Holland Sophomore Honored for Courage
April 15, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
What LayRay Paw has experienced and overcome during her still-young life is likely unimaginable for most she encounters on the basketball court.
The Holland High sophomore and her siblings were forced to navigate a refugee camp in Thailand and the deaths of their parents – who had fled Myanmar before she was born. They then came to the United States and began a new life with a new language, new adoptive family and new customs.
And she has excelled.
Paw was recognized today as one of two winners of the 2020 Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Basketball Courage Award.
The award recognizes a players who have “consistently gone above and beyond throughout the basketball season and (have) demonstrated courage in their approach to their team, their school, the game and their community.”
Following is an except from Paw’s nomination for the award, as told by adoptive parents Marsha and Bob Gustavson. Visit the Naismith Courage Award website for more including video with Paw, her parents and her Holland basketball and soccer coaches.
LayRay Paw was born in a refugee camp in Thailand called Mae La Oon. This particular refugee camp was for the people who were forced to flee from their home country of Myanmar due to war. They had to leave everything behind. When LayRay Paw was only a year old, her father was beaten to death after he attempted to leave the refugee camp in search of food and supplies for his wife and six children. Unfortunately, when LayRay was three years old, her mother became very ill and passed away. There are very minimal medical services for people living in refugee camps. After LayRay's mother passed away, she and her four older siblings were raised by her oldest sister, who was fourteen at the time. They survived on rationed rice, provided by the Thai government as well as anything else they could gather to eat from the river and forests. Because food was scarce, medical care almost non-existent, and fearing for the safety of her family, LayRay's oldest sister decided to sign up with the United Nations program to seek asylum in a different country.
In 2010, when LayRay was six years old, she and her five siblings were resettled in the United States and were all adopted by us. It was a huge culture shock for LayRay and her siblings upon arriving in the US. They did not speak or understand any English, had never seen or used running water, electricity, or toilets. They also had to learn to eat all new food, although rice continues to be the staple for each meal. Since being in the USA for ten years, LayRay now eats most American food, with the exception of cheese. Not only has LayRay completely caught up to her peers in school, but she excels in the classroom and she participates in many different extracurricular activities. Despite all that she has been through in her short life, she has demonstrated such resilience and is now a teenager who loves life, gives 100% to whatever she is working on and is always encouraging and helpful to others.
On top of basketball LayRay also plays soccer. During basketball season she works with our community to help run our elementary school camps. Girls are drawn to her. She is an amazing positive influence.
Photos courtesy of the Gustavson family and Holland athletic department.
Grand Blanc Starts Fast, Finishes Strong in Advancing to 1st Title Game
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 22, 2024
EAST LANSING – The formula for Grand Blanc’s success in Friday’s Division 1 Semifinal was simple.
Start the game fast, and finish the same way.
The Bobcats built an early double-digit lead, but had to stave off Belleville’s second-half comeback attempt to pull out a 54-45 win at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Grand Blanc (23-4) scored 14 of the game’s final 17 points to advance to the program’s first Final.
“We thought it was going to be easier than it was after the way we started because we got off to a great start, but then momentum went the other way,” Bobcats coach Bob Taylor said. “We got off to a nice comfortable lead, and then they charged back in the third quarter.
“It was give and take after that, and we were fortunate enough to make some plays in the end.”
Grand Blanc sprinted out to an early 10-0 and increased it to 19-6 by the end of the first quarter.
Senior Kate DeWitt, who played all 32 minutes, made a pair of 3-pointers to ignite the fast start.
“We started out well, but after they came back we just needed to stay calm, cool and collected,” DeWitt said. “We didn’t want the season to stop, and it’s just basketball. It’s a simple game.
“We just had to play our game (at the end), and there’s no words to describe how this feels right now. All I can do is smile.”
Despite the rocky start, Belleville, which didn’t arrive until 11:30 a.m. due to the snowy weather conditions, didn’t waver. The Tigers slowly chipped away at the early deficit.
A 3-pointer by SeCrette Carter and a lay-up from Jordan Petersen during the final minute of the second quarter cut the Grand Blanc advantage to 25-15 at the half.
Belleville freshman sensation Sydney Savoury then led a furious third-quarter surge.
The 6-foot forward scored 11 of her game-high 24 points in the third and drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Tigers their first lead of the game, 37-35.
Belleville outscored the Bobcats 22-10 during the period.
“We started off in the first quarter real slow, but we kept our tempo and we knew we would make a run and we did that at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth,” Tigers coach Jason Wilkins said. “Our shots weren’t falling at first, but then they started falling and our defensive intensity picked up.
“But credit to Grand Blanc. They didn’t give up, they fought hard and made the clutch plays when they were needed.”
The Tigers led 42-40 with six minutes left, but managed only three points the rest of the game as Grand Blanc’s defense tightened.
“The mindset was to keep their key players from shooting,” said Grand Blanc senior Chelsea Bishop, who had 13 points and four steals.
“They started to get hot in the second half, so it was just keeping them from shooting and driving.
Grand Blanc junior Rayven McQueen, who finished 6 of 9 from the field for 12 points, scored back-to-back buckets to cap a 10-0 run and put the Bobcats ahead 50-42 with 2:28 remaining in the game.
Friday’s was the first trip to the Semifinals for Belleville (24-3) after the team won its first Regional title since 2001.
“Grand Blanc was the better team today, but I’m proud of my team and getting here was a great accomplishment.”
Starting guard Parc Liggins led Grand Blanc with 14 points and was 5 of 6 from the free throw line.
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Blanc’s Rayven McQueen (21) makes a move toward the basket during Friday’s first Division 1 Semifinal at Breslin Center. (Middle) Malaya Brown (24) looks to get to the lane with Belleville’s Sydney Savoury (31) defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)