Junior guard Ayumi Ishikawa wanted to increase her scoring this season for Streamwood.
Ishikawa did just that, averaging 15.3 points, but what stood out was how she produced those points. She honed her knack for creativity while being more consistent with her 3-point shot.
And she continues to collect her usual points thanks to steals, thus transforming herself into a versatile scorer.
“The pull-up or the fadeaway, they don’t expect that,” Ishikawa said. “Those are the shots that I work on. I feel like in women’s basketball, those shots aren’t really expected. It’s harder to defend.
“I’m really consistent with these shots, so I practice them a lot.”
Ishikawa pulled out his entire bag of scoring tricks Tuesday night, finishing just shy of a career high with 27 points for the Sabers in a 58-43 Upstate Eight West win over host West Aurora.
Karen Mendez scored 12 points for Streamwood (12-5, 6-2), while Brianna Coffey added seven points and 10 rebounds. Aniyah Stewart led West Aurora (6-12, 4-5) with 11 points and 12 rebounds coming off the bench. Dynasty Logan had eight points.
Ishikawa mixed this all night. She hit a runner in the lane, a fadeaway on the wing and a pull-up jumper on the baseline on Tuesday.
“She’s the type of kid that stays after practice as long as we let her work different angles, starting from three,” Streamwood coach Samuel Kruel said. “She was hot.
“When that happens and she gets into the flow and finds her touch, she’s amazing.”
West Aurora coach Teresa Waldinger noted how difficult it is to guard someone who is comfortable with the range of shots Ishikawa has.
“She’s a great little athlete,” Waldinger said. “I give her a lot of credit. She can take it to the hoop. She can obviously hit it from the outside. We tried several different players on her.
“She was really giving us both sides.”
That’s the other thing that stands out about Ishikawa’s game. She averages more than five interceptions.
“She has some of the fastest hands I’ve ever seen,” Kruel said. “And it’s not just the hands, it’s the IQ. She knows that if you can’t go left, she’s going to force you left, and as soon as you try to go back to the right, we’re off to the races the other way.
“It’s IQ mixed with speed and hard work. We don’t have many players like that.”
West Aurora made 24 of its 27 turnovers through the first three quarters, and Ishikawa was a big reason why. She totaled six steals, helping Streamwood take a 47-25 lead after three quarters.
However, the Blackhawks still stuck around. They reduced the turnovers by cutting the deficit to 13 at one point in the fourth.
“I was pretty proud of how we finished,” Waldinger said. “We obviously had way too many turnovers in the first half, so we tried to adjust that, stop their shooters.”
Ishikawa was also prepared for her jump into production, and the results are showing.
“I think a lot of it is due to a lot of seniors leaving,” Ishikawa said. “They were a big part of our team, so I had to step up and score a little more and be more efficient.
“I’m just more aggressive.”
Kruel enjoyed following this progression.
“She makes herself dangerous all over the field,” Kruel said. “She just keeps getting better every year, and that’s a testament to how hard she works.”
“She constantly wants to improve, and that’s very admirable.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
