College basketball: Brunswick's Lea Holmes blossoming at Northwood

Lea Holmes has always been a gifted basketball player physically, but a season away from the game might have made her even better. After playing every winter since she could remember, the Brunswick graduate took a redshirt freshman season at Northwood University (Mich.). As difficult as it was to watch, it might have been exactly what she needed. "It was hard at first," Holmes said. "But it was nice because I took it as a learning experience and learned from all my peers and learned from the upperclassmen. I got to see a whole other side of basketball that people usually don't get to see." One of the things the 6-footer learned was how to play against bigger players, which is something she really didn't have to worry about in high school. "When I went to Brunswick, I relied on my athleticism to do the work," Holmes said. "I was just being very nonchalant while I was playing at Brunswick. As soon as I got here, I am going up against people bigger than me, so I do need to use my body." Holmes also had to get used to being back on the court again against actual competition, which wasn't something she could do all at once. "I think the transition went well from not playing to playing," she said. "I had to ease into playing on the court, because I didn't play for over a year. That was kind of hard at first, because I needed to learn how to score again against other opponents. But after that, it went great." One of the hard parts of sitting for a season is simply finding the motivation to get to the gym each day you aren't going to put on the uniform. While that was a hump to get over, Holmes did so by thinking about the future. "It was kind of difficult, because sometimes I feel like it's hard to go to practice when you know you're not going to play," she said. "But you just have to keep a very positive mindset and remember, 'I'm doing this for a reason. I'm going to get better, and I'm going to play eventually.'" When she did play, she started all 30 games for the Timberwolves and averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds as a redshirt freshman, earning Great Midwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-GMAC. Coming into this season, Holmes wanted to be even better, which meant enhancing what she was already good at while working on improving other areas. "I would say my strength is scoring inside," she said. "So the next step was mid-range, maybe shoot some threes. I've always been pretty versatile with driving to the basket and with my back to the basket, so it was really just enhancing my mid-range and my 3-point shot." In doing so, Holmes has raised her scoring average to 19.9 points and has already taken almost double the amount of 3-pointers (11) in 10 games that she took in 30 last season (6), hitting four. While she has been stepping further from the basket, her shooting percentage has gone from 53.7 to 61.1. "That is just from getting in the gym and trusting my prep," Holmes said. "I know I can shoot decently, so I just have to trust it and try it in games. If defenders don't want to step up, I have to be confident knowing I can make those shots." In the first four games of December, Holmes helped the Timberwolves improve their record to 8-2. She was the leading scorer in three games with at least 22 points, including tying a career high with 26 in a win over Findlay on Saturday. "I'm just in a mindset where I know I am probably the best post in the G-MAC, so I know nobody can guard me," Holmes said. "It's just having that confidence in (knowing) I'm going to score every time I get the ball. If I don't have a pass, or if I don't have a pass off a flare or a split screen, I'm going to score." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.