Independently, Illiana Christian’s Abbie Ritzema and Cheyenne DeJong invoked the word “insane” to describe each other.
In the most complimentary way possible, of course.
For instance, DeJong used the word to explain how Ritzema, who leads the Vikings in points, assists and steals, keeps getting better.
“She’s always been great,” DeJong said. “But she’s been insane lately. It’s so fun to play with her. She’s had passes in between a girl’s legs. Now she’s trying a behind-the-back move. She’s very good at reading the court.”
Ritzema, a 5-foot-6 junior point guard, is averaging 15.2 points, 3.1 assists, 4.1 steals and 4.6 rebounds.
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Meanwhile, DeJong, a 5-7 senior forward, is averaging 8.9 points and 12.5 rebounds, which ranks second in the state, according to MaxPreps. She also tops the state and checks in 17th nationally with 0.9 charges drawn per game, according to MaxPreps.
“She’s insane,” Ritzema said. “I like having players you know you can just chuck it at them and they’re going to get it and they’re going to put it up. She’s just so good. She gets boards for us. That’s what she does. She has endless fight. She’s going to get that ball.”
Ritzema and DeJong, both captains, have formed a foundation as second-year coach Denise Van Ryn has embarked on the process of creating and building a culture. The Vikings (10-8, 6-1) are second in the Greater South Shore Conference, with their only loss coming to Lake Station, and have visions of at least competing for a Class 2A sectional title.
Ritzema and DeJong are two of the primary reasons for the program’s optimism.
“They’re both selfless,” Van Ryn said. “I don’t know how often you get two players like that.”
Van Ryn said it’s not uncommon for both Ritzema and DeJong to hit the court in the morning before school and to stay after practice to get up shots and polish their skills.
“Chey is the most humble girl you know,” Van Ryn said. “She’s of the mindset, ‘OK, let’s cheer for who hasn’t scored yet today.’ Not everybody gets in every game, so she’s concerned: ‘Hey, she’s in the game. Let’s get her to score.’ She’s not concerned about her stats. She doesn’t chase it. It’s admirable.
“And same with Abbie. If she’s on the bench, I can’t keep her in her seat because she’s cheering so loud for her other teammates.”
Although Ritzema and DeJong share a willingness to work and an others-focused approach — and neither plays AAU basketball — their paths to reach this point have been somewhat different.
Ritzema played on the junior varsity team as a freshman before earning a starting spot for the Vikings last season. She averaged 7.2 points and 2.4 steals.
“Going from JV to the varsity level, I wasn’t expecting a big difference,” Ritzema said. “But it was a big difference last year. I wasn’t making shots. This year, more of my shots are dropping. I worked on my moves and finishing better, just ball control and knowing where people are on the court.
“This year, I wanted to get my assists higher, and I’ve done that. I realized it’s better to be fully rounded. If you’re just shooting or just getting boards, that helps. But it’s good to see your teammates and get them their shots too. Seeing the potential in all of your players, there was one game I looked at my family and said, ‘My team is so good.’ We made a couple, and I was like, ‘They’ve got it.’ It’s fun to see them getting the hang of it and making shots. It’s just fun to see my teammates having fun.”
Ritzema said she has also improved her mental game.
“Just my composure,” she said. “I get hotheaded sometimes, and I’ve been working on that. I focus on the negative a lot, just on myself, what I do wrong — like my turnovers are too high, just because I want the assist so bad.”
Van Ryn has seen that maturation with Ritzema, who is the youngest of four children.
“From freshman year to now, she’s learned you’re not a one-man team,” Van Ryn said. “As a point guard and you’re facing presses, you so often see young kids trying to take that on. Now she’s become disciplined in terms of knowing what to do to get through it and be successful and the shots will come. She has really grown.
“Even sophomore year was tough. But she’s getting it. I’m excited to see where she gets senior year with the work she’s putting in. She’s a coach’s dream in terms of work ethic. She’s getting the balls out; she’s putting the balls away. She’s that player. She’s a player who isn’t going to get complacent. She’s going to keep growing. She hasn’t reached her full potential yet.”
Ritzema has also been playing volleyball and softball at Illiana Christian, although she intends to switch to track this spring. Basketball remains her “passion,” she said. She watched Caitlin Clark and Iowa play in person five times over the past two seasons, having traveled to Purdue and Wisconsin this season.
“She lives and breathes this,” Van Ryn said. “She just loves it. If she’s not playing basketball, she’s watching it. If I can get gym space in addition to my practice time, she wants it. She knows to become a better shooter, you have to get shots off. She just has a drive that has helped her.”
DeJong has started for the Vikings since a few games into her freshman season. With that experience has come a sense of calm.
“She is this team’s leader in terms of being really good at unifying the group,” Van Ryn said. “She’s really levelheaded. She doesn’t let the talk on the floor get to her. She pushes it back. She has so much character in that area of her game.”
DeJong has raised her game as a senior, including having developed her post moves.
“I’ve stepped up my scoring with losing players from last year,” DeJong said. “I’ve always been timid with that, but I’m more confident to score this year. At first it was a challenge because I felt a lot of pressure. But it all just happened naturally. Once I gained that confidence, got a few 10-point games, it was like, ‘I can score now. I can keep going. How far can I go?'”
Van Ryn said DeJong has the ability to play in college.
“Anybody would be lucky to get her,” Van Ryn said. “You can’t coach what she has. You can try, but she just has ‘it.’ She’s a rebounding machine.”
Indeed, DeJong has excelled in that area throughout her career, despite being relatively undersized for a post player.
“I just want the ball,” she said. “I’d do anything for it. You have to box out. It’s positioning. It’s reading it. It’s jumping at the top; I have a little bit of hops too. But it’s also that hunger. I will dive for rebounds. I will try to rip the ball away.”
DeJong averaged 4.1 points and 9.4 rebounds as a freshman and 4.2 points and 8.0 rebounds as a sophomore. She was sidelined with a leg contusion for three weeks last season and averaged 5.2 points and 7.6 rebounds.
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“I got kneed, and it just swelled up,” she said. “My knee was four times the size. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t bend it.
“But when I came back, everybody noticed I started playing every game like it was my last. That mentality really helped me. I was going to give it my all every single game. I was like, ‘I have nothing to lose, and I’m not going to take it for granted.'”
DeJong, who also plays third base for Illiana Christian’s softball team, brings that attitude to absorbing charges.
“My mentality is to just sacrifice your body for the game,” she said. “If that’s what has to be done, I’m going to do it. If that’s going to turn the ball over to our side, I’ll take it.”
Still, it’s not always easy for Van Ryn to watch.
“As a coach, you’re like, ‘Please get up,'” Van Ryn said. “And she gets up. She has to take ice baths every game, but she gets up.”
DeJong joked she became accustomed to such physicality growing up. She has five brothers among six siblings.
“I’ve had to fight my own fights,” she said with a laugh.
The Vikings hope to fight as deep into February as possible.
“We’re combining as a team and playing well together,” Ritzema said. “It would be really fun to win sectionals. We can do that. If we play how we’ve been playing, we can get there. It’s just really exciting. It definitely hasn’t always been like this.”
DeJong agreed things are changing for the program.
“I’m just having so much fun seeing us grow and winning more games that we haven’t really won in the past,” DeJong said. “To see it from my freshman year to my senior year, just the intensity, the competition, the skill level, it’s like, ‘Holy cow.'”