'Major' decision for Round Lake
Taylor Major had no idea who Diane Flade was before she stepped into her life that one day three years ago.
Actually, the way Major tells the story, Flade walked into a bathroom at Park School in Round Lake. Major was already in that bathroom, upset.
A major player as a freshman for Round Lake's girls basketball team this season, Major was stressing out at a tryout for the Lake County Challengers AAU team.
"I'm nervous about doing new things," Major said. "I was afraid to try out for that team. I was in the bathroom. I told my mom I didn't want to do it. I was crying my eyes out, and here comes Diane Flade into the bathroom. She was like, 'Hey, I got you. I got you. I'll go through all the drills and everything with you.' I was like, OK.' "
Major scored a roster spot. Assist, Flade.
Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon. Major scored 16 points, the senior Flade added 14, and Round Lake beat visiting Lakes 51-40 for its ninth win in a row, improving to 18-8 and 8-3 in the Northern Lake County Conference.
Lakes, which was led by Mia Edwards' season-high 20 points and 15 rebounds, fell to 10-15 and 3-7 in the NLCC.
"I was going to quit playing basketball," said Major, who had just started playing the game as a sixth-grader. "If it wasn't for Diane Flade, I wouldn't be playing right now."
Round Lake coach Molly Hennig wasn't surprised to hear how Flade took a young player under her wing.
"That's how Diane is," Hennig said. "Whenever we do something with the younger kids, she's always the first one who volunteers to come and help. ... She is just all about the program and all about Round Lake."
The addition of Major has been a huge boost to a team whose 11-player roster includes six seniors. Major scored 45 points in Round Lake's first four games, before missing 13 straight with a strained meniscus. The Panthers haven't lost since the 5-foot-8 guard returned to the lineup.
The daughter of Roy Major, a former all-city point guard for Carver, Major is averaging 10.5 points per game thanks largely to an ability to penetrate the lane and either convert or draw contact. She's wearing a brace on her left knee.
"It was pretty tough coming back," Major said. "I had to get used to the quickness of the game."
Major, who also had 8 rebounds, scored 7 points in the second quarter to help jump-start Round Lake's offense. Down 14-5 after one quarter, Round Lake took a 20-18 lead into halftime after Emily Etherington (8 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals) dribbled end to end and finished a layup to beat the buzzer.
"We're down in quite a few games," Hennig said. "The nice thing about us is we'll just grind it out. Defensively, we'll work on getting some stops, and then we know that eventually our offense will get going."
Round Lake protected its lead the entire second half. Flade hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter. Sam Nicoline scored all 7 of her points, including 2 baskets off assists from Major, in the fourth and grabbed 14 rebounds.
"They've really come a long way, and it's nice to see just how hard they play together," Hennig said of her players. "That's the thing that stands out in every game. It's all five of them, no matter who I put out on the floor, even if I put them in for 30 seconds."
Lakes' season struggles continued. Less than 24 hours after beating Lake Forest Academy in overtime, the Eagles turned the ball over 20 times. A year ago, with nearly the same roster, Lakes won 16 games and a regional championship.
"We have great practices," said coach Brian Phelan, whose Eagles also got 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists from Sara Smith. "We win every practice. We do good game plans. It's a little bit of a lot of little things that add up to not a lot of 'dubs.'
"Thank goodness we got a great group of girls who care for each other and work hard, and no one points fingers. This could be a lot worse situation when people are expecting more in-house. It's not easy for anybody - coaches, players, parents."