Honoring the Lutheran North girls basketball team from 1993
Honoring the Lutheran North girls basketball team from 1993
By Jim Evans (Macomb Daily) - December 11, 2018
There was a reunion of sorts at Lutheran North Friday night (December 7, 2019).
The members of the girls’ basketball team from 1993 were honored at halftime.
That team finished 25-1.
The Mustangs won a regional championship, and did not lose until they faced Divine Child in the Class B quarterfinals. Divine Child went on to win the Class B state championship.
So there they were, at the intermission of Lutheran North’s girls’ basketball game against Grosse Pointe South, back on the court.
Brittany McKinley Holloway was a sophomore on the team. She is married to Chris and they have two kids; Julian, who is six; and four-year-old Emerson. She is a dentist.
Other members of the team were Tracy Thursam, Andrea Fix, Matrina Hiler, Traci Wing, Tanya Walsh, Jessie Andregg, Rachel Rearick, Suzanne Wingfield, Leora Potter, Jessie Ball and LeeAnn Ford.
McKinley Holloway was at Lutheran North Friday night.
Also there from the ’93 team were Matrina (Hiler) Whitley, Andrea (Fix) Tiedt, Suzanne (Wingfield) Aprea, Jessie (Andregg) Cowells, Tanya (Walsh) DeVoy, Rachel (Rearick) Conant, Leora (Potter) Prue, and LeeAnn (Ford) Stinnett.
Coach Ken Witte returned for the ceremony. Junior varsity and assistant varsity coach Margie Kuschmann was there as well.
“We all got along,” remembered McKinley Holloway. “It was a very close knit group.”
It was an amazingly well-balanced team both on and off the court. The Mustangs averaged 65 points per game, but no one player averaged double digits in scoring. The starters generated 36 points per game, and those off the bench contributed 29 points per game.
The grade point average was 3.79, the highest in the state that season.
Rearick Conant is a physical therapist specializing mainly in pediatrics. She lives in Jackson with her husband, Jeffrey, and their three children; Josh, who is 10; nine-year-old Evan; and Chloe, who will be seven in a few weeks.
“Every other team I had been on, especially in recreation and city leagues, there were always cliques. Our team did not have that. The person next to you, no matter who it was, was your best friend. Even then, I knew when I got older and looked back on the season, was something very special,” said Rearick Conant.
Rearick Conant recalls a game against Lutheran Northwest played in Rochester Hills when it took a triple from Walsh with time expiring to keep the winning streak alive.
Undoubtedly it was a season of accomplishments. The lives the players following graduation have been full of accomplishment, too.
A dentist. A physical therapist. At least two attorneys. A teacher or two. The list of professions of the former players goes on and is impressive.
So it was not just one season for the players on the Lutheran North team circa 1993.
The winning streak continues well past the end of that magical season.
It points to the importance of extracurricular activities in high school. It emphasizes the importance of getting involved.
High school is not just biology class.
It is not just studying for exams, eating too much bad food in the cafeteria, and making sure your hair looks good every morning.
How many have ever gone to a reunion and talked incessantly about English Lit or, maybe, chemistry class?
Not many, that is for sure.
It is the extracurriculars that get talked about. The basketball team. The football team. The marching band. The theater group. The robotics competitions.
That is what kids remember.
Even when they are no longer kids. Even when they have two children of their own. Even after they have established admirable careers.
A reunion of sorts was held at Lutheran North Friday night. Hail to the Mustangs. Hail to the 1993 girls’ basketball team. Hail to the extracurricular activities.
Posted with approval from the Macomb Daily (Original article).