West Aurora’s Skylar Doby sweetly calls her father “my main man.”
Since she was tiny, one message Doby took from her dad stuck most.
Don’t play scared.
“He always told me don’t back down from anybody, that you have the skill,” Doby said. “When you put all the work in, why not show them?”
More Top Picks Stakes Plant
That confidence came in handy when Doby was a freshman. From Day 1, she was entrusted to be West’s starting point guard.
It was really useful last week as Doby’s runner at the buzzer rallied the Blackhawks to a 57-55 victory over Larkin. It was Doby’s first-ever game-winning basket, but to no one’s surprise, her number was called.
“She does not show fear,” West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. “She believes that she is always going to be the best. She’s not afraid to make a mistake. I’d rather someone be fearless than passive and afraid of the moment.”
The moments have improved since Doby arrived at West Aurora. The Blackhawks are 5-4 this season, with Doby averaging a team-best 10.6 points and 4.6 assists. She’s third in rebounds at 5.3.
One of a group of young players to get their trial by fire at West the last two years, Doby has witnessed the growing pains as the Blackhawks went 8-19 two years ago. They had an 11-12 record last season.
With the graduation of guards Carly Frauenhoff and Ashley Williams, it’s Doby’s team now.
“She’s the girl everybody looks up to,” Siljendahl said. “When she turns it on everybody does.”
Doby’s self-assurance around basketball makes sense. Her older sister Kanishea played for West Aurora. Her dad Doug played for East Aurora.
Doby followed the lead of her father into basketball. He started her at the Vaughan Athletic Center. Eventually, he became her first coach.
She started as a post player, like her sister and dad, but by sixth grade was playing point guard. If basketball comes from dad, Doby’s drive comes from her mom.
“Since I was a kid I learned to never give up on anything you do,” Doby said. “Anything I do, I’m going to finish it even if I don’t want to.”
Siljendahl, who has known Doby since she was a second-grader coming to summer camps, felt Doby would be her point guard before she even arrived at West. She was running the show the summer before she started high school.
Doby took the assignment in stride.
“I’ve always had a nonchalant mentality,” Doby said. “I let the game come to me. If I wasn’t meant to be starting, I wouldn’t be starting. There was no point in me getting nervous.”
Always a good driver, Doby has grown as a shooter. Siljendahl also has noticed a better defender, with Doby moving her feet more. More than anything has been Doby’s presence on the floor.
Siljendahl lets her go.
“There are coaches that tell me they will have to call plays, to tell their point guards what to run — I let Skylar call them,” Siljendahl said. “I don’t do that with every point guard, but she’s earned it.”
She’s only a junior, but Doby already has her sights set on college and beyond. She wants to study prelaw and become a lawyer, and plans to play basketball.
A big summer playing AAU with the Bolingbrook Panthers, traveling around the country to Atlanta, North Carolina and Tennessee, raised her profile. Oakland came out to visit Doby this fall.
“Honestly, basketball is my everyday thing now,” Doby said. “I’m looking forward to playing college. That drives me to do well and work hard.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.
More Top Picks Best Outdoor Grills