Most basketball players grow up playing on their hoops in their backyard. In a backyard in Freeport, Long Island, that hoop became the first big stage for freshman guard/forward Justine Henry.
Growing up with two older brothers, Jonathan and Jared, Henry always strived to be better than both of them.
“We would always go at it on the hoop outside. Always,” said Henry. “My brothers definitely made me so competitive. Not just basketball, in school, and video games, we would always just compete with each other.”
Henry’s father, Jon, has been the assistant head coach of Baldwin High School’s Boys Basketball team since Henry can remember. The team became Henry’s inspiration to try the sport out for herself.
“I started playing around five years old and began learning the game,” said Henry. “As I started to get older, I would go to his practices after school. He would come get me and I would be around his team a lot.”
Under Jon Henry’s coaching, Baldwin has won multiple AA Championships, producing both NCAA Division I athletes and an NBA player, Jared Rhoden.
“I used to sit on the bench and I thought it was so cool. I remember people used to pick me up. The team manager was my favorite,” said Henry. “I would always be with her, always playing games with her, doing something to entertain me rather than running out on the sides with a basketball and doing something dumb.”
Henry recalled one time, while on the sidelines of her father’s practice, she let go of a basketball, letting it roll onto the court. Henry hesitated to chase the ball, fearing she would be run over. As she started to run, a player ended up jumping over her.
“I don’t remember getting in trouble, but I remember that moment well. It was honestly super funny,” said Henry. “After that, I kind of just stayed on the sidelines. I would always just be with them; they would come and give me high fives, hang out with me after the games. I still talk to some of them today.”
One of her dad’s old players has recently crossed paths with Henry’s journey again. Entering his sixth year of collegiate basketball as a graduate student guard, Rhyjon Blackwell committed to Marist. Blackwell played for Baldwin High School for four years, graduating in 2019.
Sitting on the same bench and attending the same team dinners was a fifth-grade Justine Henry.
“We always talk whenever we see each other and ask about how each other’s games have been going, team stuff. It’s like basic questions, but he’s always there for me, for sure,” said Henry.
Coming to Marist as the lone freshman on the team was nerve-racking at first for Henry; the worry of being alone faded during the summer session into the beginning of the fall semester. For the summer session, Henry became close with her then suitemates, junior guard Malea Egan and sophomore guard Chloe Escanillias.
When it was time to move into Champagnat Hall, Henry was paired with another freshman Red Fox, softball pitcher Kaylie DeChicchis.
“She is the sweetest and my best friend,” said Henry. “I would take Kaylie over any other freshman that came in with me any day.”
On the court, Henry has made an immediate impact in her first season at Marist. Before becoming a Red Fox, Henry played on two AAU teams, Positive Direction and the Riverside Hawks.
“It’s definitely a lot. You play a lot of games. Like, we play sometimes three or four games a day. Not in a row, but one day you would have two games, the next, you could have one; it varies,” said Henry.
When it came time to decide where Henry would spend the next four years playing high school basketball, she chose The Mary Louis Academy (TMLA). TMLA provided both a highly academic atmosphere for Henry and a competitive basketball program.
Mary Louis’ basketball team closely mirrors the roster of her club team, Positive Direction, which she played with since seventh grade. Coached by the same women, the team operated under a different dynamic than most high school programs. Their coach fostered a demanding environment, holding her players to high standards despite their young age. Having played together for years, the girls developed a tight bond, so strong that Henry found it difficult to put it into words. The team had become something far greater than basketball.
“Once high school started, that’s kind of just where your friendship turns into sisterhood,” said Henry. “And our growth just went up and it helped us on the court and didn’t at times. But those girls are going to be with me forever. I’m still in contact with them today, checking in on how they’re doing. We have been through a lot.”
During the pandemic, Henry’s dad had access to the rec gym nearby, which is where Henry spent most of her days in quarantine. While COVID-19 restrictions started to lift, Henry would have some girls come to the gym with her.
“I would work out all the time, and I would just bring some of them in to work out together. And then after that, my dad would take us to go get ice cream or something fun. It is those little memories that are super cool,” said Henry.
Connected with an unbreakable bond, Henry and her teammates pushed each other to be the best they could be. Despite the non stop hardwork and numerous championship games, Henry has yet to win a championship game at any level of basketball.
“I have never won a championship in my life. With anything. No, not even CYO, AAU, Nothing. I haven’t won a single championship. So it would be really nice if I could get one in college.”
Justine Henry
Assistant coach Nick Volchok provided a major selling point in Henry’s commitment to Marist. Volchok spearheaded recruiting Henry to become a Red Fox, attending nearly every game of Henry’s while she was in the recruitment phase of high school and sending other Marist coaches to her games if he could not attend.
