Few in Number, Tecumseh Pursuing Sizable Success with Zajacs Setting Pace

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

December 5, 2023

TECUMSEH – First, the good news: Nearly everyone on the Tecumseh girls basketball team has aspirations to play college basketball – and several of them at a very high level. 

Southeast & BorderNow, the twist: There are only eight girls in the entire program. 

Tecumseh head coach Kristy Zajac, starting her seventh season, is unfazed by the lack of numbers. Tecumseh will field just a varsity team this season but should contend for a Southeastern Conference White championship and pursue a deep playoff run as well. 

“This is a great group of girls,” Zajac said. “At least six or seven of them want to play college basketball. The basketball IQ is so much higher than we have had in the past. We’ve never had a full team of basketball-first kids.” 

Zajac said that dynamic has changed practices and the approach on the court. 

“We do a lot more high-level skill stuff and high-level thinking,” she said. “We do more read-and-react stuff where they have to play on the fly, which makes us harder to scout. We want to try and give the kids a chance to use that basketball IQ and make opportunities for themselves on the floor so they can score without having to run a set play.” 

The list of college prospects starts with her daughter, 6-foot-2 junior Alli Zajac. She holds about 15 Division I offers, and the list seems to grow daily.  

She’s been receiving recruiting attention since before she played a game in high school. As a freshman, she was the Lenawee County Player of the Year and has been all-state both of her first two seasons. Last winter, she scored 433 points as Tecumseh went 20-5.  

Her sister, Addi Zajac, hasn’t played a varsity game yet but has received a lot of attention as well as a college prospect after several great years of travel ball. She’s 6-foot and a true center. 

“She wears a size 14 shoe,” Zajac said. “We are hoping next year she is 6-3 or 6-4. She has such a strong body; I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone that strong at her age. She can push people around.” 

The sisters are very different types of players. They also are extremely competitive, as witnessed when they play 1-on-1 at home. 

“It usually ends in a fistfight,” Zajac said. “They are both very competitive.” 

Kristy Zajac coaches her team, which finished 20-5 in 2022-23. The team is loaded with more talent than just the Zajac sisters. 

Sophomore Makayla Schlorf made 28 3-pointers last season, and sophomore Chloe Bollinger made 26. Junior Ashlyn Moorhead averaged just under double figures in scoring and averaged 3.7 assists a game last year. Junior Lauren Kilbarger also is back from last season and joined by newcomers Faith Wiedyk, a junior, sophomore Sophia Torres and freshman Amaria Brown.  

Maddie VanBlack is another travel ball veteran but is out this season due to tearing an ACL. 

Tecumseh athletic director Jon Zajac – Kristy’s husband – said it is disappointing Tecumseh won’t field a junior varsity team this year. He said kids playing travel ball in other sports, along with the youth of the current team, are factors. 

“It is frustrating,” he said. “Hopefully this is the only year for that.” 

Kristy (Maska) Zajac grew up near Tecumseh in Britton, played four years on the varsity and scored more than 1,800 career points under coach Bart Bartels, now an assistant on her staff. She played at Eastern Michigan University, where she was one of the top scorers in school history. Jon Zajac, played at EMU and professionally overseas.  

The entire family is crazy about basketball. In addition to Alli and Addi, son Ryder played four years at Tecumseh before heading off to college to play football, and the youngest in the family, Avery, is a budding star in her own right. 

“There were a few travel games this year where my team was short on numbers and Avery got to play with Addi and Alli,” Kristy Zajac said. “That was cool to see. She held her own. She won’t get to play with Alli in high school (Avery is in seventh grade), but she’ll get two years with Addi. I got to play with my sister, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.” 

Jon Zajac stops by practice now and then to coach as well. He and Kristy coach Avery’s travel team. 

“He is a great person to have as part of the program,” Kristy Zajac said of her husband. “Anytime I can get him to help with the post players and with the girls is great. He’s a huge help.” 

The family often schedules trips around basketball and is seemingly always pulled in multiple directions as the three girls compete at various levels. 

“It’s pretty much basketball all day, every day,” Zajac said. “It’s fun to see how the kids enjoy it and love the game.” 

Tecumseh, which has won a combined 39 games over the past two seasons, has loaded up its schedule, playing a collection of nonconference teams that made deep tournament runs and won conference championships last season. Tecumseh plays in the Icebreaker event at Ypsilanti Arbor Prep against Detroit Country Day on Saturday and also faces Temperance-Bedford (23-1 last season), reigning Division 3 runner-up Blissfield and Grand Blanc.  

