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player ready...Kayla Sharples saved her best for last.
Through sheer force, the Naperville North senior forward finished her illustrious basketball career with a flourish, averaging 26 points over her final eight games and driving the Huskies to an appearance in the regional championship game.
“She has a tremendous will to win,” Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. “I think it just speaks to her character. Obviously she put us on her shoulders and did everything she could to will her team to victory.”
Sharples averaged 19.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.8 steals and ended up second on North’s career scoring list with 1,763 points, just 33 shy of the record held by T.J. Williams. Only the loss of four games from the schedule, the result of the DuPage Valley contracting from eight teams to six, prevented Sharples from breaking that record.
To put her accomplishments in perspective, basketball is Sharples’ second-best sport. She would have been a major Division I recruit had she not committed to Northwestern to play soccer, and is regarded as the best player to come out of Naperville since Naperville Central’s Erica Carter graduated in 2006.
For her efforts, Sharples is the Naperville Sun Player of the Year.
“As a freshman I had no idea what I was getting myself into playing basketball,” Sharples said. “I came in kind of blind and didn’t foresee where I’d end up senior year.
“I’m ecstatic to see myself accomplish my goals and see myself grow into the basketball player I became.”
While Sharples has been a star soccer player from a young age, helping lead Naperville North to a state title her freshman year before concentrating on club soccer in subsequent seasons, she wasn’t as heralded on the basketball court.
But she was a four-year starter who improved tremendously with each passing winter, especially after Dycus took over the program last year. Sharples became the team leader and averaged 19.2 points and 7 rebounds in earning All-State honors as a junior.
“I only had two years with her,” Dycus said. “I wish I could coach her another two.
“She’s one of those rare players who when [teams] double-team her, she still finds a way to get her points. She plays hard on offense but she plays super hard on defense.”
At times it seemed Sharples was all over the floor, and that was especially true in crunch time, where she often made steals and muscled through triple-teams to score decisive baskets.
“When the game is on the line and in the last three or four weeks of the season, that’s when she’s been at her best,” Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. “That’s the kind of player she is. When the game is on the line, she wants the ball.
“There’s a lot of players that shy away from that kind of thing, and there’s not an ounce of that in her.”
Naperville North beat Naperville Central two out of three games this season, and Sharples was relentless in each. She got the last laugh, scoring 30 points, including six in overtime, in a 63-57 regional semifinal victory.
But the Huskies fell short of their goal of winning a regional title, falling to eventual state champion Benet in the regional finals for the second straight year. Sharples had “only” 17 points in a 64-47 loss.
“I’m clearly devastated and upset that my senior season is done,” Sharples aid. “We wanted to win that last game against Benet but they’re an amazing team. It’s just really sad to see our season end, especially as this is the last year I’ll ever play basketball.”
But Sharples left her mark on a program that had been mediocre for a decade before winning 33 games the past two seasons, many of which would not have been possible without her.
“I’m a very competitive person and I tried to do everything in my power to get my team to victory,” Sharples said. “I couldn’t have asked for better teammates and I hope they’re going to continue this. I want the best for them and try to inspire them.”
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Matt Le Cren is a freelance writer.