CARROLL – I’ve covered a lot of basketball players through the years, and very few have made a bigger impression on me than Bloom-Carroll senior basketball player Makenzee Mason.
She is one of the toughest, grittiest and most competitive players I’ve seen. Even though she is usually one of the smallest players on the floor, it doesn’t matter, because she is going to fight tooth and nail.
It doesn’t matter if it’s at the beginning of the game, or the last 20 seconds, Mason is going to give 100 percent. I’ve come to find out through the last four years of covering her, that is the only way she knows how to play. Her mentality and mindset are a cut above most players.
In the Bulldogs’ tournament loss against Jonathan Alder, Bloom-Carroll was trailing by 10 points with the clock winding down under 30 seconds left in the game. It was obvious the game was over, but there was Mason diving for a loose ball.
She went into that final game, needing only two points to reach 1,000 for her career. To be honest, I was a little surprised that she was on the cusp of such a scoring milestone, mainly because she is not really known for her scoring, but more for getting her teammates involved.
She doesn’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers. Most of her points came from getting steals on defense or her taking the ball to the basket and drawing a foul. She did that with regularity and it didn’t matter that most of the time she would get knocked to the floor. During her career, Mason attempted 460 free throws, making 321.
Back to her final game and her quest to reach 1,000 points. It was classic Mason. She had a much bigger defender on her, but she was able to dribble, make enough moves and took the ball into the lane before pulling up for a short jumper, just over the outstretched hands of a defender.
If there was ever a player that earned every one of those 1,000 points, it was Mason.
Just to show how tough Mason is, she was playing on a fractured foot. She had been in a boot for more than week and even had it on before the game, but her mindset is something you don’t see very often out of high school athletes. She was not going to let her teammates down, no matter what.
She willed herself to play, just like she did when she received a cut over her eye during a soccer game that required stitches afterward. Mason had the trainer wrap her head up and she went back in and finished the game to help the Bulldogs defeat rival Fairfield Union and win the Mid-State League-Buckeye Division championship.
Even though she is small in stature, Mason is as tough as they come. She will do whatever it takes to win, and unlike a lot of players, she loves playing defense.
“I just know that anytime I step on the floor, it could be my last, so I just go and give 110 percent,” Mason said. “My team is my family so it’s easy to work hard for them because I want them to know I got their back and I know they have mind. I hate to lose.
“I know my game will come on the offensive side and you can always improve on that, but the effort on defense really comes from the heart. It takes a person who wants to work all the time to really get down on the defensive end. I give 110 percent all the time. I know that if you work hard on defense, other stuff will come. it’s just a matter of having heart and I have the heart for the game it just kind of takes over.”
First-year Bloom-Carroll girls’ coach A.J. Ireland said Mason is the epitome of what hard work looks like.
“Every time she steps on the floor, she is the hardest working player and she is the toughest player and she is so coachable,” Ireland said. “She wants to win in the worst way. She is a true competitor and she wills herself to victory most nights. As a coach, that’s the type of player you want.”
Willing herself and her teammates to win is something Mason has done throughout her career. She helped lead the Bulldogs to their first-ever district championship as a sophomore, and last year, she helped lead the way to another district title, and along the way, Bloom-Carroll upset three top five seeded teams.
That refuse to lose, give 110 percent attitude, regardless of the situation, is vintage Mason. She not only leaves a legacy of winning, but she changed the culture of the program for younger players to follow her lead.
“I’m super proud of everything that we’ve accomplished as a team,” Mason said. “Going back-to-back is hard. I know I made a family bond with this team and that will stay here. The little kids look up to that and that’s really what it is about. Building a family and building a culture.
“I think we built a great culture the last four years, and that’s really what I am most proud of. To show little kids looking up to us, we don’t ever quit, regardless how much we are behind, we are going to give 110 percent. “
Talented basketball players come and go, but very few leave a lasting impression because of how hard they played - not some of the time, but all the time, like Mason did.
twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com
740-681-4358
Twitter: @twil2323
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March 07, 2020 at 07:43AM
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Mason’s competitiveness and toughness leaves lasting impression - Lancaster Eagle Gazette
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