Girls basketball: Schuster shows off post moves as Jacobs rolls past Dundee-Crown

Jacobs junior forward Olivia Schuster received the ultimate compliment from Dundee-Crown first-year coach Charles Fed following a dominant 19-point performance Friday night in Carpentersville.

“I tell ya, she’s phenomenal,” Fed said following Jacobs’ 55-23 victory over his Chargers. “From what I saw last year when I refereed games to this year, it’s like night and day. She’s improved tremendously. She’s definitely, if not the best, one of the top post players in the Fox Valley (Conference).”

Schuster, at 6-foot-1, towered over everybody Friday night.

Her smooth moves and sweet touch around the basket was on display, especially in the first half when Schuster scored 14 points and added five rebounds, a pair of assists, two steals and a block.

Jacobs coach Jonathon Reibel said Schuster, with a new aggressive mindset, has already looked like a different player this year.

“It’s nice having that interior presence and being able to take advantage of high-percentage (shots) and second chances, and on defense having someone around the basket who can change and alter shots,” Reibel said of Schuster, who led her team in scoring (8 ppg) and rebounding (11 rpg) as a sophomore.

“Tonight, what I liked from her was her continued growth – learning how to get position if she’s not the one taking the shot. She’s starting to get stronger around the basket. Instead of leaning away from contact we’re getting her to go more toward the basket and embrace that contact. Tonight she took that step up of, ‘Hey, I can do more off the ball. I don’t always need the ball to score.’ "

Schuster scored all 10 of her team’s first-quarter points as the Golden Eagles (3-5, 2-2 FVC) jumped ahead 10-2 against the Chargers (1-8, 1-3). Jacobs’ lead grew to 29-15 at halftime and, following Schuster’s ninth and final field goal in the closing seconds of the third quarter, a 50-20 lead going into the fourth.

Schuster also displayed her range by knocking down her only 3-point attempt in the third quarter.

“I’ve been working on a lot more outside work instead of just low post,” Schuster said. “I’ve been working on hitting my 3s, my outside shots, as well as my driving to the basket which opens up more opportunities for not just myself but everybody.”

Jacobs also received strong games from senior Mallory Fessler (three assists) and sophomore Sienna Ryan with nine points apiece. Sophomore Brylan Lemon, playing in her first varsity game, tossed in eight points and five rebounds.

“Her length, her athleticism, she makes our guards better and makes our bigs better,” Reibel said of the 5-8 Lemon. “She’s that X-factor. She’s all about the ball. She wants to get a hand on the ball on offense or defense, and that’s such a huge thing for us. If kind of lit a fire in everybody else. We’ve stepped up energy wise and focus wise because of her impact and presence on the court.”

Senior Zara Lewis, one of the Eagles’ senior captains, said Lemon has brought a youthful energy to practices.

“She brings a lot of fire,” said Lewis, who had three steals. “She just brings another force to the game. She makes us a much better team.”

Dundee-Crown, which picked up a 49-33 win against Crystal Lake Central for its first win on Dec. 2, was led by sophomore Kate Graham with 10 points and Olivia Rodriguez with four points and six rebounds.

Fed said his team needs to improve its “basketball IQ.”

On Friday, D-C committed 29 turnovers to Jacobs’ 12.

“It’s a great group of girls, they work hard, but we have to improve our basketball IQ, and that’s on me,” Fed said. “Our goal as a team is to continue to improve every day. Not just in games, but in practice. We need to improve on the fundamentals.”