By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Call them the Cousins twins.
But they aren’t cousins, they are twin sisters.Seniors Kristina and Katelyn Cousins are mirror images of each other when they play for Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on the basketball court.
The duo is averaging double figures for a team that's 6-1 following a 44-21 victory over Greenville this week. Katelyn is posting 16 points per game and Kristina 10 points.
“Kristina is like a point guard and has a lot more ball control,” Forest Hills Central coach Roxanne Gallert said. “The other one is likely to go inside, outside.”
“They're very good,” Greenville coach Jeremy Hyler. “They play good defense and they're both very good shooters. I expect them to be very successful this year.”
“They're having different kinds of season this year,” Lambert said. “In the past, they've been role players. Now they're stepping out and being go-to players.”
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Sandusky has emerged as a girls basketball power in Michigan's Thumb at 6-1 and coach Al DeMott doesn't have to look down his lineup any further than his daughter to figure out why.
“We're really pleased,” DeMott said. “We have a real young team this year and we’re off to a good start.”
His junior daughter, Marissa DeMott, is putting up 21 points per game and has connected on 25 3-pointers.
“Last year she set the state record for free-throw percentage. She was 118 out of 129 for 91.5 percent,” Al DeMott said. “She missed three in one game this year but right now is 22-of-27 for 81.5 percent.”
Free throw accuracy isn’t Marissa’s only strength however.
“She's a good passer. She handles the ball well for us. She plays good defense too,” Al DeMott said.
“I'm playing well. There were a couple of games not as good as I had hoped,” Marissa said. “I need to improve on my rebounding and get stronger.”
Senior Maddie Hale is averaging 10 points a game for Sandusky and is the top rebounder with 8.5 boards a game.
“We just started league play Wednesday and it's always a dogfight. Brown City and Harbor Beach are outstanding,” DeMott said.
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Bryan Sinner hears jokes about his last name, especially since he coaches at West Michigan Lutheran in Kentwood.
But his team, off to a 6-0 start in the third year of the program, is certainly no joke.
“People keep saying I should be a minister,” Sinner laughed.
But he's proven himself to be a decent forecaster also.
“I knew we were going to be good,” Sinner said. “We played good competition. The girls have been together for three years. It's the first year I've had seniors on the team. The girls are fundamentally strong.”
Christina Branch, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, is averaging 18 points and 20 rebounds a game.
“She was our leading scorer last year as well,” Sinner said. “She's been playing basketball for a long time with a lot of AAU stuff. She can just about handle it all.”
Branch is handling a lot of the load for West Michigan Lutheran but isn't doing it all herself. Haley Kurth, a junior, is averaging 14 points a game.
“She worked a lot on her 15- to 17-foot jump shot,” Sinner said. “She's keeping the other defenses honest.”
Sinner won't predict that his team will stay perfect but he'll enjoy being undefeated while it lasts.
“If they come to play, we'll be all right,” he said. “The key for us to keep focusing on defense and rebounding.”
