For varsity basketball players, Rebecca Lescay and Jordan Hamilton, college is right around the corner and both girls are on the path to success as both have signed scholarship offers; Hamilton with Northwestern University and Lescay with the University of Tulsa. Now, instead of talking only with their high school coaches, the two are also in contact with their college coaches.

“Because I have already committed, they don’t talk to me as much as they did during my recruitment,” Hamilton said. “But I talk to them typically every other week or so just to say hi and see how I’m doing and things like that.”

Their future coaches make it a priority to keep in touch with their incoming players as they are finishing their last high school season.

“Quite often,” senior Rebecca Lescay said. “Probably every time I have a game day; either to congratulate me or just see how it went and just randomly they’ll just ask how I’m doing or what’s up.”

The transition to college will be similar to what the two go through now, but they are trying to create habits that will carry over.

“Academic wise I’m just trying to get in the flow of waking up early, studying, and making sure I’m on top of it with my business,” Hamilton said. “When it comes to basketball I’m already kinda in a rhythm because for basketball in high school, we have early morning practices and college is going to be typically the same. So basically I’m just trying to juggle the idea of being a student athlete.”

But rather that get too far ahead of themselves, Hamilton and Lescay are trying to focus on the present.

“I’ve been just practicing. Right now, I’m more focused on taking the high school career out as far as I can and then I’ll prepare more for college,” Lescay said. “But as of right now, I’ve been doing the same stuff I’ve been doing. From what I hear it’s gonna be really different and it’s just gonna be more difficult. It’s gonna be different, but our coaches have prepared us for the next level.”

That’s a goal of head coach Ross Reedy.

“We try to empower our kids with the game so that they don’t just fit our system, that they can be in any system,” Reedy said. “We still target things in practice in their individual skill time that’s gonna be next level thinking and next level playing.”

Although the varsity basketball team is used to high level challenges, they know college will be a step up.

“Definitely the athleticism and the speed of the game,” Hamilton said. “Everyone is good and so everyones big, everyones skilled, everybodys fast and the game is actually sped up. In high school there is no shot clock, but as it transpires to college there’s a 30 second shot clock so it causes you to think faster and use your basketball IQ more.”