News

By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter

Anything that could happen to a team during a season happened to the Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s basketball team in its inaugural year. 

From losing its initial head coach, losing one player after another through various reasons, battling injuries and sickness, playing with just five players in multiple games, you name it, the Centurions saw it. 

But they also persevered, which has defined “Team 1.” 

“I am most proud of them for how tough they are and the way they battled through this season,” MCC Head Coach Scott Pedigo said. “The way they handled adversity was amazing, especially with their age. You have to give credit to these kids; they battled every day and at every practice and at every game.” 

The Centurions, which fielded a team of freshmen and only one sophomore — team scoring leader Makenna Rautio (Big Rapids, Mich.) — finished with a 4-19 overall record and were last in the eight-team Michigan Community College Athletic Association’s Northern division with a 3-11 record.  

The records, however, tell little of this year’s team. 

“Looking back at our season, I can’t believe everything that happened in one season,” Rautio laughed. “It felt like the four years combined I had in high school. Everything piled up and it seemed like an eternity.” 

Wins came few and far between for the Centurions this season, however, they started their historical season off right, earning their first program win in their first game of the season, a 54-42 win at home against Cornerstone University’s JV team.  

“We joked a little about getting that first win right off the back, that it got the monkey off our backs,” Pedigo said. “We knew expectations for this team were minimal, but we didn’t have them ourselves. I told them, overall, no matter what happens, they can come back at any time of their lives and say they were the first, they were the foundation. I asked them, ‘How do you want to be remembered as Team 1?’” 

Rautio said it was their grit that defined the team, grinding through games with little to no bench reserves, playing 40 minutes a game and staying competitive throughout each game, whether it was close or not. 

“We always just put our heads down and trucked along,” Rautio said. “That’s what I’m most proud of about this team, period. A lot times, deep down, there were doubts in our minds. Everyone had them at some point. But I’m most proud that we put our heads down and grinded it through and ended with a win.” 

The Centurions started the season with a win and then ended it with a win, beating Kirtland Community College, 63-62, which ended with Rautio blocking a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.  

Pedigo said throughout the season, his Centurions had a no-quit attitude. 

“No matter if we couldn’t win, they wanted to give it their best,” Pedigo said. “They were going to compete and they never wanted to quit. They understood we could handle losing as long as we weren’t giving up.” 

Emma Rewa (Greenville, Mich.), who Pedigo said made the most impressive improvement individually throughout the season, said quitting wasn’t an option. 

“I didn’t give up because I am not one to give up,” she said. “I have been taught by my family that we don’t give up. If I did give up, I would be letting down a team that I committed to during the summer and I couldn’t let them down. We built a great bond over the months that we were together and I couldn’t let that go.” 

Throughout the season, the team fluctuated in numbers, with some initial members of the team leaving and MCC athletes from other sports showing up in a few games to fill needed spots.  

But throughout the season, it was mainly seven women who stuck through it — Rautio, Rewa, Emily Putnam (Sidney, Mich.), Hannah Reed (Cedar Springs, Mich.), Madi Longoria (Wyoming, Mich.), Kennedy Schilling (Flushing, Mich.) and Emma Kosinski (Lakeview, Mich.), who was lost towards the end of the season with a leg injury. 

With Rautio being the only player playing out her eligibility, Pedigo is hoping the rest of the team will return for Team 2, which he has already recruited six new players to join the team. 

“I’m hoping everyone who can return will and I’m hoping to recruit enough to have a 15-person team,” Pedigo said. 

With a full roster expected, next year’s team will look a bit different than this year’s team, scheme-wise, Pedigo said. He expects to have his team play more man-to-man, now that he will have enough bodies to move away from the zone defense. He is also hoping to install more transition offense and run the ball. 

“We’ll have the kids to do that,” he said. “We were about slowing down and working the clock this year because we just didn’t have enough reserves, but next year I think we’ll go after it a little more.” 

Rautio had advice for the new recruits coming to MCC next year. 

“Cherish your teammates,” she said. “Appreciate the people they are, their personalities, understand each other and appreciate them. That helps with chemistry overall.” 

Rautio said if she and her teammates didn’t have an understanding of each other, the teamwork they displayed throughout the season may have not been there and the season would’ve been a total failure.  

“What this season has taught me is just don’t quit, never quit,” she said. 

Rewa said how the team overcame the hardships of this season will set a good foundation for future teams at MCC. 

“We were tough girls, and we had been through so much as a team that it only made us stronger and more determined to prove that just because we were a first-year program that we were here to play every game and try to come out with a win,” Rewa said. “I am most proud of how I and the team handled everything that was thrown at us. 

“The one thing I am most thankful for was my teammates and coaches,” she added. “They made this a great season and one of my favorite teams that I have been on.”