Gilmour girls basketball: Helen Holley commits to Michigan State
Jun. 26—Sometimes you just know.
Helen Holley got that feeling when she first visited the Michigan State campus and women's basketball program.
With that in mind, the 6-foot-1 rising senior from Gilmour Academy has announced her verbal commitment to join Coach Robyn Fralick's program after her high school graduation next spring.
An ultra-athletic forward who can play both facing the basket and with her back to it, Holley chose Michigan State over a plethora of other potential suitors. A total of 17 colleges offered the Willoughby Hills native a basketball scholarship, but in the end, the Spartans rose to the top.
Among her other offers were Akron, Ball State, Cincinnati, Marquette, Pittsburgh, St. John's and West Virginia.
"Honestly, the campus is beautiful," Holley said. "The coaches are great. I had a lot of offers, but I never made a final list. It was about finiding a place that was the best fit for me. I wanted to find a place that felt like home and (Michigan State) was it.
"It's pretty exciting, but a relief, actually," Holley continued. "The recruiting process is a long one."
Especially if one possesses the skill set Holley does. She measures 6-foot-1 but plays much taller than that because of her extraordinary athleticism and vertical leap. Among her talents is she can dunk a tennis ball — and would dunk a basketball if she could palm it.
As a junior, Holley averaged 14.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.3 steals, 2.6 assists and 2.5 blocks per game.
"The Michigan State coaches said I'd be either a 3 (wing) or 4 (small forward) there," Holley said. "I've worked a lot on my 3-point shooting. I think we'll see more of that this coming season. That's a big improvement to my game."
Defense is what she hangs her hat on, though, whether it's rebounding, blocking shots, making life miserable for the opposition or throwing pinpoint outlet passes.
"Defense. That's the big thing for me," Holley said. "I'm long and athletic. I can bring that to any team I'm on with my length, athleticism and ability to block shots."
Holley joins a strong Michigan State recruiting class that also includes her close friend Sinai Douglas of Toledo Start. They are teammates on the Legends U squad on the AAU circuit and took their visit to Michigan State together.
While Holley pointed out she and Douglas weren't a package deal, the two did talk about playing together collegiately. Now that will happen.
"It's something we wanted to do if we could," Holley said. "We both evaluated our options on our own, looked at the campus and it felt good. We've always felt if we could play together it would be a great thing."
Holley said she plans to major in mass communications and minor in media journalism.
But before that, she said she is excited about a senior year at Gilmour with a team that finished 18-6 last season under first-year coach Tyler Hammond. Aside from Holley, the Lancers return fellow starters Nicci Finazzo, Katie Puletti and Elaina Kline-Ruminski.
"I'm looking forward to it," Holley said excitedly. "I think we're going to be pretty good. We only lost one senior and we've got some good freshmen. It's going to be a good season for us."
