The Prophet Margin: Raising The Stakes

ISHPEMNG — The Westwood Patriots, a basketball team that for the past three years was lead by superstars Madelyn Koski and Tessa Leece. Now, a familiar face has emerged from out of her former teammate’s shadow, and into the spotlight.

Natalie Prophet moved up to the varsity team as a freshman and never looked back since.

During the 2019-2020 season, she was third in scoring on the team, along with first in two-pointers made and second in rebounds. until her season came to a close. The Westwood Patriots were looking to repeat as regional champions before COVID-19 shut down the season.

“I definitely didn’t wake up today thinking that I wasn’t going to be playing basketball anymore,” said Karlie Patron, former Westwood basketball player. “I thought we were going to go win a regional championship. I love all these girls so much, their like my sisters. I just didn’t think today would be the last time I ever get to play with them.”

Now carrying the legacy of her former teammates, Prophets skills have made her a leader on the court.

“She’s unstoppable,” said Ellie Miller, senior basketball player at Westwood high school. “You put anyone on her and I feel like they couldn’t do a full stop on her. She’s just an animal in the paint.”

“She’s a Lebron James,” said Kurt Corcoran, Head Coach for the Westwood girls’ basketball team. “She sees the floor real well, she can score at will, she’s a great passer, she’s a great rebounder, she’s a great teammate. She’s going to lift everybody up. It’s not about Natalie. Natalie doesn’t care if she scores or where the points come from. She just wants to compete and she just wants to win.”

Adversity can’t overshadow the abilities of this junior. Prophet is focused on moving her team forward.

“It’s nerve-wrecking obviously kind of being the leader of a team now, I’m only a junior,” said Natalie Prophet, Junior basketball player at Westwood high school. “It’s kind of weird but trying to make the team better and get team wins and not looking for any personal accolades.”

“She’s not very vocal but you can feed off the energy of hers. Like when she’s doing good, you want to be good too. That’s how it was last year and the previous years. We all just feed off of each other’s energy,” Miller said.

Except the teams energy, has to be put on pause once again.

“We are suspending organized sports for three weeks because they bring together people in settings that often involve high levels of contact and exhalation,” said Robert Gordon, Director of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

But Prophet isn’t letting this stop her goal, as her and the patriots try to exceed expectations this season.

“We’re kind of the underdogs this year. We’re hoping to catch people of guard, thinking that we lost four good seniors last year, people are going to think we’re down but are going to try and stay up as high as possible,” Prophet said.

As we hold our breath to see what’s next, it’s a minute before midnight, and Prophet embodies the Cinderella story.