New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Seymour’s Sirowich didn’t take anything for granted
These type of stories have been told often in the last couple of years: CIAC student-athletes losing parts or all of a season due to COVID-19, or some after also missing time due to injury. Or both.
One of those stories belongs to Kenzie Sirowich. She has made quite the impact on the Seymour girls basketball program despite playing fewer than 50 games over four seasons.
The impact was mainly one over her final two seasons for the
Wildcats, including quite the dominant senior season.
“Every practice, every bus ride, every home and away game, I went out there and gave it all I had and enjoyed that one moment I was in because I knew how easily and quickly it could be gone in a blink of an eye,” Sirowich said. “I didn’t take anything for granted this season and I enjoyed the ups and downs the season brought to us. To be able to play a full season of high school basketball was an amazing experience.”
Sirowich, the Register’s Area MVP, wanted to either win the NVL or Class M state championship. Seymour came up short in both, falling to Holy Cross in the NVL final and to East Hampton in the Class m quarterfinals.
But that didn’t dampen what was a great season for Sirowich. The numbers were quite impressive: she averaged 28.2 points, 12
rebounds, 4.3 assists and
3.3 steals per game.
“If I were to describe her with one word, it would be relentless. Every facet of Kenzie’s game and approach to basketball and life is absolutely relentless,” Seymour coach Brian Cleveland said. “After this season, you can’t help to think about what those numbers/games could have been in a full four-year stretch.”
Sirowich’s injury history has been well-publicized. A torn ACL on her right knee cost Sirowich all but four games of her freshman season. That was four more than she got as a sophomore, injuring the same knee during the fall basketball season.
So, basically, Sirowich lost two seasons.
““After all I did to recover, how could this happen to me again? I just got back to the game I love and put so much work in,” Sirowich told Hearst Connecticut Media back in March. “I felt bad my family had to go through it all, too. But after the surgery, I decided I couldn’t feel sorry for myself anymore. You can’t change the past.”
While recuperating from her second knee injury, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Although she was back on he court for her 2020-21 junior season, Sirowich only go to suit up for 13 games. The season began late and was limited to games just within the NVL due to the pandemic.
The numbers Sirowich put up were quite impressive despite the low number of games: she averaged 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists per game and posted 11 double-doubles.
Sirowich exploded her senior year. She scored 733 points, surpassing 1,000 for her career. In back-to-back games over a 48-hour span, Sirowich scored 50 points against Bunnell on Feb. 12, then 52 against Oxford on Feb. 14.
She also grabbed 24 rebounds in a single game.
These statistics — and overcoming what she dealt with — it’s easy to understand the one word Cleveland uses to describe the 5-foot-8 Sirowich: relentless.
Now she will get a chance to provide that same approach at Division II Franklin Pierce out of the Northeast-10 Conference.
“I am beyond excited to continue my basketball career at Franklin Pierce. It felt like a new home and the team felt like a new family,” Sirowich said. “I cannot wait to go up there and build something great with the teammates and coaches I have. I expect to learn a lot and grow each day and be able to contribute to what we are building in any way I am asked to. I also look forward to winning a lot up there.”
Cleveland feels Sirowich can go in right away and contribute.
“Her potential has no limits. She already has a good connection with the coaching staff and players, and her transition will be seamless,” Cleveland said.