O'Brien's destination is Western Michigan

Michelle O'Brien, a pure shooter, has heard those "Pure Michigan" commercials.

Flowery written, they promote tourism. Comic actor and Michigan native Tim Allen narrates them.

But on her first visit to the state - specifically, Kalamazoo - the Stevenson senior missed out on a lot of what Michigan has to offer, including beautiful scenery.

"I kind of slept the whole way," O'Brien said of an April drive that takes 21/2 hours by car from Lincolnshire.

"But when I was in Kalamazoo," she added, "I really liked the town."

That's a good thing considering she plans on spending at least four years of her life there.

O'Brien, a 5-foot-11 guard who last season was named captain of the Daily Herald's Lake County all-area team, has verbally committed to play NCAA Division I basketball for Western Michigan University.

O'Brien made a second visit to WMU's campus in Kalamazoo in June for an elite camp and, apparently, impressed Broncos head coach Tasha McDowell and her staff over the two days.

"They gave me the offensive player award," said O'Brien, who averaged 16.3 points per game as a junior, sinking 36 3-pointers, while also averaging 9.1 rebounds.

"I guess that's a good sign."

O'Brien said fellow Mid-American Conference member Eastern Michigan also offered her a scholarship and schools such as Northern Illinois, Drake, Loyola, Bradley and Illinois-Chicago expressed interest in her as well.

She wound up choosing Western Michigan for a variety of reasons, which also included the school's size and its proximity to home.

"I really liked the coach, the players and the environment," O'Brien. "I was really comfortable there and seemed like a good fit for me."

Western Michigan is coming off a 9-21 season, which included a 4-12 mark in the Mid-American Conference, but O'Brien is confident the program is growing, so to speak.

"Last year I think their tallest player was like 5-11 or 6 feet," she said. "This year they've recruited a 6-7 girl, a 6-4 girl and another who's 6-1. So I think they're going to be good in the MAC. I'm really excited about that."

O'Brien becomes the second Stevenson girls basketball player in as many years to commit to a MAC school before starting her senior year. Former Patriots center Kelsey Simon accepted a scholarship from Miami (Ohio) last summer.

"It'll be lots of fun," O'Brien said of potential games in the future against her former high school teammate.

O'Brien ranks seventh all-time in Stevenson history in both scoring (952 points) and rebounding (644).

She's spent the summer playing a lot and traveling a lot with her AAU team, Midwest Elite. She says she's also been working a lot on her game, including dribbling with her left hand, shooting the 3 and finding more creative ways to get to the basket.

"I've been working on, basically, everything," she said.