Warren's Boothe showed she had it all

Sarah Boothe doesn't always need the basketball on the court, which helps make her a near picture-perfect teammate.

But for a portrait of her that will run with a player-of-the-year story, the Warren senior needs, well, a basketball.

Only one isn't available.

So, without pause, without a raise of the eyebrows, she willingly offers to drive back home and get one, insisting she lives only 10 minutes away, when in actuality it's more like 15-20 minutes when you figure in late-afternoon traffic.

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"For as good as she is, Sarah is the most down-to-earth person you'll ever meet," teammate Erin Norwood said. "People can't people believe it."

For as tall as she is and as big as she was in Illinois high school girls basketball this season, the 6-foot-5 Boothe has an ego smaller than an Eggo. She credits her parents, Mark and Rose, as well as her brothers David and Nathan, for keeping her humble.

"She is just the best team player that is a superstar type of player that I have ever been around," Warren assistant coach Demetri Georgatsos said. "I sincerely mean that about her. She is just awesome. She only cares about team first. The accolades will come and they have for her, rightfully so."

The only unanimous selection to the Associated Press Class 4A all-state team and the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette all-state player of the year, Boothe is the captain of the Daily Herald's Lake County All-Area Girls Basketball Team for the third straight year.

The center delivered all season for Warren. The basketball she fetched to placate a photographer was just another example.

A four-time all-area and all-conference player, Boothe averaged career bests of 20.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.1 blocked shots per game. She also dished out 52 assists, came up with 37 steals, shot 54 percent from the floor and 77 percent from the foul line, and drained a 3-pointer. A right-hander, her lefty hook was better than all right.

"She could dominate without having the ball in her hands all the time," said Blue Devils head coach John Stanczykiewicz, who calls Boothe "easily" the best player he's ever coached in his more than 20 years.

Warren went 28-4 last season but entered the 2007-08 campaign with Boothe as its only returning starter.

Recognizing this season was her team, Boothe collected 21 points and 16 rebounds in the Blue Devils' season opener against Loyola. She followed up with a career-high 34 points and another 16 boards against Bogan, and never let up.

Warren finished 28-3, winning North Suburban Conference and regional championships for the fourth straight year.

"To prepare for this season I worked with a trainer, (as did) some of my teammates," Boothe said. "It was a lot of mental preparation because I knew I was going to have to be a leader and really step up my game.

"Freshman year I had T.K. (LaFleur) and Alex (Leach), then I had Giuleana (Lopez), Stacey Leach and Melanie Duplessis to kind of play off me. I was still a threat but I didn't have to be the go-to person necessarily. This year I knew that I'd really have to bring my 'A' game every day."

Boothe verbally committed to Stanford University in August and signed her letter of intent in November, choosing the Pac-10 school over Notre Dame, Purdue, Wisconsin and DePaul.

Despite having secured a full scholarship, she never let up. She played in every game -- just as she did her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.

"I don't know if she ever missed a practice," Stanczykiewicz said.

"You probably will not find a harder worker than Sarah," said Norwood, who's known Boothe since they were seventh-graders. "She works hard and obviously it pays off in games. She pushes herself and those around her so it makes you just work that much harder and makes you play that much better as a team."

Maybe the only disappointment for Boothe was how the season ended. Losers to Buffalo Grove in the supersectional the last two years, after earning a trip downstate Boothe's freshman year, Warren fell to Wheeling 45-38 in the Class 4A Mundelein sectional semifinals.

"We had eight seniors so there was a lot of crying," Boothe said. "Everyone was down. I was particularly mad because I really, really wanted to get back downstate to show that we deserved to be down there.

"I still haven't gotten over it. I still haven't gotten over our losses each year to BG."

And so the career one of the greatest players Lake County has ever produced is over. Boothe finished with 2,038 points (10 fewer than Warren's all-time leader Crystal Cobb) and 1,079 rebounds.

In its four seasons with Boothe, Warren went 113-16, including 55-1 in conference.

"I had a great four years," Boothe said. "I enjoyed working with my coaches and playing with and against the players that I did. ... It's sad, but you got to move on. Next step, Stanford."