The tired, but proud, Cook County girls’ basketball league players at the Grand Rapids tournament where they won all four games played. (L-R, front) Leah Utities, Teresa Morrin, Taylor Ryden, Brianna Peterson. (L-R, back) Ashley Deschampe, Molly Zafft, Brea Boomer, Ailee Larson, Becca Laky.
Cook County High School girls’ basketball coach T.J. Super is pleased with his team’s play this summer.
“We’ve played 16 games and the girls have played well. The first two tournaments were held in Barnum and Lakeville. On July 15-17 they traveled all the way to Iowa to play in the Midwest Elite Tournament and they won five out of six games.
“On July 19 they traveled to Grand Rapids and won all four games they played. Overall, the girls have played great basketball,” said Super.
Leading the way are seniors Brea Boomer and Ailee Larson. Rounding out the team are juniors Ashley Deschampe, Becca Laky and Molly Zafft; sophomores Taylor Ryden, Theresa Morrin and Leah Utities; and freshman Brianna Petersen.
So how much have his players improved?
“The first tournament we played in, it was pretty ugly,” Super said. “We replaced some graduating seniors and the girls had to learn new rotations. Once they learned the system, things started to click. They have improved a lot since then,” he added.
Brea Boomer won a one-on-one competition in Iowa, and while the team didn’t receive trophies for its winning play, the players took first place T-shirts home with them.
John “Jake” Jacobsen assisted T.J. this summer. Neither coach gets paid, except in the dividends of seeing their young charges grow and mature as basketball players and into young adults.
“We practice a couple of times each week,” said Super, adding, “We’ve had a lot of fun.”
A tentative tournament was set for July 22 at CCHS. However, “Teams have been slow getting back to me, so I don’t know if we’ll play games. Still, if we don’t have a tournament, we’ll have practice,” Super said.
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