By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — In the Run 4 the Roses AAU Tournament in Louisville, Ky., Mary Church rained 13 3-pointers in four games.

Run 4 the Roses is a massive, national-level tournament held in July — 100 courts, with 2,750 elite players competing in front of 1,400 college coaches.

Even playing with a heavily wrapped left knee and playing on a Charlotte Dream Elite team where everyone could light it up, Church stood out. She made shots from the corners, from the wings and from the top of the circle. If they gave her 2 inches of daylight, she made the shot.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Rowan County basketball fans still haven’t seen the real Mary Church play. This November, knock on wood, they will.

Church is a 5-foot-7 point guard who played her freshman season at Gray Stone. She was an exceptional ninth-grader and added to her reputation as a basketball whiz during the AAU summer of 2022. Everyone agreed that no one played harder or smarter than Church did.

Her transfer to East Rowan to play for coach Bri Evans prior to her sophomore year was newsworthy and created anticipation for a leap forward for East Rowan girls basketball. That jump may have happened had Church stayed healthy.

Church missed the game that was supposed to be her debut as a Mustang with pain in her knee. She was able to play in East’s second game after getting a cortisone shot to relieve some of the misery.

A few days later, she scored 21, half of East’s points, in a 42-39 win at Lake Norman Charter that turned out to be one of the program’s best victories of the season. She contributed eight points and countless good decisions in East’s big road win that followed — a 42-39 victory at Northwest Cabarrus.

At that point, East was 3-0 in the South Piedmont Conference, with road wins against two of the stronger teams. Not many people believed East could hang with a powerful West Rowan squad, but second place in the SPC suddenly looked like a realistic goal for the Mustangs, who had been 6-15 the previous season.

But Church’s sophomore season was over after nine games — all played on one knee — and 80 points. Her finale was in a Christmas tournament consolation.

The knee pain Church was experiencing was originally thought to be a growth plate issue, but it turned out to be even more serious.

“Part of my kneecap was breaking off,” Church said. “That explained all the pain.”

East had to keep going without its best ball-handler and No. 2 scorer, and there were tough nights. East lost the rematch with Northwest 66-36 and lost by more than 30 to Lake Norman Charter the second time around. Both of those teams had improved by the time East faced them in January, but those scores also provide some solid evidence that Church was a very valuable Mustang.

East finished with an 11-13 record, just missing the playoffs. One more victory would have meant a playoff appearance. There were four or five games where Church would have made the difference.

But that’s in the past. Church and the Mustangs are looking ahead.

A high percentage of athletes get hurt at some point. But many come back stronger than ever, and that appears to be the case with Church, who made it back on the court more quickly than anyone imagined she could.

The surgery to repair her left knee took place on Jan. 18.

By late March, she was playing for a Charlotte Dream Elite team that included West Rowan star Lauren Arnold, a 5-foot-11 forward who was the South Piedmont Conference Player of the Year.

There were challenging days when Church didn’t play much. There was continuing physical therapy and weight training. There were a lot of ice packs, a lot of ibuprofen, a lot of sweat and a lot of tears.

“Charlotte Dream Elite is a very competitive team and competitive environment, and I had to work just to get playing time on that team,” Church said.

Besides AAU ball, Church made it to a number of college camps this summer. She was named MVP of Coker’s camp.

Church is a rising junior who already has been inducted into the National Honor Society. She’s also a team-oriented point guard who can shoot, so there’s been quite a bit of  recruiting interest from Division II schools in the area.

Church has gotten high marks from talent evaluators all summer, not just as a shooter and decision-maker, but as a teammate.

There was good exposure for her this summer with Charlotte Dream Elite in Charleston (S.C.), in Atlanta, in Tennessee and in Kentucky.

She knows she wants a nursing career, so now it’s a matter of finding the right coach, the right teammates and the right college.

She attended Campbell’s camp and performed well, but she is aware that at 5-foot-7, Division II is likely her ceiling.

She gets that. She understands Duke and UNC aren’t going to be calling her no matter how many 3-pointers or wonderful passes she makes.

Wingate, Coker, Mars Hill, Newberry, Belmont Abbey and UNC Pembroke are among the interested schools.

“I’m really looking to play D-II, and it’s mostly the South Atlantic Conference schools that have shown interest,” Church said. “That’s a good fit. There’s a good chance that’s where I’ll end up.”

There should be two really nice seasons at East for her before she makes some college program better.

Church remembers falling in love with the game of basketball at an early age at JLT Fieldhouse in Salisbury, where she was coached in the fundamentals by Antwuan “Coach T” Thompson.

Some of her friends found that volleyball or softball were their thing, but for Church it’s still all about hoops. She lives, eats and sleeps basketball.

The knee injury was only a temporary setback. And she showed in Louisville that the best is yet to come.

“I’m still going to physical therapy,” Church said. “Right now, I’m only at 85 to 90 percent. But I’ll get back to where I want to be.”