Szunko and Long continue their basketball careers

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Former Central Michigan women’s basketball player Kaihla Szunko has gone semi-pro.

The 6-foot-1 center is playing for the Flint Monarchs, a semi-pro team that is a part of the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League.

“It’s a really good tune up if she gets a stint to go overseas,” said CMU women’s basketball coach Sue Guevara.

The independently owned and operated teams choose between player agreements as part of their operations.

Salary is one aspect of these agreements. Most WBCBL players earn little to no money, as the league was designed to gain exposure with competition, hopefully using it as a stepping stone to lengthen professional careers.

“Kaihla plays hard,” Guevara said. “She runs the floor, she rebounds, she’s got a nice touch around the basket and she’s got a variety of moves.”

Szunko, the third leading rebounder in CMU history, isn’t letting the opportunity go to waste.

In just six games, the Saginaw native is tied for the third-most points per game with 8.7 and is second in rebounds with 5.7, just 0.3 behind Tamarah Riley.

Szunko might only be in her sixth game, but her solid play early on has caught the eyes of the coaching staff.

In those six games, she’s already started four.

“She contributes in a lot of different ways,” Guevara said. “It’s always those hard hat ways, those lunch-pail type kids that get the rebounds, run and do the dirty work. There’s always room for those kids.”

The latest game she appeared in was in a 69-56 win against the Cleveland Crush. She scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds while adding a steal.

The Monarchs currently sit 1.5 games behind first place with a record of 6-3.

Their next game is at 7 p.m. Friday at Oakland-Macomb.

Long way from home

Szunko isn’t the only senior from last season that’s getting an opportunity post-CMU.

Shonda Long, the all-time 3-point leader at CMU, has signed a contract overseas with a team from Poland.

More details about the contract are soon to follow.

“She’s got to figure out how to say hello in Polish,” Guevara said.

That might be the hardest part of the transition to Poland. Guevara said that the Chippewas’ style of play should make the transition easy on the Saginaw native.

“Our style of play is very conducive to the European style because they get up and down the floor and they shoot the three.”

The run-and-gun offense that CMU possesses should be more beneficial to Long, but it has its negatives.

The Chippewas playbook isn’t exactly a novel, and is not as complex as most.

“She must adjust to coming off screens,” Guevara said. “If Shonda comes off a screen and there’s daylight, you know that baby is going up.”