Girls Basketball notes: Claire Hyde’s competitive fire, stellar shooting fuels Wheaton North

Claire Hyde’s competitive fire burns in ways that even leaves Wheaton North coach Dave Eaton shaking his head in wonder.

On, and off the court.

The school’s basketball programs have a drill where kids are asked to make as many 3-pointers as they can in five minutes. The previous record, held by a boy, was 72. Hyde made 80 this year.

When Eaton couldn’t work with his girls in person, he sent out virtual challenges, including a walking scissor drill where players have to do a between the legs dribble as they walk and the ball can’t get bounce in between. Eaton had several girls do 80 steps, one girl 87.

“And Hyde’s was like 3,500,” Eaton said. “She was walking around her neighborhood dribbling. The only time she wanted to stop was when she almost got hit by a car. That’s just her. She’s super competitive in what she does. She doesn’t just want to break a record. She wants to destroy it.”

It’s the resolve of a smallish 5-foot-4 guard, second-oldest of seven siblings, who has always been determined to play at the next level. Hyde said she started playing when she was two years old.

“I wanted to play college ever since I set foot on a court in kindergarten,” Hyde said. “I have a great support system behind me with my family and North side basketball.”

Eaton is in no hurry for her to move on. When an official recently asked him where Hyde was playing next year, assuming she was a senior, he replied “Wheaton North.”

Hyde, in her third season as varsity starter, is putting up positively eye-popping numbers. She’s averaging 21 points a game while shooting 40.5% from the 3-point line and 81.5% on free throws. But that’s not what means the most to Hyde.

Wheaton North (8-2, 6-2 DuKane Conference), after a brief two-game hiccup, has won its last four games and is a game behind St. Charles North heading into tonight’s big conference showdown at St. Charles. The Falcons are tied with Geneva for second place.

“This year we’re on a mission,” Hyde said. “We’re all of the mindset that we’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

Hyde topped 20 points in three games last week, with 25 in the first half alone against St. Charles East.

Her numbers are all the more impressive when you consider that Wheaton North really doesn’t run any plays for her.

“She gets her points within the offense,” Eaton said. “It makes her in all honesty harder to guard. You don’t have to focus on her, you focus on other kids. Then she’s coming off a screen and she’s shooting it from three steps over the halfcourt. She’s an amazing kid and her work ethic is relentless.”

Hyde doesn’t have any college offers yet, and Eaton thinks not being on the AAU circuit last spring because of the pandemic hurt her. But he’s sending out a ton of film, and anticipates the offers will start pouring in this spring.

Hyde, for her part, doesn’t get caught up on her size that others might focus on. She’s always been the shooter in AAU that could hit threes in buckets but has worked to expand her game.

“I try not to focus on the things I’m lacking; I focus on the things that I can do well,” she said. “Basketball is not just a sport for big girls. People need to know that.”'

Benet beats the buzzer again

Benet is getting pretty good at buzzer-beaters.

For the second time this season the Redwings won on a shot as time expired. Margaret Temple’s shot in overtime gave Benet a 49-46 overtime win over Marist in a Sunday matinee. Marist had previously hit a 25-footer to tie it, but at the other end Lenee Beaumont came off a ball screen, Morgan Demos rolled hard and Beaumont found Temple on the right wing.

Temple fumbled the ball, and gathered herself, her shot hitting the front of the rim and bouncing up and in.

“Straight up, like a bad movie,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “It was good.”

Previously, Reagan Rodenbostel hit a shot in the final seconds to beat Marian Catholic.

“Reagan and Margaret, they are two kids, they’re not stars on the team but they’re two stars in their roles,” Kilbride said. “As a consequence they’ve won games for us.”

Temple, who played on the sophomore team the last two years and practiced with the varsity team toward the end of last season, has shown the ability to hit long-range shots. She hit four threes and scored 17 points in a win over Naperville North.

“She’s a great kid, very happy for her,” Kilbride said.

Kilbride was happy to get out of Marist before a second overtime. Kendall Moriarty had already fouled out and Demos and Temple both had four fouls.

“Honestly, we were tired,” he said. “It would have been hard to go a second overtime.”

Willowbrook freshman makes waves

This might not be the deepest team Terry Harrell has had in his 11 seasons at Willowbrook, but it’s probably the most talented top six or seven. Winona State recruit Stephanie Dasbach is a tremendous rebounder, as is Eastern Illinois commit Taris Thornton, who came aboard with Sophie Sullivan from Montini this season.

But a freshman is making waves, and Harrell is hardly surprised.

Calli Kenny, a 5-foot-10 or 5-11 freshman who plays forward for Willowbrook but for a different team would be a big guard, has routinely put up close to double-doubles for the 5-2 Warriors.

If that name sounds familiar to Willowbrook sports fans, it should. Kenny’s mom, Andrea (Miller) Kenny, was a three-sport star at Willowbrook who went on to play all three – volleyball, basketball and softball – collegiately at Austin Peay.

“Calli’s literally been on my personal radar since she was seven years old,” Harrell said. “She would come to my camp when she was seven years old and her sister [Hannah] who is a year younger, she’ll be pretty good too. We knew she was coming. Coaches here in three sports were happy she was coming.”

Harrell calls Kenny’s athletic abilities deceptive in multiple facets.

“It doesn’t look like she’s too fast, but nobody out runs her,” he said. “It doesn’t look like she can get there, but she gets there. It doesn’t look like she’ll get a rebound, but she gets it. If you look at the results at the end of the game, it’s amazing.”

Harrell is quite bullish about Willowbrook’s next few years, with the Kenny sisters and another freshman, Elle Bruschuk, in the fold. Even on a team with rebounders like Dasbach and Thornton around, Kenny frequently finds herself in the middle of things.

“When Calli’s in the game, if there’s a tough rebound, you can always count on Calli beind in the middle of the crowd pulling down a tough rebound,” Harrell said.

Streaking Lyons

Lyons (8-1, 2-0) is on a six-game winning streak heading into a big week. The Lions face Glenbard West and York. The York game at 6 p.m. Friday at the Lyons Township North Campus will the program’s annual “think pink” game, with proceeds going toward the fight against cancer. Lindsey Hahn has been leading the way this year for the red-hot Lions, the Winona State recruit shooting 46.7% from 3-point range.