Schmid's college career will continue at Nevada
Stephanie Schmid truly exemplifies the old saying, "hard work pays off."
The former Lake Zurich basketball guard, who worked her way up from the freshman team to starting three games on the varsity as a senior, recently made a commitment to play Division I basketball for the University of Nevada, narrowing her choice from nearly 20 D-I schools.
She played the last two years for Arizona Western College, a community college in Yuma.
"First, the coaching staff (at Nevada) is unbelievable," Schmid said. "I do not think I have met a more caring and loving group of coaches and they truly care about people first. It is crazy to think that a lot of coaches only care about winning, but that is the truth in many situations. I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to play for Nevada."
She also liked the challenges involved.
"Not only will I be able to have an opportunity to play a lot of minutes, but Nevada has never won a Mountain West Conference championship," she said. "Already, my goal is to work hard and win the women's basketball program's first Mountain West Conference championship and have an automatic trip to the NCAA tournament."
At Lake Zurich, Schmid was on the freshman team as a freshman, sophomore team as a sophomore and varsity during her junior and senior seasons.
"During my senior year, we had a 20-win season and I was basically the sixth man on the team," she said. "I received very little recruitment out of high school, but I played on an AAU basketball team in the summers called Full Package which gave me the opportunity to play with the women's basketball team at UIC."
She eventually ended up at Arizona Western College. Her first season the team was 20-11 and Schmid averaged 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and hit 83 3-pointers (ranked 11th in the nation).
A second team All-ACCAC and third team all-region selection, Schmid decided to come back for her sophomore season.
"I thought this would open up more opportunities to keep developing as a player and to get more recruiting options," she said.
Sure enough, she had a breakout year, averaging 20.8 points (ninth in the nation) for a team that went 21-11. She finished with more than 1,000 points in only two years at Arizona Western.
She led the junior college ranks with 126 3-pointers while shooting 40.9 percent.
Schmid was the only player to average more than four 3-pointers.
She was named NJCAA all-American second team and Arizona Community College Athletic Conference player of the year as well as a first-team All-ACCAC and first team-All Region pick.
Not bad for someone who was strictly a spot-up shooter in high school.
"I put up over 500 makes on the shooting machine every summer at Lake Zurich High School," she said. "When I was not in the gym, I was outside working on shooting and ballhandling. I was a complete gym rat."
Schmid's motivation to keep working came from her high school experience on the basketball team.
"I was more of just a shooter in high school," she said. "However, that is what motivated me to work harder than everyone."
Schmid said her time at UIC before heading to Arizona Western was an eye-opening experience.
"Division I athletics are nothing like high school," she said. "I was honestly completely shocked at how hard the intensity and pace was. I learned a lot about what it takes to be a division I athlete. I knew the amount of work that had to be dedicated in the weight room, the gym, and also the classroom."
Those skills helped me in the process of transferring to the junior college.
"Arizona Western College is in one of the toughest conferences in all of NJCAA," she said. "There are numerous Division I and Division II prospects every year and almost every team is competitive; that is why I chose to play at Arizona Western College."
She said she treated the move across the country as a business trip.
"I had to work hard until the job was done," she said. "My freshman year was very successful and I had several scholarships to smaller division I schools. I was all set to graduate, but I decided that I wanted to play another year at Arizona Western College.
"I felt I had a lot of areas I could improve on and I also thought that I could play at much higher levels of Division I basketball."
It all paid off and Schmid couldn't be happier with her new challenge.
"I can't believe how far I have come throughout my whole entire career," Schmid said. "I have grown and matured so much since my high school career and I can't thank everyone enough who supported me through the entire journey.
"I can't thank my teammates enough, because without them, I wouldn't be in the position I am today. The funny thing is, I have two more years to play; two more years to work even harder than I ever have."
Blanchard a Packer
The Green Bay Packers announced last Wednesday that former Lake Zurich quarterback Matt Blanchard has signed with the team.
The transaction was announced by executive vice president, general manager and Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson.
Blanchard, a 6-foot-3, 223-pound second-year player out of Wisconsin-Whitewater, was originally signed by the Bears as a non-drafted rookie free agent on May 14, 2012.
He was waived by Chicago toward the end of the preseason but was re-signed to the practice squad, where he spent the first 12 games of the season. Blanchard re-signed with Chicago after the 2012 season, but was waived/injury settlement on Aug. 27, 2013.
He was signed to the Carolina Panthers' practice squad on Oct. 29, 2013, where he spent the remainder of the season.
Blanchard re-signed with the Panthers on Jan. 14, 2014, and was placed on injured reserve on Aug. 26, 2014.
Women's softball
Lewis senior center fielder Justina Doll (Mundelein) had the Flyers' final RBI in a 6-5 loss at St. Xavier.
Men's lacrosse
Augustana junior Tyler Amidei (Vernon Hills) leads the Vikings with 12 caused turnovers (12).
Men's golf
Augustana sophomore Eric Swanson (Vernon Hills)was the second lowest Viking with a score of 154 (75-79) at the Weist Foundation Classic golf tournament in Decatur.
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com