Hawks' Fischer right on target

With a father and mother who played college basketball, you might have figured Megan Fischer was a "can't miss" basketball standout herself.

You can also figure she won't miss often when she shoots.

That's one reason Fischer has scored more than 1,100 career points in four years on the Hoffman Estates girls varsity basketball team.

And don't expect her to miss much at the free throw line.

Last season, she made 107-of-119 for a sizzling 90 percent.

"I started playing when I was about 4 years old," said Fischer, whose junior brother Brandon plays for the Hoffman boys team. "He pretty much taught me how to play."

Robert Fischer played high school basketball in Washington and then for the University of Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma.

His wife, Jane, earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Montana, the same state where she grew up. She eventually ended up playing basketball for the school.

Megan wears No. 32 because that is the number her mother wore in college.

"Living at my house, I pretty much grew up playing basketball," Megan said. "I always wanted to live up to my dad's expectations. He taught me everything about the game I didn't want to let him down."

Fischer, who has earned a scholarship to play for the Division I College of Charleston in South Carolina, sure hasn't let down Hawks fans over the past four years.

The 5-foot-10 guard averaged 17.8 points last winter and a team-high 7 rebounds while helping the Hawks to a 21-win season under first-year coach Mike Nocella, who used to be the Prospect girls coach.

"Mr. Nocella brought a winning mentality to our team," Fischer said. "Players make a team but it's good to have a coach who supports you. He loves being here and he would do anything to help you. He is a coach you want to play hard for and you don't want to disappoint."

With her all-around skills, Fischer is hardly a disappointment in any game.

She can handle the basketball, shoot, rebound and defend.

Nocella had a similar player when he coached at Prospect.

Gabrielle Cottrell was an all-area selection who went on to play Division I basketball at Manhattan College. She is back with Nocella as his assistant this year at Hoffman.

"Like Gabrielle, Megan is able to do a lot of things," Nocella said. "She can post up or she can shoot the 3s. Megan also gets a lot of points as a garbage collector."

Fischer scored 515 points last year and was also second on the team with 62 assists and 57 steals.

She joins four other returning starters for her senior year, expecting this to be the finest high school team on which she has played.

"It would be nice to go out with a bang," Fischer said. "Hopefully, we can live up to our expectations and maximize our talent to its fullest."

When she gets to Charleston, Fischer plans to major in mass communications and minor in political science with designs on being a corporate lawyer.

"I love to debate and voice my opinion,' said Fischer, whose roommate in college will be another four-year high school starter who is in her senior year in Ohio.

There's little debate that Fischer ranks among the finest to play basketball at Hoffman Estates High School.

"Megan has a good work ethic," Nocella said. "She worked with a private instructor this summer and she's come into this season after a lot of work on her own this summer, including some in the weight room."

Now as a senior, Fischer can't wait to help her team achieve is goals.

"I'm just so happy I can play for a high school in my own community and try to get as much potential out of my teammates as possible," she said. "Most of us seniors have been playing together all the way back to the feeder program system. So to do well our senior year would mean so much."

The last time a Hoffman team played in the state finals was 1991 when the Hawks took fourth place under coach Tom Kendall.

Coincidentally, Fischer was born just one month before that season started and she now has Kendall as her English teacher at Hoffman.

"Getting downstate would be great." Fischer said. "But there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. We want to advance as far as we can."