Lcc All-american Kara Bartels Chooses To Play For Kristin Haynie At Cmu, Following Her Msu Star Aunt's Division I Footsteps

It took every ounce of discipline for Kara Bartels not to commit to Central Michigan during her visit Wednesday. She wanted to call and talk to her dad first. But she knew she’d found her next place.

Thursday, the Lansing Community College All-American committed to play basketball for Kristin Haynie and the Chippewas.

“The coaches were welcoming and the team was so welcoming. And it just, it fits so good,” Bartels said Thursday night.

Bartels has always been careful about finding the right fit. Two years ago, that was LCC — with Bartels, who played high school basketball at Zeeland West, turning down Division II scholarship offers to be the centerpiece of then-first-year head coach Megan Hudson’s program in Lansing. 

Betting on herself and her gut feeling about Hudson and LCC has paid off. She’ll live her dream of playing Division I college basketball. And she’ll play for a coach who has a connection to a member of her family. Bartels’ aunt is former Michigan State and Okemos star Kristen Rasmussen, who finished at MSU just before Haynie arrived, though followed a similar path — local phenom who chose the Spartans — and then faced each other in the WNBA.

“Ever since I was little, I always wanted to play D-I,” Bartels said. “My aunt was a big role model for me, and I always wanted to be just like her. So I'm so happy that I finally accomplished that, and LCC just made me have confidence, and they grew me into a better player.”

CMU had been interested in Bartels since the beginning of this last season and came to watch LCC’s 6-foot-3 center when she scored her 1,000th career point in their final conference game, Feb. 25 at Grand Rapids. 

“They’ve been keeping an eye on her the whole time,” Hudson said. “It’s my understanding one of their bigs left in the transfer portal and that’s how the spot opened up for Kara.”

Bartels, who averaged 15.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game while leading LCC to a 26-6 record, had an offer from Division-I Oakland University (before a coaching change), along with Division-II Lake Superior State, Davenport and Roosevelt. Others were showing interest, too.

“She had some very attractive offers,” Hudson said. “She'd picked up some more interest from a few other schools than the ones that she had, but we were just being patient, seeing what would shake out.”

Bartels hadn’t found anywhere that “fit perfectly,” she said.

Then CMU called — a Division I offer, a staff she liked, and close to home, which was important.

“It was super important,” Bartels said. “Having people I know around me is going to make it even better. Like, I know so many people from high school that are at CMU, and just having that feeling of home still is going be great. It’s going to help a lot, especially when things get rough, because it’s not going to be easy.”

I’m beyond excited to announce my commitment to Central Michigan University to continue my academic and athletic career! Thank you to my coaches and teammates at LCC for their support and development over the last two years. Thank you to Coach Haynie for this amazing opportunity! pic.twitter.com/d2Mm3umjkF

— Kara Bartels (@KaraBartels10) April 24, 2025

LCC's Albas-Ferrer chooses Bridgeport

Bartels wasn’t the only LCC player to decide on their new school Thursday. Sophomore Laia Albas-Ferrer committed to the University of Bridgeport, a Division-II program in Connecticut, which is led by former Georgetown coach James Howard. 

Albas-Ferrer, who’s from Spain and transferred to LCC for her sophomore year, chose Bridgeport over other Division-II offers and one late Division-I offer in California. 

“She'd been talking to the Bridgeport people for like a month and a half already and had a good connection. And, you know, they really sold her the vision,” Hudson said.

“Her long-term goals, besides getting her international business degree, she wants to play overseas (professionally). So she was looking for a space that still felt like home, that’s going to be a really supportive environment, but also has the chops to continue to develop her strongly.”

Albas-Ferrer averaged 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists, while making 34.3% of her 3-point shots for the Stars this past season, which ended with a scary cut above her eye late in the district championship game. Hudson said the injury, which sent Albas-Ferrer to the hospital, “healed up beautifully. You’d never know it happened.”

“I was really proud of how mature (Albas-Ferrer and Bartels) were with their decision-making process,” Hudson said. “They didn't just jump at the big, shiny object. They took their time to evaluate the people that they were going to be engaged with. That was really cool that they both did that.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing star Kara Bartels chooses to play for Kristin Haynie at CMU