St. Joseph’s Amber Brooks is hitting her stride at the perfect time.
The junior forward is averaging more than 10 points and 10 rebounds this season and is playing her best basketball as the Chargers get ready for the postseason.
Brooks had 16 points and 12 rebounds in a 44-39 loss to Loyola in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red Tournament on Feb. 4 and the next night finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds in a 56-40 win over St. Ignatius.
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St. Joe’s first-year head coach Andrew Winston believes much of Brooks’ success has to do with how well she’s adapted to the new up-tempo style of play that the Chargers (13-11) are playing this year.
“I think we do best when we’re running and Amber is probably one of the fastest girls on the team,” Winston said. “She’s one of the reasons why I use this style of play and she’s been doing great this year.”
“It’s been a good year for me,” Brooks added. “I’ve scored a lot more and got a lot more rebounds this year compared to last year.”
St. Joe’s is the No. 5 seed in the Class 3A Orr Sectional and will play either Lemont or Rauner Feb. 18 in the St. Joseph Regional semifinals. Winston plans to look to Brooks even more in the playoffs.
“I just recently set up a play that goes through her,” Winston said. “We want to go through the inside so we need her to be aggressive in the post and look to score. She’s so selfless and she doesn’t want to overshadow anyone, but I want to instill that beast mode in her.”
Brooks, who is ranked near the top of her class academically, plays volleyball in the fall and competes in both track and softball during the spring, but there’s no doubt her No. 1 sport is basketball.
She started playing in the fourth grade and it’s been her favorite sport ever since.
Brooks was moved up to varsity midway through the season last year and she started her first game in the regional championship, where the Chargers fell to Marshall 51-33. After a busy spring, Brooks began preparing for the basketball season and she knew it was going to be a much different.
“We did a lot of running for summer league basketball, both on and off the court,” Brooks said. “I saw a lot of us getting tired so I knew we needed to get more conditioned.”
Brooks and Winston are the polar opposites. She’s quiet and reserved on the court, while he’s loud and boisterous on the sideline. But she’s been able to understand what Winston wants and as a result had an all-conference season.
“He looks for effort, he wants to see people hustle and play defense,” Brooks said. “He likes defense better than offense and I think I’m a better defensive player thanks to him. He’s taught me to always keep my head on a swivel and always move your feet even when your man doesn’t have the ball.”
St. Joe’s will leave the GCAC Red next season and move into the GCAC White to accommodate Fenwick, Providence and McNamara.
Rob Valentin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press