Glenbrook South's Rogers to play basketball for Washington University in St. Louis
On the bus back to Glenbrook South following a Dec. 13 loss to Libertyville, the Titans girls basketball team may have needed a pick-me-up.
As she typically does on the court, senior point guard Sidney Rogers delivered.
Pulling up the good news on her cellphone, Rogers told her teammates she'd been accepted to Washington University in St. Louis, where she'll play basketball for the Bears.
"They all started cheering," she said.
Known as a rigorous academic institution, "Wash U" also has one of the top overall athletic programs in all of Division III. In October the Bears celebrated their fifth-place finish in the 2021-22 Division III Learfield Cup, the 17th consecutive year Washington ranked among the nation's top 10 athletic programs.
Not counting this season, historically the Bears are 866-233, winning 79% of their games. The record is even stronger in University Athletic Association play, in which Washington has won 24 conference titles.
Rogers, a Glenbrook South team captain the last three seasons and an all-Central Suburban League South selection as a sophomore and junior, was just waiting for Washington University to clear her admission.
She'd received offers from four other schools, she said, but had decided on Washington for some time.
"I liked talking to them a lot since my freshman year when I found out a lot about the basketball program, and the coach (Randi Henderson)," Rogers said. "It helped me build a connection in a way, and that I could trust them for college."
Rogers, who finished third in the Class 4A Three-Point Showdown this past March, this season is averaging 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists to only 1.6 turnovers a game.
She's averaged a total of 6.4 steals, deflections and blocked shots, and has made 48% of her 3-point shots, 85% of her free throws.
After that Libertyville game, Rogers was sitting on 948 points despite games lost by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Sidney is literally one of the top five players I've ever coached since I started in 1995," said Glenbrook South coach Scott Nemecek.
"She is as hardworking as any player I've been around, cares as much or more about team success than individual success, and puts her heart into the program, coaches and teammates. On top of all that, she has the shooting, ballhandling, and court-awareness skills of an WNBA player."
Rogers said she carries an unweighted grade-point average of 4.25 on a 4-point scale. She's considering studying psychology and neuroscience at Washington University.
"The noise you hear is me gasping for air thinking about her graduating this year," Nemecek said, jokingly.
His loss is Bears coach Henderson's gain. She was seeking a point guard for the future, Rogers said.
"She talked about my court vision and the way I can sort of impact a game, I guess, when I'm on the court," Rogers said. "She said how very important it is for the point guard to impact the game in a way, and I think she saw how I could control the defense."
Off the court Rogers' parents, Dawn and Ernie, allowed Sidney to control her college choice.
"They sort of let me decide everything. But I feel like they ultimately knew this was a place I really liked from the beginning," she said.