For Lenny and Denise Holmes, Thursday night at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland is going to be a memorable evening.
They are the parents of Indiana University first team All-American forward Mackenzie Holmes, who along with her Hoosier teammates will be taking on the University of Maine beginning at 7 p.m.
It’s a homecoming for the 6-foot-3 Holmes, the former Gorham High School All-State player and 2018-19 Maine Gatorade Player of the Year. The current graduate student won two Maine Class AA state championships at the Cross Insurance Arena, taking home the gold ball in 2016 and 2017, and will be competing on the court for the first time since high school.
“It’s awfully nice not to have to take a plane trip to Indiana. This is a joy. It’s going to be fun,” said Presque Isle native Lenny Holmes, who is planning to attend 22 of his daughter’s 28 regular season games this season.
“It’s going to be really special to have her be able to go out onto a court where she has played so often,” he added.
Holmes and her 5-1 Hoosiers are ranked 17th in the current NCAA Division I basketball poll.
UMaine will bring a 4-3 record into the contest.
Denise, a South Portland native formerly known as Denise Payette, said it was great that UMaine head coach Amy Vachon and Indiana head coach Teri Moren made this game happen.
“It’s going to be emotional for me for sure. I get emotional speaking about it. There’s a lot of pride. I’m happy for her,” Denise said of watching her daughter Mackenzie play. “It says a lot about Indiana and the respect they have for her [to be willing to come to Maine to play].”
Both Denise and Lenny said the event won’t just be special for them and their daughter, it will be a great night for women’s basketball and the state of Maine.
Fort Kent native Laughn Berthiaume, Holmes’ Gorham High coach, agreed with his former player’s parents.
“It’s great for Maine. It’s going to benefit both programs,” Berthiuame said. “I think you’ll have people cheering for both teams.”
Holmes averaged 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots last season and was named one of four finalists for the Wade Trophy, one of five finalists for the Wooden Award and one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy, which all go to the nation’s best player.
She became the second player in school history to eclipse the 2,000-point mark for her career in a 72-63 win over Princeton in a Florida tournament over the weekend.
She will come to Portland with 2,004 career points.
Lenny and Denise are proud of their daughter’s accomplishment and pleasantly surprised by it.
Scoring 2,000 points isn’t something you would typically expect from a post player, Denise said.
“She hasn’t taken many 3-point shots. It’s amazing to me that she did it. But if anyone could do it, it would be her because she’s so determined to prove people wrong,” she said.
“I always felt that maybe other people didn’t see in her what I saw in her. Maybe that was me being a dad but she did things nobody else did,” Lenny said. “But to score 2,000 points and be a first team All-American is like a fantasy.”
Berthiaume said what he loves most about Mackenzie is the way she carries herself off the court.
“She is the biggest cheerleader (for her teammates) when she is on the bench. You can tell the way she is on the floor how much fun she is having and how much she connects with her teammates. That has always been important to her,” Berthiaume said. “She’s the same as she was as a 14-year-old freshman at Gorham High.”
Her parents were both basketball players, Lenny at Presque Isle High and Denise at South Portland. They both had long coaching careers with each having a stint at Windham High where Lenny was the boys coach and Denise was the girls coach.
Their son, Cameron, joined his sister at Indiana and received a degree in sports management. He is now the graduate assistant coach for the women’s program at Illinois State.
Cameron will be coming home to Maine for Thursday’s game.
Lenny and Denise said their daughter has received tremendous support from people in the state of Maine throughout her career and they are excited that Mainers will get an opportunity to see her play live rather than just on television.
Following Indiana’s win over Princeton, Mackenzie was asked about her upcoming trip to Maine.
“It’s going to be really exciting. A lot of people are really eager to watch Indiana basketball live for the first time in a gym that is very near and dear to my heart. I played all my high school tournament games there and won two state championships there,” Mackenzie said.
“People who know me know home is extremely important to me, as is representing Maine the best I can, so it is going to be a really fun time.”
