Marshall Leaves No Room for Regrets
March 19, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING — Sal Konkle couldn't hold back the tears as she watched her Marshall basketball players celebrate the fulfillment of a dream that appeared to vanish 35 years ago.
Konkle was a star senior on the only other Marshall team to play for an MHSAA championship, but she was on the losing end of a 64-52 decision to Okemos in the 1981 Class B title game.
In almost every case, that's where the dream ends. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes and goes. High school athletes move on with the rest of their lives, but can have lingering regrets about the championship that got away.
The first step toward redemption for Konkle occurred back in 1999 when she became Marshall's head coach and won her first 23 games. But 11 District championship teams in her first 15 seasons couldn't take it all the way.
Her 16th season proved to be the sweetest, as Marshall beat Grand Rapids South Christian, 51-42, in the Class B championship game Saturday night at the Breslin Center.
"I got numerous texts from former teammates saying we can do it," Konkle said. "One is in the stands. She called me this morning. She said to me, 'Hey, I know you're busy, and I'll be there, but not a lot of people get do-overs in life, and you got a do-over. So, can you just make this happen?' I got a text from coach (Tom) Duffey, who was my coach at the time. He said, 'Second time's a charm; you've got this.'"
Making the championship even more special for Konkle is she was able to achieve it with her 14 daughters — her actual flesh and blood, junior guard Jill Konkle, and 13 other girls she regards as adopted children.
"They're kind of all my girls," coach Konkle said. "When you grow up in a small town, these kids are over at your house. Jill hangs out with them. They go to proms. They do everything together. That's what makes it so special for us. These kids are close. This is something they're going to remember the rest of their lives. I remember doing it with my best friends. It's just very, very special."
Jill Konkle said her mother doesn't bring up tales of her glory days or the opportunity that got away in 1981 often, but the topic came to the forefront more in recent weeks as the current group of Marshall players chased that elusive championship. This year's team and the 1981 squad are the only ones from Marshall to get past the MHSAA Quarterfinals.
"Only because we got this far did we talk about it more," said Jill Konkle, who scored a team-high 13 points against South Christian. "Other than that, not as much. She did bring it up with the team a bit. We talked about it the last couple of weeks quite a bit. I was always telling her, 'I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna beat you,' and I did."
Marshall won the Class B title with a group of girls who have played together since their early elementary school years. It was back in those formative years that they became acquainted with the woman who would coach them to a championship as teenagers.
"We all have this respect for her," said Emily Delmotte, the only senior on the team. "I've had it since I was little, watching her teams since I can remember. She's always been a presence. It's not like the kind of coach that as soon as you get into high school is the first time you meet her. In basketball, the first time I met her was in first or second grade. She makes herself present. She's a part of the program, no matter what age you are."
Coach Konkle's pregame message to her team hinted at the lingering pain of that 1981 loss.
"I told them, 'You can do anything for 32 minutes,'" she said. "'If you do this for 32 minutes, you're going to be state champions. If you don't do it for 32 minutes, you're going to regret that for the rest of your life.' Every timeout, every quarter, I'm telling them, 'Eight more minutes, eight more minutes, you've got this. Or 3:20, you've got this.' They're a resilient group. They're a hard-working group — and they got this."
With the largest cheering section of the weekend in their corner, the Redhawks took the lead with 2:01 left in the first quarter and never relinquished it. Marshall built a 12-point lead late in the first half before taking a 25-15 advantage into the break.
When Nicole Tucker scored on the fast break with 4:24 left in the third quarter, Marshall had its biggest lead of the night at 33-19.
South Christian, which had three seniors who played on the 2014 MHSAA runner-up team, battled back. A basket by Mariel Bruxvoort with 6:44 left in the game cut Marshall's lead to 37-32.
The Redhawks responded with a 5-0 run, all from the free throw line, to go up 42-32. What could have been a key moment for the Sailors came when Markayla Vander made a free throw and missed the second one, only to have Bruxvoort score off an offensive rebound and get fouled. When Bruxvoort made the free throw, South Christian had four points in a one-second span to get within 42-36 with 3:38 left.
The Sailors didn't get a chance to build on that momentum, as Taryn Long made a 3-point play with 3:10 left to put Marshall up 45-36. South Christian couldn't put together consecutive scores the rest of the game.
"It took us a little while to get into an offensive flow," South Christian coach Kim Legge said. "Actually, I'm not really sure we did get into an offensive flow. Marshall did a good job with their defense on us. Obviously, they had scouted well. We've been behind before and usually can make runs, but they did an excellent job of stopping that. The momentum never did swing to our favor."
Taryn Long finished with 10 points and Carlee Long had five assists for Marshall (26-1), which won its final 26 games after a season-opening 40-33 loss to Williamston.
Vander had 16 points and Jennifer DeBoer 13 for the Sailors (25-3), who had only four players score. Vander, DeBoer and Sydney DeYoung were the only holdovers from the 2014 South Christian team that went into the Class B title game with a 26-0 record before losing to Eaton Rapids.
