Kurin signs NLI to play at Alma College
MARQUETTE — About 20 miles south of Mount Pleasant in the middle of Michigan is the beautiful town of Alma, which is home to Alma College. The Scots girls basketball team is always looking for some great players for their program and today, one girl decided that’s where she wants to play her college ball.
Today, former Marquette Redette Lizzie Kurin signed her National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Alma College. The senior had a great all–around year, averaging 7 points, 5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals this past season. And it was that kind of play that attracted the coaches at Alma to Kurin’s game.
“The versatility. I think she’s strong in a lot of areas. Definitely it kind of covers everything from defense, communication, rebounding, scoring the ball, unselfish communication. So basically, when you kind of put a player together, you want them to have very few weaknesses and a lot of strengths and she fits that,” Marquette head coach Ben Smith said.
“I had a lot of different opportunities and choices to make and Alma was the best fit because I like the campus and the coaches made me feel really welcome when I went there,” said Kurin.
Coach Smith was a graduate of Alma College in 1999 and he says Kurin meant a lot to the team’s success and to the school.
“Successful on the court, successful off the court and in the classroom. We’ll miss her here at the high school but the nice is there will be a new group of kids coming in to try and live up to the standard that has been set by the kids before them,” said Smith.
“I’m definitely going to miss my team because I’ve been playing with them since fifth grade, the same girls, and we all got really close. We’re like sisters,” Kurin said.
During her senior year, she was named to the all–conference first team and she was also an all–u.p. honorable mention. As a junior, she was named to the academic all–state team by the Basketball Coaches Association of America.