HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, MI (WTVB) – Five Branch County athletes have been invited to play in the annual Reaching Higher showcases of Michigan’s top high school basketball players today at Milford High School in Highland Township.
More than 200 athletes with aspirations to play at the college level will train and scrimmage under the tutelage of high school coaches from across the state and in front of college coaches expected to represent a number of NCAA, NAIA and junior college programs.
Carlee Crabtree, Malorie Rzepka, and Tyler Scheid from the Coldwater High School girls basketball team have been invited, while Coldwater’s Gage McGuire and Quincy High School’s William Dunn have been invited to play in the boy’s showcase.
An educational effort by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, the Reaching Higher experience includes classroom sessions for student-athletes and their parents as well as on-court drills and scrimmaging. The events aim to give athletes a vision of what it takes to become a college basketball player and also succeed in college life.
Participants in the program were selected by a committee of BCAM members based on nominations by its member coaches. A complete list of expected attendees can be found on the “Reaching Higher” page of the MHSAA Website (http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/girls-basketball/reaching-higher).
The boys event begins at 11:00 a.m. July 17, with scrimmages running from 1:00-3:30 p.m. The girls event begins at 3:00 p.m., with scrimmages from 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Speakers for the boys session include Travis Bader, a standout at Okemos High School and Oakland University who played professionally this past season in Greece.
Girls session speakers include Crystal Bradford, who starred for Inkster High and Central Michigan University and was selected in the first round of the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks; she played professionally this past season in Israel.