Hanley opts for Cedarville
BUTLER TWP — Playing college basketball was always on Macklin Hanley’s bucket list.
A torn ACL cost the Butler guard her junior season, putting a temporary damper on those collegiate hopes. But the 5-foot-7 senior returned to the Golden Tornado lineup this season and recently signed a letter of intent to continue her academic and basketball career at Cedarville University, a Division III school in Ohio.
Hanley also considered Liberty (Va.) before deciding on Cedarville.
“Going to a Christian school was important to me and there’s a lot of basketball tradition there,” Hanley said of Cedarville. “I wanted those values.”
The Yellow Jackets were 17-11 heading into this week’s Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament. Cedarville has put together 20 consecutive winning seasons — 16 of them with 20 victories or more — and has not had a losing season since a 9-19 campaign in 2000-01.
“I’m so excited for her,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “To come back and help is the way she did this year after tearing her ACL wasn’t easy. Mack has earned this opportunity.
“Only 6 percent of all high school girls basketball players go on to play in college, at any level. There’s 410,000 high school players in this country. For us to have three off this year’s team is something we’re very proud of.”
Hanley joins Butler teammates Makenna Maier (Saint Vincent) and Aubree Tack (Chatham) in moving on to college ball next year.
“I’ll miss all of my teammates. That’s the toughest part about finishing my career here,” Hanley said. “These girls are my best friends.”
Carrying a 3.90 grade point average, Hanley plans to major in criminal justice and psychology at Cedarville. She will be joining a Yellow Jacket roster that has only three seniors this season.
Jason Smith is in his first year as head coach at Cedarville. He was 219-85 in 10 seasons at Bryan College in Tennessee, where he left as that program’s all-time winningest coach.
Hanley averaged six points per game, along with a couple of rebounds, assists and steals, for the Golden Tornado this season.
“Mack has the ability and desire to play there,” Maier said. “She loves and appreciates the game. Playing in a competitive conference, she will peak as a player there.”
Hanley described her strengths as “driving to the basket, shooting and creating assists for teammates.”
Her immediate goal is to get stronger and faster.
“The girls I’ll be playing with and against are going to be older and bigger,” she said. “I’m going to keep working on my game. I may have to wait my turn to get on the court, starting over as a freshman next year, but I’ll be ready.”
“Good school, super competitive conference, Mack is a faith-based girl, it’s all there,” Maier said. “This is a good fit all the way.”
