The Journal Star’s 2020-21 first-team Super-Staters, from left, include Bellevue West’s Chucky Hepburn, Grand Island’s Isaac Traudt, Humphrey St. Francis’ Allison Weidner, Lincoln Pius X’s Alexis Markowski, Elkhorn North’s Britt Prince, Millard North’s Saint Thomas, Weeping Water’s Grace Cave, Bellevue West’s Frankie Fidler, Fremont’s Taylor McCabe and Millard North’s Hunter Sallis.
Alexis Markowski’s basketball goals stemmed from the seats at Pinnacle Bank Arena. They were straightforward.
Then a middle-schooler, she watched and admired Maddie Simon, Kennedy Sander and others as they led the Lincoln Pius X girls basketball team to a Class B state championship.
“All I wanted was to play on the team,” Markowski said. “I didn’t have any goals for myself and I just wanted to play on that court and win a state title.”
Anything else would be dessert. A bonus. Extra credit.
Little did Markowski know of the legacy she would later build on the high school hardwood.
Her name is all over the record books at Pius X. The numbers: 1,485 (career points), 866 (career rebounds), 134 (career blocks), 36 (20-point games). The countless double-doubles, including seven (out of eight games) in a state tournament setting. Only once over the past two seasons was she held to single digits in points.
“To think about this, she did it in three years,” Pius X coach Ryan Psota said. “Three years to put up those kind of statistics is kind of mind-boggling.”
Markowski’s favorite number from her time with the Thunderbolts: Two. As in two Class A state championships. She was the centerpiece in both title runs.
So what does Markowski, this year’s Journal Star Super-State honorary captain, think of a career that went beyond her dreams?
“It’s just amazing,” she said. “I’m really going to miss wearing that Pius jersey and that community and the support, the coaches, my teammates. Just the legacy that we all left is pretty amazing.”
Markowski put the finishing touches on a great prep career at Pinnacle Bank Arena, which just so happens to be her future home in college. She scored her team’s final points in a 56-52 win against Fremont in the state final. She was the last to climb the ladder to make the final cuts of the net.
It was a fitting finish to a high school career that didn’t start the way Markowski had hoped.
A foot injury kept her from playing volleyball and basketball her freshman season. She wanted badly to play as a freshman, so she tried to give it a go at volleyball tryouts, but the pain got to be too much.
She recalls telling her mom that it felt like her foot had been run over by a car. It was essentially broken, surgery was the call and Markowski spent the next 12 months battling flareups and going to physical therapy sessions.
“It was really hard,” Markowski said. “I’ve had injuries in the past, but this one was about a year long, and sitting out of sports for me was definitely the hardest thing. You’re watching everyone doing what you love and you just have to sit there and do your homework.”
There were a lot of tearful days after school. Markowski said at times she just wanted to stay in her room. But with encouragement from her mom, Markowski went to practices to support her team, “and I’m glad she did that.”
Though she couldn’t play or practice, Markowski used her freshman season to pick up schemes, learn Thunderbolt philosophies and support her teammates.
“To have that injury set her back, a lot of kids wouldn’t be mature enough to focus in practice and try to internalize what we’re trying to do, but she’s an ultimate competitor, and she really wanted to come out and be ready to go her sophomore year,” Psota said.
It didn’t take long for the 6-foot-3 post player to make her presence felt in Class A. She averaged a double-double as a sophomore. Her foot injury well behind her, Markowski blossomed as a junior, averaging 21.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Determined to lead her team to another state title, Markowski averaged 23.3 points and 13.0 boards during her senior campaign, which included a school-record 43 points against Fremont in the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament final.
She was the state’s most dominant player for two seasons, and teams had no answer for her combination of athleticism, size and power around the basket.
A Markowski fun fact: She was set on becoming a competitive swimmer. The team element had her gravitate more toward volleyball and basketball in middle school, and then basketball won out in high school.
“The pace, and the energy and the physicalness, I love being physical,” Markowski said. “I love basketball and volleyball both, but I think after my injury and then coming back to basketball, I really realized this is what I wanted to do.”
The early setback also changed Markowski’s perspective on sports and life.
“Without me sitting out, I don’t think I’d be the player I am today,” Markowski said. “I think I found a different love for the game. You never know when it’s going to be your last game, and I kind of like to play that way.”
Maybe that’s why Markowski was at her best at the state tournament, where a bad quarter or half could mean the end to your season.
Against an Omaha Central team that featured two post players standing at 6-3 or taller, Markowski powered the Thunderbolts behind 30 points and 27 rebounds. A night later, she had 27 points and 19 boards against Fremont, which included a huge third quarter for the future Husker.
All told, Markowski averaged 25.2 points and 16.5 rebounds in her past six state tournament games.
Her will to win is unmatched, Psota says.
Markowski is nearing her childhood dream of playing for the Huskers, a school her father Andy played for in the ’90s. Her focus will be working on post moves and shooting this offseason.
The Pinnacle Bank Arena blocks will serve as her place of residency for the next four years. Her place in girls basketball won’t be forgotten.
“It’s going to start just with her being a really good kid,” Psota said. “Basketball, yes, she’s unbelievable, but she’s a really good kid, a really good teammate, she’s very kind to people in school and very humble with the accolades that she’s gotten. Before you get into any basketball and how dominant she is, you have to talk about what a nice kid she is and what she brings to our school.
“Then basketballwise, she’s one of the most dominant players who’s had one of the best three-year runs in the history of girls basketball in the state.”
Reach Clark Grell at 402-473-2639 or cgrell@journalstar.com. On Twitter at @LJSSportsGrell.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login