought I was pretty good,” Bowers said. “I was like, ‘College coaches are watching me?’ It was definitely surreal.”
A highlight of Bowers’ first high school season was a 37-point performance in a Regional Semifinal win over Beaverton.
Kent City went on to win its first Regional title in 29 years before losing to Pewamo-Westphalia in the Quarterfinals.
“She certainly surpassed what I expected of her as a freshman, but it didn’t surprise me in how hard she works,” Carlson said. “She’s very athletic, and she’s a quick study. If you show her something once she gets it quick, as quickly as anyone I’ve ever seen, and she’ll work on it until she perfects it.”
Bowers already has received several scholarship offers from Division I college programs, including Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Illinois State, Davidson and Oakland.
“It’s been really cool knowing I can go play college basketball at the next level,” Bowers said. “It makes me feel blessed and happy because I know I don’t have to spend all that money and I get to do something I love.”
Kent City is 4-1 this winter with its lone loss coming to Detroit Martin Luther King, 40-39.
Bowers is one of eight returning players from last season’s 22-4 squad.
“We didn’t lose anybody, so we know we are going to be a good team,” Bowers said. “We’re working to get better and make it further this season.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kent City’s Kenzie Bowers drives to the basket against White Cloud during a Dec. 7 win. (Middle) Bowers works to get past a Detroit Martin Luther King defender during their Dec. 8 game at Okemos. (Photos courtesy of the Bowers family.)
![Kingston players celebrate their Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday night at Breslin Center.](/sites/default/files/2024-03/240321_D4_2H3.png)
Signature 2nd Quarter Surge Sends Kingston into 1st Girls Hoops Final
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 21, 2024
EAST LANSING — It was hard for even Kingston head coach Jay Green to come up with an explanation.
For some reason this year, the second quarter has often been big for his team.
“It’s just kind of been our quarter,” Green said.
That proved to be the case again Thursday in the second Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center. While the other three quarters against Frankfort were pretty much even, Kingston dominated the second quarter en route to a 56-33 win.
The Cardinals advanced to Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game against Ishpeming, a matchup of teams making their first appearances in a Final.
Trailing 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, Kingston began turning a close game into a lopsided one.
The Cardinals scored 24 of the first 26 points of the second period, forced seven turnovers and made 7 of 9 shots from the field in outscoring Frankfort 24-4 over those eight minutes to take a 35-16 halftime lead.
“They just rose to the occasion,” Green said. “We’ve had a lot of good second quarters over the year. We just kept the pressure on defensively. We got a lot of offensive rebounds, and when you are getting extra shots time after time, it’s just kind of a snowball effect. Sometimes that happens in basketball. We got on a nice run.”
Frankfort couldn’t cut the deficit during the third quarter and went into the fourth trailing 48-25.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Green said. “We were excited Tuesday to break that Quarterfinal hurdle and get down here. There’s just that overall desire to do the best you can, do your best and be relentless throughout.”
Sophomore Molly Walker scored 22 points, and senior Delaney St. George added 11 to lead Kingston, which had a 33-18 rebounding advantage.
“We just had to come out fast, and if we played hard defensively, things would happen offensively,” Walker said. “It started to come together for us.”
Junior Savina Anhalt scored nine points to lead the way for Frankfort, which finished 22-6.
“(Kingston’s) a great team,” Panthers head coach Tim Reznich said. “They’re really physical, they’re really strong and they wore us down.
“We had a great start. When they gained their composure, they really started pounding the glass and took over there. That’s where it got us. Once we dug that hole, we just didn’t have the energy to come out of it. But they’re a great team, and I wish them the best.”
Kingston will turn its attention to Ishpeming, which also enters Saturday with a 27-1 record and was ranked No. 1 in Division 4 entering the postseason.
“It will be a great challenge,” Green said. “They are the type of team with height and this and that. But we’ll be ready, and we’ll give them our best shot.”
PHOTOS (Top) Kingston players celebrate their Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) Kingston’s Gracy Walker makes a move to the basket with Savina Anhalt defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)