Lenawee Christian Different, But Not Down
February 28, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
In the first practice without Bree Salenbien, the Lenawee Christian girls basketball team didn’t dwell on the fact the best player in the Division 4 tournament the last couple of seasons won’t be on the court for this season’s playoff run.
“Practice was amazing,” third-year Lenawee Christian head coach Jamie Salenbien said. “The girls talked about ways to step up, and they assured each other of their foundation.”
Lenawee Christian has won back-to-back Finals championships, in Class D in 2018 and Division 4 in 2019. During each of those state championship runs, 6-foot-4 Bree Salenbien showcased the incredible talent that has earned her more than 25 scholarship offers from Division I schools across the country – including Michigan and Michigan State.
In a stunning turn of events, however, Salenbien tore her ACL with about 15 seconds remaining in overtime of Lenawee Christian’s final regular-season game earlier this week. That drastically changed the entire MHSAA tournament picture as the 17-3 Cougars – who have played one of the toughest schedules in the state regardless of division – no longer are the overwhelming favorites.
Don’t tell them that, however.
“It definitely is going to be a long hard road,” said Cougars senior Dani Salenbien, Bree’s older sister. “It’s no secret Bree is a huge part of our team, but I have no doubt that our team will adjust and come out strong when we play next.”
The Cougars have gone 15-0 the last two seasons in postseason play, winning the first two girls basketball championships in school history. The Salenbiens have been at the forefront of those title runs. Jamie Salenbien is a Hudson graduate who coached three years at Onsted before stepping down to concentrate on coaching his daughters through their youth teams.
He became head varsity coach at Lenawee Christian when Dani was entering her sophomore year and Bree was about to make her varsity debut. The result was a 26-1 season and Class D Final win over Chassell. Bree was named the Class D Player of the Year and her dad was named Coach of the Year by The Associated Press.
Last season, Dani Salenbien took more of a lead role, especially during the tournament, helping turn the Cougars’ fortunes with an outstanding performance in the championship game win over St. Ignace. Both Salenbiens were all-state choices, and this year it looked like the Cougars were destined to become one of the few three-peat champions in MHSAA history. They have been ranked No. 1 all season. The only team with a higher Michigan Power Rating than LCS is Division 2 Detroit Edison, a team the Cougars lost to as part of a rugged schedule that saw LCS face three teams that have been ranked No. 1 in three separate classes this season.
The game against Edison was played in front of a standing-room only crowd at LCS. Dani Salenbien poured in eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 31 points, which Edison eventually pulled away and won.
“It definitely was nerve-wracking,” Dani said. “The environment was kind of insane. I had so much fun. It was an opportunity for us to show our love of Christ and play to the best of our ability. Anytime you play a team like that, you have the chance to improve.”
Among the other teams on the LCS schedule this year have been Hartland, who was No. 1 in Division 1 at one point of the season; several state-ranked Division 4 schools such as Fowler and Allen Park Inter-City Baptist; Toledo Christian, ranked No. 2 in Ohio’s Division 4; and Cascades Conference powerhouses Michigan Center and Grass Lake, which was ranked No. 1 in Division 3 for much of the season.
“Playing 20 different teams pushes the girls to prepare and perform each game,” Coach Salenbien said. “By playing some of the best teams in the state, it hopefully prepares the girls for the toughest situations they might face.
“Facing the best requires you to dig deep and play your best.”
The game against Grass Lake on Tuesday was one of those games, two powerhouses battling on every possession. In the waning seconds of the first overtime, the Cougars grabbed a rebound and found Bree on an outlet pass. She took a dribble, then appeared to have tried to dribble the ball behind her back when she went to the floor. By Thursday, the Salenbien family was overwhelmed with text messages, phone calls and e-mails from friends, family and former Cougars players and coaches offering prayers and support for Bree.
On Thursday afternoon the Cougars were back on the practice floor, getting ready for Monday’s Division 4 District game against Ann Arbor Rudolf Steiner.
Coach Salenbien said the girls got in practice, strength training and spent some time reading through some of the messages the team has received over the last couple of days. It’s not business as usual, of course, but don’t expect a letdown once the postseason starts Monday.
“This group is so tough,” Coach Salenbien said. “I just love how fearless they approach challenges.
