Basketball is a way of life in the Markovich household in Barnesville.
Family patriarch Michael starred at Barnesville High School in the mid-1990s and later played at Ohio University Eastern.
Daughters Danah (Pryor) Welch and Shayla Markovich also excelled for the ‘Rocks and competed collegiately at OU Zanesville and Eastern, respectively.
So, it’s only natural that Halle, a promising freshman starting for this season’s Shamrocks, followed in the family footsteps.
She may not have had a choice otherwise.
“We really grew up with basketball all around us,” Shayla admitted. “Our dad played in college, our sister played, Halle saw me play in college and in AAU tournaments.
“She really had no choice not to be around basketball growing up.”
Despite their eight years in age difference, Shayla and Halle were close growing up, sharing both the bonds of sisterhood and the hardwood.
Halle attended all her sister’s games and as she grew, the younger Markovich moved from watching to playing.
“I watched all of her games and just fell in love with basketball,” Halle said.
That love led to the start of routine games of P-I-G and one-on-one between the two, getting more spirited as the years pased and the younger Halle kept growing.
Halle was a fifth grader when Shayla stepped onto the Barnesville court for her senior season. Shayla averaged 16.5 points and eight rebounds a game that year and earned a spot on both the OVAC and District 12 all-star teams.
Shayla also hit the 1,000-point mark for her career.
“My goal growing up was to score 1,000 points in my career,” Shayla said. “My parents counted on me to achieve my goals and I pushed myself to achieve that one.”
The attention now turns to the younger Markovich.
So does the pressure.
“I feel it coming into this year because my family has very high expectations for me and I don’t want to disappoint them,” Halle admitted.
If she needs any reminder of that, Halle need only look toward the Barnesville bench where she’ll find Shayla sitting next to varsity head coach Jason Perkins.
Coach First. Sister Second.
This is Shayla’s third year coaching and first on the varsity level. The previous two, she coached the eighth grade. That included Halle’s eighth grade team in 2018-19. When Halle moved to the high school level, so did Shayla.
“Coaching doesn’t make me nervous,” Shayla said. “Watching Halle does. I just want her to be successful and I can’t control nearly as much coaching as I could when I was playing.
“Her downfall is she gets upset over what people think. I just tell her to block all of that out and play.”
Shayla has to get in all the pointers she can as this will be her final season holding a whistle—at least for a while.
She recently graduated from Franklin University, is set to be married in the fall and is ready to get her career started. She hasn’t ruled out a return to coaching but plans to take some time off first.
“I need some time to myself and want to focus on my career,” Shayla said. “I will probably not coach again until I have kids and I can coach them.”
Similar Genes, Different Play Styles
When Shayla first took the court as a freshman, she was a natural post player. Standing close to 6-foot, Markovich used her size and strength to muscle her way around the paint, pulling down boards, sticking putbacks and surprising unsuspecting defenders with a decent set of handles for a post player.
That was how she made her living, doing the dirty work and owning the paint.
The younger Markovich’s game is more finesse.
Like Shayla, Halle is one of her team’s taller players, checking in at 5-foot-10.
She’s tall and lean and is able to combine her quickness and size to blow past defenders. Smaller, quicker defenders don’t have the height to match-up and taller post players don’t have the speed to stay with her.
She’s a solid rebounder and defender and can pop 3’s from the outside.
That’s not to say she’s unstoppable. She’s still a freshman with a lot to learn, but the potential is evident.
“It’s been a pleasure coaching her, but I feel sometimes I’m hard on her,” Shayla said. “I am because I know her potential. If she plays like she knows how to play, her future is very bright.”
Who Would Win?
When asked who the victor would be in a hypothetical one-on-one game between present-day Halle and 2012-2013 freshman Shayla, each sister, while respectful of the other, felt confident in their chances.
“Big sis would definitely take her sister in one-on-one, freshman to freshman,” Shayla said. “My size would be too much for her.
“No, I’m not in the best of shape, but I still feel I could take her in a game today.”
Naturally, little sister had a different view.
“I think I could beat her if she was a freshman,” Halle said. “She’s older than me and has more experience now, but when she played, she was a post and I’m a guard.
“She’d have an advantage inside, but I think I’d be better on the outside.”
