After a serious knee injury wiped out most of last season, senior guard Cherish Boothe has returned in a big way this winter for T.F. South.
Obviously, she’s glad to be back after tearing her right ACL and meniscus, but there’s more to her final high school season than just points and rebounds.
Boothe was brought up to varsity midway through her freshman year. She remembers what that was like, with self-imposed pressure to contribute right away for the Red Wolves.
“It was scary,” Boothe recalled. “It was a different pace. I felt like I had to play to a higher standard.”
That’s understandable for a freshman. That’s why she’s taking a leadership role in helping T.F. South’s three freshmen — Brie Hawthorne, Asia Haynes and Jordyn Clark — navigate those choppy waters.
“Really, I’m just trying to expand their next-play mindset,” Boothe said. “Keep going after a bad play. I like to tell them, ‘Next play. Don’t get down on yourself. Keep going.”
That approach is much appreciated by T.F. South coach Eric Bryce.
“As coaches you sit there and say it,” he said. “But when it comes from girls the other girls are looking up to, that keeps this moving. “
Boothe isn’t the only senior with a vested interest in greater success for T.F. South (8-6). So is fellow guard Rayvan Rush, who played her entire freshman season on varsity.
Rush, who is averaging 14.8 points this season, scored 20 points in a 49-35 victory Saturday over Thornwood in the fifth-place game of the Oak Lawn Holiday Tournament.
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She considers herself a mentor to a certain degree, and like Boothe, provides specific counsel to the youngsters. Just like she received from seniors Daija Powell and Toryn Parks when she was a freshman.
“Really just making sure they’re being confident,” Rush said. “Everybody has to start somewhere. When I was a freshman, it wasn’t this easy to come and play.
“So, just knowing onto the next play. Every mistake you make, it’s not the end of the world.”
So far, T.F. South’s freshmen have thrived. Hawthorne, for example, averages 7.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 steals. Haynes averages 4.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Haynes had been coming to Bryce’s camps since she was 12. She started playing with the grade school and middle school kids at the camps, but then quickly moved up to varsity.
She said the transition to varsity has been eased by seniors Boothe, Rush and forward Jaiden Thompson, a captain. But it hasn’t been easy by any stretch, mostly due to the speed of the game and the physicality of opponents.
What has Haynes learned from the seniors?
“To always work hard and have a good attitude throughout the game,” she said. “And to have a lot of energy.”
That’s similar to what Hawthorne has picked up.
“Communicate more, work harder and have energy,” she said. “My personal goal is to become a better leader, be a better point guard and know my teammates.”
Now that she’s healed up, Boothe is looking forward to the rest of her senior season before heading off to Olive-Harvey. Rush is undecided for college, but one thing is for certain — she wants to play basketball at her next stop.
Both have a bright future, but so does the program, according to Bryce, thanks to their leadership abilities.
“I think the seniors want to leave the program in better hands than they got it,” he said. “They want the freshman to keep the program at a high-level status.”
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Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.