“One of our themes is ‘Chase the Lion’ which stresses the importance of dreaming big and taking positive risks without fear. The group lives this out.”
Dani, Libby Miller and Caitlin Anderson are four-year starters. Dani – who has signed to play at Hillsdale College next year – has scored more than 1,200 career points, while Miller has made 178 career 3-pointers and Caitlin is nearing 100 career games played. Cara Anderson and Lizzy Scharer both have big game experience as well, having played in an MHSAA Final.
The Cougars plan to approach this Division 4 tournament just as they would with Bree.
“I don’t know if anyone’s roles will change or not,” Dani said. “I’m excited. We’re going to have to play our best, and everyone is going to have to step up. The postseason makes us all that much more serious. We already are serious, but it just intensifies in the postseason.”
The Cougars have played against some of Michigan and Ohio’s best teams this year and are ready for that road to pay off. Lenawee Christian also has something few other teams have – virtually unmatched big game experience.
Like Dani Salenbien said, “It helps when you have been there.”
Doug 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) Adrian Lenawee Christian coach Jamie Salenbien talks things over with his team during a game break this season. (Middle) Dani Salenbien pulls up for a jumper. (Photos courtesy of the Lenawee Christian athletic department.)
2005 Miss Basketball DeHaan Cherishing Newest Title: 1st-Time Mom
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
July 25, 2022
JENISON – Allyssa DeHaan-Clark remains one of the greatest shot blockers in national high school and college basketball history.
Recently, the former Grandville High School and Michigan State University standout became a mother for the first time.
DeHaan-Clark, and her husband Aaron, adopted a baby girl last September.
Bradley Noelle Clark was born on Sept. 29, 2021, at 36 weeks.
When the Clarks found out about the impending delivery, they drove straight to the hospital from their vacation in Tennessee to meet her. They took her home a few days later.
“Parenthood is awesome, hard, wonderful and beautiful,” DeHaan-Clark said. “She’s 9½ months old, and she just lost her first tooth and is starting to crawl. She says, ‘Da, Da’ a lot, even though I’m with her most of the time during the day.”
DeHaan-Clark, who turned 34 last month, married in 2012. She and her husband had aspirations to raise a family.
Unfortunately, the road to parenthood was more difficult than they envisioned.
“We tried to get pregnant for six years,” DeHaan-Clark said. “We went through a lot of testing and different fertility procedures, but nothing took. We never had one positive pregnancy test.”
Although disappointed and frustrated, the Clarks pursued another avenue.
“Adoption was always in the back of our mind, and it came to a point where I didn’t know what to do,” DeHaan-Clark said. “One night we prayed to God for clarity and wisdom and just some direction. He answered that prayer the next morning with a text message, and that put us on a fast track to adoption.”
The Clarks went through the application process last June. Four months later, Bradley was born. She officially became a Clark in May.
“It was awesome for God to answer that prayer so quickly,” DeHaan-Clark said. “After six years of struggle, she was meant to be in our family. We love her so much and adore her to pieces.
“She’s loved by so many, and we are very thankful that the birth family chose us. After all that pain and suffering, God made something beautiful through that.”
DeHaan-Clark was a four-year towering presence at Grandville. As a junior in 2004, she set the MHSAA record for blocks in a single season with 236 and averaged nearly a triple-double (27 points, 13 rebounds and 9.5 blocks per game).
As a senior, she helped lead the Bulldogs to a 25-2 record and their first Class A Semifinal appearance. She was named the 2005 Miss Basketball Award winner by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan.
DeHaan-Clark grew six inches during middle school and entered her high school freshman year at 6-foot-6. She was 6-9 as a senior before taking her talents to East Lansing.
“Middle school was tough for everyone, but it was extremely tough for me,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I was entering a new school system, and I had just started playing basketball a year or two before that and had a huge growth spurt. Learning how to be coordinated and play the game took a while.”
DeHaan-Clark was a part of three consecutive Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship teams. The Bulldogs won District and Regional titles in 2005 before defeating previously-unbeaten Benton Harbor in a Class A Quarterfinal. Grandville’s run ended with an overtime loss to Southfield-Lathrup in the Semifinal at Breslin Center.
