Senior Moment: Teghan Thelen

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris State University women’s basketball senior Teghan Thelen is shown here being introduced on Senior Day with family (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – Highly recruited during her prep days at Pewamo-Westphalia High School where she was a Miss Basketball finalist during her senior year, Teghan Thelen has delivered the goods during her college basketball career at Ferris State University.

These days, Thelen is in the twilight of what has been a solid college basketball experience in the crimson and gold colors of Ferris. This year, as the Bulldogs’ scoring leader, Thelen is having her best college season averaging 13 points, 3.8 rebounds, shooting 43.6 percent from the floor and 35 percent from the 3-point line.

Thelen had one of her top performances of the season when the team needed her most: Saturday at home against Lake Superior. The teams were tied in the standings in a battle of five teams fighting for three tournament spots. The Bulldogs emerged victorious with a 69-66 triumph as Thelen led the way with 21 points, five assists and five rebounds in 31 minutes.

“It’s a great win for us and we knew we were playing a good team and we had to stay composed … especially late in the game,” said Thelen, a 5-foot-6 guard who oftentimes plays much bigger than her size. “We had a lot of people who really stepped up and have been playing really well for us as we’ve gotten later in the season.”

The seniors understood last week was big for several reasons: (1) The Bulldogs wanted to avenge earlier road losses at Saginaw Valley and Lake Superior, (2) they wanted to win the final home game in the careers of the seniors and (3) they yearned to keep themselves in the hunt for the GLIAC Tournament.

“We were very focused coming into this week knowing that we had Saginaw Valley and Lake Superior,” said Thelen, whose team will be at Northwood on Thursday and at Wayne State on Saturday. “After we got the win over Saginaw Valley, we knew Lake Superior was going to be another tough game, but we came out and played well and it was definitely a good feeling to be able to win it on Senior Day.”

In Senior Moments, Sandy Gholston interviewed each of the six men’s and women’s basketball seniors from Ferris State University to find out what some of their thoughts were entering the final regular-season college basketball weekend of their careers. The student-athletes interviewed were Mark Gildersleeve and Jason Holder of the men’s basketball team and Caitlin Hutchison, Jenna Guay, Teghan Thelen and Ashley Fleming of the women’s basketball team.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com