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Benton Harbor’s Kysre Gondrezick named 2016 Miss Basketball
Detroit – Benton Harbor’s Kysre Gondrezick was named the 35th Michigan Miss Basketball award winner by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan in conjunction with the Detroit Free Press on Monday afternoon.
In the 35 years of the award, there have been seven finalists from Benton Harbor, but Gondrezick is the first to win the award.
Gondrezick received 4,887 points to win the award, Muskegon’s Madrekia Cook finished in second with 2,900 points and Alexis Sevillian, from Goodrich, was third with 2,245 points. Bay City John Glenn’s Cassidy Boensch finished in fourth and Siyah Frazier finished in fifth in the voting.
Gondrezick said that to be the first player from Benton Harbor to win the prestigious award is something that is obviously special to her, recognizing several of the players who were finalists for the away before her.
“It’s very special, showing that it can be done,” she said. “Just having the many greats before me such as Destiny Williams, my sister Kalabrya, my mom, there are so many who paved the pathway for me and if I can give just a little bit back for what they’ve done for me, then I think I’m doing something right.
Last season, Gondrezick’s sister, Kalabrya was a finalist for the award and Gondrezick’s mother, current Benton Harbor girls basketball coach Lisa Harvey-Gondrezick was also a finalist as well in 1985.
Kalabrya Gondrezick currently plays for the women’s basketball team at Michigan State.
Harvey-Gondrezick said that what stood out most to her in her daughter’s senior season was how she stepped into a leadership role for the Tigers.
What’s going to stand out most to me is the maturation of her leadership in her senior year,” she said. “Kysre just went above and beyond any expectation that I had for her and any that she had for herself. I don’t think she understood exactly how important her role was going to be in her senior year, she just did everything that was needed in order for us just to be able to compete, which allowed for the maximum of her abilities to show up. She’s extremely unselfish, although she averaged over 40 points per game, she actually could have averaged more than 12 assists per game.”
Committed to the University of Michigan, Gondrezick finishes her career as the only player in MHSAA history to average over 40 points per game. She also finishes with the second most points in a career and the second most points in a season.
In the first round of the district playoffs two weeks ago, Gondrezick set the state record for points in a game as she scored 72 points in an 80-78 overtime win over Buchanan.
But for all of the accomplishments Gondrezick has had over the years, the legacy that she wants to leave behind is far more than just statistics on a basketball court.
“Making everyone else around me better and leaving a legacy,” she said. “Basketball doesn’t define who I am, it’s what I do. What defines who I am is the type of person I am to people and that’s what’s always going to be remembered. If I could just be remembered for someone who loved the game, loved her teammates and loved her community, that’s really the legacy that I wanted to leave behind.”
Now, Gondrezick is turning her attention to playing at the University of Michigan.
“This is only the beginning,” she said. “My work doesn’t stop now, but it shows that I am on the right path, if I continue to do what I’m doing and continue to excel at the next level, then I’m looking forward to receiving all of these accolades from an individual standpoint and from a team standpoint and Michigan is going to put me in the right position to succeed.”