"It's definitely been a fun four years," DeBoer said. "I've enjoyed every second of the experience. I think the thing I'm going to miss the most are my teammates and all the memories we made. I'll never get these experiences back, so I'm just really thankful for them."
The Girls Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marshall players storm the floor while coach Sal Konkle, far left, covers her face for a moment after her team had clinched the Class B title. (Middle) Jill Konkle works to hold onto the ball with South Christian’s Jennifer DeBoer (4) trying to gain possession.
Built for this Moment, Western Arrives
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2018
McKenna Walker was a fourth grader when her dad, Tim, returned for his second stint as coach of the Bay City Western girls basketball team.
At that point, she didn’t realize what she and her friends were building. She simply was having fun playing basketball.
But her dad saw the future of his program.
“They were successful at a young age,” Tim Walker said. “I could see the athletic ability. I could see they were competitive and willing to learn at a young age. You could kind of see it coming with putting these pieces together.”
Now, as McKenna enters the second half of her senior season, she and her teammates are proving her father right. The Warriors are coming off their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1998-99, and were 9-0 heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with rival Midland. They’re ranked No. 6 in Class A by The Associated Press, and No. 8 by the Detroit Free Press.
“We have some really strong leadership with my daughter, McKenna – she’s been a big part of the turnaround since her freshman year,” said Tim Walker, who took over the program five games into the 2009-10 season, and also coached the Warriors from 1994-2004. “Also, we have kids in her class that have stuck with it and have been very committed since third and fourth grade. We have a strong group of juniors that have also been committed. They’re all competitive athletes, and I’ve been blessed to have kids who are dominant in other sports and have really meshed well together, accept their roles and play hard. It’s been very enjoyable to be a part of.”
This season, Bay City Western is winning with an uptempo style, sometimes driven by a five-guard lineup. McKenna Walker, who signed with Northwood University in November, leads that charge. She averaged 19 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a junior, and started this season with 1,120 career points. In a recent game against Saginaw, she set a career high with 39 points.
She is one of two four-year players on the team, as Kylie Lukowski also has been playing varsity ball since her freshman year. Lukowski stands at just 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but she finds a home in the post when it’s asked of her.
“I try my hardest because I’m not very tall, obviously,” she said. “So I just have to push them around a little bit and see if it bothers them at all.”
Despite the lack of size, things seem to be working, as the Warriors are keeping teams off balance and taking advantage of the matchups their smaller lineup creates.
“Let’s just say if there were a shot clock, we would not have a hard time getting a shot off,” Tim Walker said. “It’s not that we’re making them all, but we’re playing uptempo and forcing turnovers.”
The hope is that style can translate to victories in the postseason, which have been elusive for Bay City Western. The school won District titles in 1997 and 1998, but none since.
“(Winning a District title) would just be so cool,” McKenna Walker said. “It’s been one of my goals since coming in, because it’s been such a long time, and I just wanted to change that.”
When looking at the competition for a District title, one easily can forgive the Warriors’ current drought.
This season, like most, the bracket includes Bay City Central, Midland, Midland Dow, Mount Pleasant and Saginaw Heritage, which would be a tough path for any team.
“As these kids (were) developing at a young age, we’ve been having to set the bar awfully high,” Tim Walker said. “Because the Midlands have always been good, the Saginaw teams have always been good. You really have to get the kids to buy into the offseason work and just work hard.”
Two seasons ago, Western found itself leading Saginaw Heritage at halftime in a District Semifinal. Heritage came back to win the game, however, and eventually advanced to the Regional Final.
It was a tough loss, but also served as a confidence builder and teaching moment for the young Warriors.
“We definitely learned that every team is beatable,” McKenna Walker said. “Even if we’re playing a team that we’re supposed to beat, you never know, because every team is beatable. You never want to think that it’s UConn playing you. We’re all high school girls. We’re all the same age. Anything can happen.”
The Saginaw Valley League helps prepare the Warriors for this postseason gauntlet, although it’s preparing everyone else in the District as well. The league includes the six teams from the District, plus Davison, Flint Carman-Ainsworth, Bay City John Glenn, Flint Powers Catholic, Saginaw, Saginaw Arthur Hill, Flint and Lapeer all forming one division this winter.
The schedule can be a grind, but it also helps the team stay focused on the day-to-day routine needed to be successful and reach the goals it set at the beginning of the season – and the promise Tim Walker saw in this group so long ago.
“What I have noticed is, mentally, each night they’re in a pretty good place right now,” Tim Walker said. “They just have a really good grasp on what it takes to play with effort, team play and execution.”
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) Bay City Western’s McKenna Walker gets to the basket during Bay City Western’s opener against Frankenmuth. (Middle) The Warriors defend the post against the Eagles. (Photos by Chip DeGrace.)