Lake Central sophomore Jill Beaderstadt knocked down two of her three 3-point shots in the first two games of the season.
The 6-foot-2 forward/center didn’t even attempt one as a freshman, which speaks to the strides she has made in just a single year.
Indians coach Joe Huppenthal offered an even longer-term perspective on Beaderstadt’s progress.
“She’s worked really, really hard,” Huppenthal said. “If you would’ve seen her three or four years ago, you would’ve thought the girl is never going to play basketball. But we saw her young, and she’s kept developing.
“We threw her into the meat grinder last year, and she wasn’t ready. I will say, of all the kids from our team last year, I was definitely the hardest on her. The thing that I respect her for, she took it. She took it every day, and I just kept telling her, ‘You’re not a freshman.’ But in reality, she was a freshman, and we had to speed the process up with her.”
Beaderstadt averaged 3.9 points and 4.7 rebounds as the lone freshman starter surrounded by then-seniors Vanessa Wimberly (Alabama A&M), Ayla Krygier (Indiana Wesleyan), Bryn Leonard (Purdue Northwest) and Isabella Soria (Chicago State soccer).
Entering Lake Central’s loss at Lafayette Jefferson on Thursday, Beaderstadt was averaging 10.5 points, a team-high 10.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists for a team that made a strong start to the season over the weekend with a loss to McCutcheon and a victory against Hammond Central.
“If we get that out of her night after night, we’re going to be able to mess with some people,” Huppenthal said.
Lake Central senior center/forward Emma Szany also has seen Beaderstadt’s growth.
“Jill was a little timid at first when coming in her freshman year,” Szany said. “Once she found her spark, I think it became easy for her to finally find her place on the team and as a player herself. She’s strong and easy to talk to when on the court. She has the best mentality when it comes to her confidence, no second-guessing. She’s overall a wonderful girl to be around every day.”
Huppenthal said Beaderstadt, “if you really get down to it, is the only kid that logged minutes last year for us in varsity action,” with “a bunch of puppies playing right now.” So Beaderstadt said she’s trying to be more of a leader after learning from “the great seniors” last season.
“I’m just trying to look for the open shot,” she said. “If I’m open, I’ll shoot the ball. If I’m not open, I’ll try to find a teammate and get a rebound and kick it out to a teammate if I can.
“I’m just trying to get as many rebounds as I can and help the team get a win. At the end of the day, I just want to win for our team no matter how I do.”
Beaderstadt has been doing quite well, especially given her shift of positions. After playing primarily center last season, she’s lining up more at power forward.
“She’s worked really hard with her ability to shoot the basketball,” Huppental said. “We’ve moved her to the four spot to stretch defenses a little bit. … Her perimeter shot has increased tremendously, which is going to help her at the next level. It’s our job, too, to develop that.
“At the same time, we can go both ways with her. If we need her to post up, run the five spot, now we have her at the four spot, it gives us a little bit of flexibility too.”
Huppenthal quipped that Beaderstadt “wasn’t allowed” to shoot 3-pointers last season.
She countered with a laugh and said, “You never said ‘no.’ I just never tried. That was not my job last year.”
Huppenthal focused more on other areas last season.
“We were really concerned about her defensive ability,” he said. “There were times when we had to change lineups and stuff. But what we got out of her last year was part of the reason we went 17-8. She’s just progressed and progressed and had just a tremendous, tremendous summer. She’s in the gym constantly, and she wants it. Those are the kinds of kids that are going to be successful.
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“She has a great family, great parents’ support, which is really, really important also. They’re obviously supportive of the program. All of that stuff goes hand in hand. The sky’s the limit for her, and I just continue to push, push, push her because I just know how good she can be. She’s just right now skimming the surface of where she can go. And with that said, it’s pretty darn good right now.”
The future bodes well for Beaderstadt, who has already taken unofficial visits to Loyola and Toledo. Her recruitment should continue to build.
“She’s a straight-A student,” Huppenthal said. “That goes hand in hand with our program. There’s only one way to get to the top, and that’s hard work. I don’t care if it’s basketball, life, whatever — hard work gets you there. And that’s what we try to build this around.
“If you work hard, you will get the results, and that’s what Jill’s done.”