Eaglecrest’s Ross and Grandview’s Onyenwere take top honors.
Michaela Onyenwere led Grandview to first state title this season
In an era when promising athletes are asked to specialize at a young age, 2017 Denver Post Ms. Colorado Basketball Michaela Onyenwere is an exception. She didn’t start playing basketball until she was 13. After trying other activities — volleyball, swimming, track, ballet — she figured she would try one more.
She played on the seventh-grade B team at Aurora Quest K-8 that year, and her team went on to win the district championship.
“I was just glad I made a team, and I was excited to play,” Onyenwere said. “I had no idea what to expect or if I’d be good at basketball — I was just happy to be on the court with my teammates.”
Six years later, that pure love of the game has grown, helping her become one of the best to ever play in Colorado. The 5-foot-11 guard led Grandview to the program’s first Class 5A state title this season in dominating fashion. What’s next for the three-time Gatorade state player of the year? She will enroll at UCLA as Colorado’s most highly touted girls high school player since former ThunderRidge star Abby Waner.
“I think it’s fair to say she’s in the conversation as the best girls basketball player to ever come out of this state, and that in itself is an incredible honor,” Grandview coach Josh Ulitzky said. “She’s faster with the ball than most kids I’ve ever seen without it, and athletically, she’s just special. Even in talking to the UCLA people, they feel like defensively she can already help them.”
Onyenwere averaged 20.8 points and 8.9 rebounds this season for a team that was undefeated against in-state competition and won 19 games by 20 points or more. Her 2,290 career points place her fourth on the all-time state scoring list, with only Waner ranked ahead of her among Class 5A players at 2,670.
Onyenwere also ranks in the top five in an array of other performances — such as state tournament points in a season (fourth), state tournament points in a game (tied for first), career field goals (third), career field-goal percentage (fourth) and career double-doubles (third). But as her fellow Wolves tell it, individual achievements mean nothing to Onyenwere.
“She’s willing to give up anything to see the team succeed,” said junior wing Leilah Vigil, also an All-Colorado selection. “To me, that’s what a leader is, because no matter how many accolades she received she always kept the focus on the team.”
Onyenwere also has shown her character off the court, volunteering with Special Olympics and working as a youth basketball referee.
“She has a huge heart, and it’s amazing to see over the last four years how much she wants things for other people on her team and in the halls at school,” Ulitzky said. “She’s giving, she’s humble, she’s just that kind of person who wants to spread goodwill through the game of basketball.”
Even with the notoriety that comes with being the state’s top girls player the past couple seasons, Onyenwere doesn’t view herself much differently than she did when she first laced up her basketball sneakers at Aurora Quest.
“I appreciate the attention so much, but it all comes back to the fact that this game is much bigger than me,” Onyenwere said. “I play for the love of the game, and for the love of my teammates, and not all the accolades.”
As for her role in leading Grandview to its first Class 5A girls basketball title, that feat — the Wolves came up just short the previous season in a Final Four loss to ThunderRidge — is one she always will cherish.
“I will full-force own that one,” Onyenwere said. “And no matter what I do with my basketball career going forward, I’ll never forget how much my teammates and I sacrificed to accomplish it.”