“My senior year was the best,” DeHaan-Clark said. “It was so much fun with the championships and all the wins. Playing with the same girls for four years and then finally having a successful team was amazing.”
DeHaan-Clark made the MHSAA’s single-season scoring list as a senior with 710 points, having averaged 26.3 per game that fall. She also finished with 718 career blocks, setting an MHSAA record later broken by Kalamazoo Central’s Asia Robeson (723) in 2014. Still, DeHaan-Clark remains seventh all-time nationally for career blocks, with Robeson sixth on the list.
DeHaan-Clark arrived at Michigan State with high aspirations.
“I had big goals of playing in the Olympics and playing professionally, but obviously those didn’t come to fruition,” she said. “I learned to dream big, so I set big goals from the beginning.”
DeHaan-Clark emerged as a dominating shot blocker for the Spartans, and was Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2006-07 as she set the conference record with 145 blocks.
As a sophomore she re-established the Big Ten record for single-season blocks with 150. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2009-10.
She ended her career as Michigan State’s all-time blocks leader with 503 – with that total also second in Division I history at that time and now third on the NCAA DI list – to go with career averages of 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
“It was a big transition from high school to college, but I wanted to be a contributor,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I had amazing coaches and teammates, and my freshman year turned out better than I thought it would.
“My big goal was to be a key defensive player and break as many records as I could with blocked shots because of my height.”
In 2009, DeHaan-Clark was the catalyst in Michigan State’s run to the Sweet 16. The Spartans upset top-ranked Duke in the second round before losing to Iowa State, 69-68.
But DeHaan-Clark suffered a back injury during the Big Ten Tournament that winter which ultimately ended her hopes of playing beyond college.
“I never recovered from that, so I didn’t enter the WNBA draft,” DeHaan-Clark said. “I ended up having back surgery and finished my remaining classes before graduating.”
DeHaan-Clark returned home and worked in the medical field while also helping lead a sports ministry program at Grand Valley State University.
She received an intriguing opportunity to continue playing college sports as part of the Lakers volleyball program.
“I needed to take more graduate classes, and I had one more season of college eligibility other than basketball,” she said. “My skill level wasn’t to the level of basketball, but it was still really fun to play and compete and be a part of a team because those are things I still love doing today.”
DeHaan-Clark changed her focus from medicine to continuing her work in sports ministry, as well as for a non-profit organization.
She also got her real estate license in 2015, and she and her husband began flipping houses on the side.
“It brings me a lot of joy to cast a vision of what a home could look like after a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” she said. “I love that kind of work.”
The projects allowed the Clarks to spend meaningful time together.
“It was a lot of nights and weekends, and we just had to learn things as we went,” DeHaan-Clark said. “The one thing we learned is we cannot do drywall. It’s not our skill set, so in order to save our marriage and our relationship we would hire it out.
“We did a lot of it ourselves, and we like seeing the transformation from old to new. It’s really fun, and hopefully we can do it again.”
The Clarks currently reside in Jenison and have been embraced by their community and friends. They live on a lake, enjoying water sports in their free time. Allyssa was inducted into the Grandville High School Athletic Hall of Fame in March.
As for the future, DeHaan-Clark said nothing is set in stone.
“We take it one day at a time,” she said. “I still have my real estate license, so we’re hoping to renovate and invest. I’m sure in the future there will be more kids added to the Clark clan, but right now we’re very happy and content with just one.”
2021-22 Made in Michigan
July 21: Championship Memories Still Resonate with St. Thomas Star Lillard - Read
July 14: Portage Central Champ Rolls to Vanderbilt, Writing Next Chapter in Alabama - Read
July 12: Coaching Couple Passing On Knowledge, Providing Opportunities for Frankfort Wrestlers - Read
June 30: Hrynewich's Star Continuing to Rise with Olympic, Pro Sports Arrivals - Read
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Allyssa DeHaan puts up a shot during Grandville’s 2005 Class A Semifinal against Southfield-Lathrup. At right, the Clark family including Allyssa, husband Aaron Clark and daughter Bradley. (Middle) DeHaan looks for an open teammate while playing her high school finale at her future college home, the Breslin Center. (Below) The Clarks enjoy a moment together. (Basketball photos from MHSAA archives; Clark photos courtesy of Allyssa DeHaan-Clark.)