Trojans won five games at the Lisle summer league.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Since Timothy Christian girls basketball coach Michele Stube took over the program, it has won an increasing number of games each summer in the Lisle summer league.
This season was no exception. Timothy went 5-6 at Lisle in 11 games.
“Last year we won four,” she said. “Every year we get better there.”
Timothy played without returning point guard Jordyn Strube for a good part of the summer while she rested a back flare-up, Michele Strube explained.
“We did a lot of things without having our point guard,” Coach Strube said.
Strube said other players stepped to the forefront and helped the Trojans accomplish plenty during the summer.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” she said. “We had lost a lot of seniors from last year’s team. Heidi Westra, who also is coming back, also didn’t play a lot in the summer. We had a lot of younger kids come up and get some good experience.”
One returning player who did standout in particular was Olivia Schuringa. “Olivia had a great summer,” said Strube. “Her and Emily DeBoer are our only two post players. I thought Olivia did really well over the summer. Her confidence is way up and her moves going to the basket have gotten better. She’s finishing plays better. She’s worked on her moves and is looking to have a good season.”
Strube also lauded her players’ development as a whole in the off-season. “We have a couple of wonderful parents who have been doing Saturday morning open gyms,” she said. “The girls go in there with them and work on moves and get their shooting in. The girls love it. They are able to work on individual skills. It shows they have been playing and that has helped us this summer.’
Strube said she was able to evaluate a number of younger players toward the tail-end of the summer campaign.
“The last three games at Lisle we had players who were hurt or were out of town and we had some of the younger girls, a couple of freshmen and a couple of sophomores, play,” she said. “They got in some games and were able to come up and see what the varsity is like. We have a really nice incoming ninth-grade class. There are some girls who play travel ball. I thought the entire summer season went well. The older girls and the younger girls got better.”
Strube is looking forward to the upcoming 2017-2018 season, particularly with the school’s new competition arena slated to open later this year.
“How can you not be excited with the new fieldhouse,” she said. “It’s going to be an exciting year. We’re going to be the first teams playing in there. Everybody is looking forward to it. For us, we have some good potential. If we continue to gain confidence and the girls continue to work hard on their own the next couple of months that is going to help us when the season starts.”