Without a senior on the team and no JV squad, Tecumseh will play essentially this group for the next 50 or more games. It’s a two-year window with virtually the same team. 

“We’re doing what we can to win this year,” Zajac said. “We want this year to be super successful. We are just taking it one game at a time and going from there. We want to keep building and getting better every day, every game. Hopefully by the end of next year, we’ll be where we need to be.”

Doug DonnellyDoug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Tecumseh’s Alli Zajac makes her move toward the lane last season against Adrian. (Middle) Kristy Zajac coaches her team, which finished 20-5 in 2022-23. (Photos by Deloris Clark-Osborne/Adrian Daily Telegram.)

Bark River-Harris Girls Hoops Rolling Into February on 10-Game Win Streak

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

February 1, 2024

HARRIS — The Bark River-Harris girls basketball team has been enjoying a successful season with 10 straight victories and a 12-1 overall record to show for it.

Upper PeninsulaPlaying at Escanaba High School, this fall, however, was a new experience for the exchange student from Italy. The Broncos also need only to look back to mid-January to find this season’s biggest highlight to date.

BR-H overcame a 21-point third-quarter deficit to stun neighboring Escanaba 66-63 in a home nonconference match-up Jan. 19.

Senior guard Nina Bower drained a 23-foot jump shot from the left wing on a pass from junior Marissa Ives at the final buzzer, enabling the Broncos to secure that victory.

“Marissa gave me a beautiful pass,” Bower said. “I had no choice but to put it up. Coach (Matt Richer) told us going into overtime was better than turning the ball over. We beat them pretty good the first time (62-47 at Escanaba) and kind of expected to do that again.

“We had an amazing crowd, but haven’t had a game this close. It was a tournament-like atmosphere. We were frustrated at halftime because we hadn’t been playing up to what we could. Although, I think we’ve been playing well together overall and our communication has been good for sure.”

The Broncos’ only loss took place Dec. 11 at Menominee, where they dropped a 64-48 decision.

“We learned if we don’t play together, we can be beaten,” Bower said. “We also learned to overcome adversity.”

The Broncos look to match up most with Munising (11-1) at the top of the Skyline Central Conference Large-schools division this season. They face off Feb. 23.

Bark River-Harris will then attempt to take back the Division 3 District title. The Broncos defeated Menominee 37-33 to clinch the District championship in 2022, but fell to Gladstone 49-44 in overtime in a District Semifinal a year ago.

Senior teammate Lauren Zawada (center) muscles her way to the basket.Bower is averaging 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals a game. Senior Lauren Zawada, with an 18-point average, is the team’s leading scorer. She also averages 12 rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“We had kind of a rough start (against Escanaba),” Zawada said. “Things weren’t working out. They’ve improved from the first time we played them. At halftime, we didn’t know how we were going to get back up. We got a little more aggressive and tightened up our defense. Once we got within single digits, our crowd really got into it.

“As seniors we knew this would be the last time we’d play Esky. They have very good players and coaches. This is kind of a feather in our hat.”

BR-H trailed 42-21 early in the third quarter before starting its comeback.

“Coach talked to us at halftime,” senior McKenzie Hoffmeyer said. “We needed to rebound better and work as a team. That was the big highlight of the season. This is the first time we’ve beaten them twice in the same season. They’re a tough team. I think that game will keep us going for a while.”

“At Menominee we just weren’t working as a team, but knew as long as we worked as a team we’d be okay. We’ve been finding the open person and working the ball for high-percentage shots. We need to work on our rebounding and box out more.”

Hoffmeyer averages 17 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists.

The Broncos have followed up that Escanaba victory with big wins against Rapid River and Crystal Falls Forest Park and defeated Marquette on Monday 38-32.

“We have to work on our attitude against other teams,” Zawada said. “We also need to work on not getting down on ourselves. We’ve been playing together for so long. Things are starting to click.”

John VrancicJohn Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTOS (Top) Bark River-Harris senior McKenzie Hoffmeyer (23) drives past a Marquette defender during her team’s 38-32 win Monday. (Middle) Senior teammate Lauren Zawada (center) muscles her way to the basket. (Photos courtesy of Mitch Vosburg/Escanaba Daily Press.)