Basketball is no laughing matter to Katherine Dykstra and Amy Jaeschke, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
On a New Trier team that’s seriously good, the 6-foot-3-inch Dykstra and the 6-4 Jaeschke can find humor in almost any situation, dissolving into giggles during a practice or an interview.
“Part of the running joke is that there is none,” New Trier coach Teri Rodgers said. “I don’t know what they’re laughing about. I’ll be working with the guards, and all of a sudden Amy is crying she’s laughing so hard.”
In games, Dykstra and Jaeschke have reduced opponents to tears. They are two very big reasons New Trier (29-6) will meet Edwardsville on Friday in the Class AA quarterfinals at Illinois State University.
Rodgers calls the pair “the twins,” short for twin towers. She realizes that having two talented big kids is a rare luxury in girls basketball.
“They love being together and do such a great job,” Rodgers said. “They just work so well together. They enjoy competing and making each other better.”
These twins, however, are far from identical. Dykstra, a junior who averages 7.3 points and 5.8 rebounds a game, is a fabulous all-around athlete. Last spring she won the discus in the Class AA state track meet, and last fall she helped lead New Trier to the Class AA Elite Eight in girls volleyball.
Jaeschke, who has averages of 10.6 points and 6.2 rebounds, is the less athletic yet more dominant player of the twins, especially with an offensive game that is surprisingly finished for a freshman.
“I don’t like to use the term, blue-collar, but Amy has that type of game,” Rodgers said. “She gets the job done. She’s not flashy. She’s efficient.”
The towers also have different temperaments. Jaeschke, Rodgers said, can be a “goofball” who gets excited about “one of the seniors taking her to Starbucks.”
Dykstra, a talented bassoon player, is a perfectionist who, her coach said, “makes sure things get done and are done right.”
Jaeschke has been a major contributor since Day 1 this season. Dykstra missed the first two weeks of basketball practice because of volleyball and didn’t crack the starting lineup until midseason.
“It just took her a while to get into the groove of things,” Rodgers said. “Since Christmas she has been awesome.”
That has made New Trier a Grinch of a matchup for opponents, who usually have one good big player at most. Stop one of the twin towers, and the other usually will make you sweat.
“It is a hard matchup,” Dykstra acknowledged. “We can both post up, and one of us pretty much will be open.
“We can always do a high-low, pass it back and forth. Not many can stop that.”
Rodgers credits her twins’ unselfish attitudes with making this arrangement work.
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“They don’t care who scores the points,” she said.
Monday it was Jaeschke’s turn. She had 14 points and five rebounds to Dykstra’s three points and six rebounds in New Trier’s 50-27 victory over Young in the Loyola University supersectional.
More important, the towers helped limit Young’s 6-4 Danielle Campbell to two points. Campbell had scored 23 points Jan. 10 when New Trier defeated Young 62-59.
Dykstra’s state tournament experience in track and volleyball has helped her cope with the pressure of March Madness. She in turn has helped Jaeschke do the same.
“She really kept me calm,” Jaeschke said. “She said, `This is a big game, but it’s like any other game. Just play your game.'”
Jaeschke doesn’t get too excited anyway. She has exhibited impressive poise for a freshman and a grasp of such basics as avoiding fouls, keeping the ball high and kicking it out to New Trier’s guards, that makes her seem like a senior.
New Trier assistant coach Marty Laffey, who tutors the post players, praised Jaeschke for the intelligence of her game and her ability to apply what she learns in practice to game situations. He credited Dykstra, who can dominate with her strength and leaping ability, with making herself a finisher on offense as well.
“They have both come such a long way this season,” he said. “They just play their roles real well. They communicate real well too.”
Often, it would seem, amid those giggles.
“We laugh all the time over absolutely nothing,” Jaeschke said. “We just look at each other.”
And neither has to bend down to do it.
“It’s a lot of fun having someone you can stand eye-to-eye with and laugh,” Dykstra said.
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