After serving as a role player last season for star-studded Burlington Central, senior guard Page Erickson knew her role was going to change dramatically.
Part of it was a mental game, becoming one of the team’s go-to scorers this season while adjusting her style of play.
“I definitely had to change my mindset,” Erickson said. “We had to replace our big offensive players. I think it’s getting there.”
If performances like the one Erickson gave Tuesday night in a 55-21 Fox Valley Conference win over host Jacobs are any indication, it looks like she’s turning the corner.
Erickson poured in a career-high 20 points, including 12 in the Rockets’ dominant 28-2 first quarter in Algonquin. Erickson shot 7-for-9 from the field and added three steals.
“I think this is a big breakthrough for her confidence-wise,” Burlington Central coach Collin Kalamatas said. “There have been some nights where she struggled offensively. This was huge for her.
“She hasn’t seen the fruits of her labor yet because her shooting percentage hasn’t been great, but she still has the confidence and that’s awesome. On a night like this where everything is going on, this is the Page Erickson we’re capable of seeing every night.”
The Rockets (6-3, 3-2) shot 11 of 17 in roaring to a 30-2 lead. Erickson scored 12 points in that run, hitting all four of her shots from the floor. Three came from 3-point range.
“We were coming off of two disappointing losses, so we came out with a bunch of energy to show who we are,” Erickson said.
Kalamatas joked that something as simple as changing the team’s pregame warm-up routine at practice Monday may have led to that spark.
“We’ve just had some slow starts,” Kalamatas said. “The girls came out and banged a bunch of shots in, which gave them a lot of confidence.
“That was awesome to see. We needed it.”
Among the players the Rockets had to replace off of last season’s team that finished 23-10 was Taylor Charles
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, who’s now a freshman playing for Princeton.Still, Charles was quite a resource for Erickson.
“Taylor was an amazing teammate,” Erickson said. “She always supported me, encouraged me to do better and gave me advice.”
After last season ended, Erickson turned her focus to M-14, her AAU team. She also stopped playing volleyball to focus on basketball and a potential future of playing in college.
“The kid works her tail off,” Kalamatas said of Erickson. “She spends a lot of unseen hours in the gym. We end practice at 5:15 p.m. She’s in there until 5:45 getting extra shots up, on the weekends as well. You just see it in the way she practices.
“She loves the game of basketball. She plays year-round. This was the first year she stepped away from volleyball and focused on basketball. I think that helped her in the fall, getting those extra reps in the fall.”
Kalamatas said he meets with each player individually before the season. His meeting with Erickson focused on her expanded role.
“We just saw during her progression through high school that she got better each year,” Kalamatas said. “She made a step from her sophomore year to her junior year.
“We knew the big step would come going into her senior year, and you’re starting to see it.”
Kalamatas hopes Tuesday’s performance is the one that unlocks Erickson for the rest of the season.
“It’s taken me a minute to get into the groove of it, but this is nice,” Ericson said. “Coach K gives me the confidence.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.