Spring Arbor freshman guard Abby Fleetwood drives to the basket in a game earlier this season.
Submitted photo
Like with most college freshmen, the newness lessens for Abby Fleetwood with each passing day.
More familiar with her current surroundings than during August and September, Fleetwood, the starting point guard at Spring Arbor, is adjusting quite nicely.
The Indian Creek product has been a starter for the Cougars since the season opener.
“It’s about adapting to a new level of basketball, and new teammates,” said Fleetwood, who averages 7.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists for Spring Arbor, an NAIA school located 90 miles west of Detroit.
“When you’re playing at Indian Creek, you know the personnel. The teams you’re playing are familiar. But in college, you don’t know anybody. It’s a whole new world. I wasn’t expecting to be a starter right away, but I started as a freshman in high school (at Brown County), so I had done it before.”
This isn’t to say the transition has been entirely flawless.
On Nov. 29, the Cougars were at Ferris State, a well-respected Division II program, for an early-season exhibition game when Fleetwood sustained an injury that forced her to sit out two games, starting with the squad’s 72-67 victory at Grace College.
“I was doing a handoff with another player, and (an opposing) player collided into me,” Fleetwood explained. “Her shoulder kind of went into my neck and shoulder area, so it was kind of a whiplash concussion. My head did not hit the floor.”
She returned in time to be part of last week’s 86-74 home win over Lourdes, a game in which Fleetwood scored 10 points, dished five assists, grabbed three boards and made three steals.
At 5-foot-9, Fleetwood managed to wear a lot of hats at the prep level thanks to her ability to score and defend basically anywhere on the court. Her contributions were many in the 2022-23 Indian Creek squad finishing 27-2 and advancing all the way to the championship game of the Class 3A semistate at Jasper.
Her role has been condensed somewhat for the Cougars.
“I believe I’m a natural point guard,” Fleetwood said. “I like running the game and making the game my tempo. I just want our team to win.”
More often than not, this has been the case, which in itself is something of a story.
Prior to the arrival of John Williams, now in his second season as the Spring Arbor coach, the program mostly endured losing seasons. Last season’s 19-10 finish was the first winning mark since 2015-16. Williams’ current squad, which takes a 9-2 record into today’s game at Michigan-Dearborn, is poised to fare even better.
Fleetwood, he acknowledges, is a big part of that.
“One key reason we recruited Abby is that we thought she could start from Day 1,” Williams said. “We knew if we started her at the 1, we could move some other players to other positions, and really have a high-powered offense.
“I just call Abby a winner. She does winning things all the time. She’s a super high-IQ player and has a doggedness about her. She plays with an edge. Some players are born with it, but it can be cultivated, too. Our team plays with an edge, and after a couple weeks of practice, you could see she fits in seamlessly.”