“Nick is my guy. He recruited me here, I trust him and he trusts my game,” said Henry.
Aside from the coaching staff, Henry remembers the first time she stepped on campus. Driving up to Poughkeepsie with her parents for an Elite Camp, Henry woke up in the Mid Rise parking lot, rubbing her eyes open to an overlook of the Hudson River in the summertime.
“I woke up and saw just the water, and the mountains and it’s during summertime, so everything was beautiful. I was like ‘where are we?’,” said Henry.
At her first elite camp, Henry got paired off with redshirt senior guard Lexie Tarul. Henry appreciated Tarul throughout the camp for how real she was with her.
“When we had one-on-one conversations, she really flipped my mind like this [Marist] is the place for me. As I took my second visit, I decided that this is it and I committed on the spot.”
Justine henry
As Henry’s college game develops, a MAAC championship could be in the Long Island natives future. Averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in her freshman season, there is only up for a player like Henry.
In her first year at Marist, the Red Foxes have been hit with injuries in the offseason, continuing into conference play. With a lack of size and a shortcoming of healthy players, Henry was placed at the power forward spot after being recruited as a traditional guard.
“I’m not used to playing the four. I was like, ‘Okay, new position, I don’t know how I’m going to fit into it’. Cause my game in high school is definitely so different than my game in college,” said Henry.
Despite a position change, adjustment to a new style of play and teammates, Henry started her first game as a Red Fox.
“It was a shock at first, but I was super excited when [head coach Erin Doughty] told me, you’re starting,” said Henry. “She told me I want that fire in you from the beginning, not just in the fourth quarter.”
After scoring a career low five points in her first game, Henry went on to have six double-digit games in a row. One of her best games came against SEC powerhouse LSU, where the freshman became the only player in the nation to tally 20-plus points and eight-plus rebounds against a power four school.
“LSU was really fun. I was stupid nervous. And I’m always nervous for games, but once the ball gets tipped off, I’m good. MiLaysia [Fulwiley] and Flau’jae [Johnson] are celebrities, Kim Mulkey, too. It is like seeing them in person was crazy,” said Henry. “We are a division one team, but they’re a division one team, power four. It is crazy to play those people that you see on TV.”
After the game, Henry reflected in her hotel room in the beautiful Virgin Islands, and could barely believe that she put up 21 against LSU.
“Once that game started, I kind of just got into it, I know it’s a trend to say it, but like ‘flowstate,’” said Henry. “Once I hit that first three, I just went off.”
Henry credits her family each separately for different parts of her success in basketball. She credits her dad for pushing her and being hard on her; if it were not for him, Henry is not sure if she would be playing basketball at this level.
“It was just constant work, workout, school, sleep. Sometimes it took a toll on me, even in games and of course, he’ll be hard on me, but he’s the reason why I’m at this school right now,” said Henry of her father.
“So, I give him it all, everything. I forgive him now that he was so hard on me, because now I am here.”
Justine Henry
Through the occasional tough love, Henry’s parents have been nothing short of supportive of their daughter, attending nearly every single game so far this season. Her parents, brothers, grandmother and aunt provide Henry her personal cheering section, whether in person at the game or watching from afar.
Henry’s moms instagram has become what her teammates describe as a “Justine Shrine.” When scrolling through her mother’s Instagram, almost every single post features her daughter.
“She posts me almost every single day. Every game, it’s really sweet,” said Henry. “My mom is definitely why I always have a smile on my face and why I’m so loving because she put that on to me since I was young, and, still now, through her Instagram, through the pictures that we have at home, it is nothing but support.”
Henry’s mother isn’t the only maternal figure in her life; her grandma and aunt are basically second and third mothers.
“Their support, I feel like they sometimes think it goes unseen, and sometimes I don’t credit them enough,” said Henry. “My aunt is basically my second mother. She’s constantly there for me. I would always sleep over at her house when I was younger. My grandma used to live with me as well. When my mom had work, she basically raised me. But it’s like I have three mothers. I’m serious.”
Henry’s mother’s side of the family was never a big sports family. That is, until they had a team to cheer for.
“I made them a sport family, also my dad obviously,” said Henry. “I don’t want them thinking their support goes unseen because I see it and I know they love me a lot. And they support me like crazy.”
Her love for basketball from her dad, her smile and support from her moms, her competitiveness from her bother and the drive in herself to be the best she can be are the components that make Justine Henry the player she is today.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic and Photo by Xavier Angel
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