Basketball great Candace Parker returned to Naperville Central on Saturday and brought some special guests with her.
One day after Parker’s high school teammate, Erica Carter, was inducted into the Naperville Central Athletic Hall of Fame, the school held a reunion for the girls basketball team’s 2003 and 2004 Class AA state championship teams.
Several dozen former Redhawks attended, including nine players from those two teams. The group included Parker, Carter, Tiffany Hudson and Lauren Grochowski, who all played on both teams.
“I’m really gratified that so many players showed up and really appreciate them making the effort to come back,” Naperville Central girls basketball coach Andy Nussbaum said. “It was a really good day.”
Parker, a 2004 graduate who won the 2021 WNBA title with the Chicago Sky and plays for the Las Vegas Aces, had a blast.
“It’s great,” she said. “Obviously, any time I come back here, it’s coming back home. Seeing all my old teammates, and of course I keep in contact with Nuss, so it is super special being able to bring my family back here.”
Parker brought more than her family back from her California home. When Nussbaum told her that Carter was being inducted, Parker suggested arranging a game between the Redhawks and Campbell Hall, the team from Los Angeles that includes her daughter Lailaa Williams.
“We had an open day today, and she said, ‘We’d like to come out,'” Nussbaum said. “I was like, ‘Really.’ We made it happen, and here we are.”
Lailaa Williams is a 6-foot-1 freshman center who is a burgeoning star. She was a starting middle hitter for Campbell Hall’s volleyball team, which won the California Division II state championship in the fall, and she’s averaging nearly a double-double for the basketball team.
But Williams was sidelined with a sprained knee against the Redhawks and cheered from the bench as the visiting Vikings won 65-55.
“I love my team,” Williams said. “Our practices, our celebrations, it’s just so energized. Even if we’re not on the court, we’re still hyping them on the bench.”
Following in the footsteps of a famous parent can be stressful, but Williams said that isn’t the case for her. She was happy to be in the gym where Parker began her career.
“She’s a pretty good inspiration,” Williams said. “I love her so very much. I try to repeat her moves and re-create what she did in high school.”
The Redhawks (10-17) would have preferred to get a victory in front of Parker and the other alums. Sophomore guard Erin Hackett tried her best to make that happen, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and three assists against the Vikings (10-16).
“It was different because we didn’t know this team,” Hackett said. “I definitely was nervous because I knew there was going to be a lot of people here.”
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But Hackett was thrilled to play in front of Parker, who provided the Redhawks with new shoes last year.
“It was definitely an honor,” Hackett said. “She’s a big inspiration. Just watching her on TV is great and seeing how she played here and got developed here. It’s like looking up to her, you can do the same thing since she also came from where you’re from.”
Carter, who hadn’t been back to Naperville in nearly 15 years, ranks second behind Parker on Naperville Central’s career scoring list. She said community support made the championship years special.
“You would go to a game, and there wouldn’t be an empty seat in the crowd,” Carter said. “From the student section and the neighborhood coming to watch our game, the crowd was remarkable.
“We didn’t have very big crowds in junior high, so coming in my freshman year, it was amazing support behind us, and the atmosphere in the gym was something unforgettable. The gym hasn’t changed except for that lovely new electronic scoreboard.”
Neither, according to Parker, have her teammates.
“There was great talent, but it’s also just great people,” Parker said. “It’s more special to be able to see all the people that have been a part of that, that was a part of my family.
“Just meeting everybody and seeing their families now, seeing that they’re still the same, it’s great.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.