Senior Layne Nordstrom set a new all time assists record for girls basketball during Senior Night at a home game against Palatine. She finished her high school basketball career with 402 total assists. The record was previously held by Alicia Ratay in the class of 1999. 

“I didn’t think anyone would ever break that record,” Christopher Bennett, head coach, said.

Nordstrom said she had her eye on breaking the record since her sophomore year. 

“I recognized that I had an opportunity to break that goal and ever since then, I was working towards that each year after that.” Nordstrom said.   

Assists involve knowing where to go with the ball so you can pass it to a teammate to make a shot. They require knowledge of where your teammate is and where the defender is so you can know who to pass the ball to. It also means knowing when someone is guarded and looking for another teammate to pass the ball to. It is a difficult skill because it requires lots of attention and the work of the person passing the ball and someone receiving it. 

“Sharing the ball is not a lot of something people focus on nowadays, being able to take that time and effort to you know, focus in,” Nordstrom said. 

 Her hard work powered her ahead of the other players. She worked hard and spent a lot of time practicing. She developed skills you only develop, ”if you just get in a gym and play with other people,” Bennett said. He added that one of her best skills is her knowledge of the game, always knowing where to go with the basketball. 

Nordstrom started her basketball career when she was very young. She started playing around the time when she was in third grade. She has spent years and years working hard and practicing.

“[She] worked really hard when she was a little kid to learn a lot of skills,” Bennett said. 

When Nordstrom came to high school, she was on varsity girls basketball as a freshman, along with golf and volleyball. She also did flag football this year. Throughout her high school career, basketball has been her favorite part of the year. 

“I always got to spend time with my teammates and my friends. We made a bunch of memories at team dinners, and games,” Nordstrom said. 

She exemplified the skills and abilities that her coach values. She practices a lot and is always looking for ways to improve. 

“kids that work hard, kids that are coach-able, kids that wanna get better at things.” Bennett said. 

In addition to those things, Nordstrom has been an avid film watcher. She watches film to get an “upper hand on opponents”. Film allows her to reflect on past mistakes and learn to improve them. She also figures out how to best guard the other players. 

She had to overcome some obstacles during her time at high school. She recalled being a very timid freshman and earning to build her confidence up. She had to learn how to use mistakes to her advantage and view them as something helping her rather than bringing her down. During her sophomore year she got an ankle injury that set her back a couple of months. She said this injury definitely taught her patience and perspective.

Throughout high school she has developed her leadership skills and been a great teammate. She learned to be more confident which also helped with her leadership skills. 

“I eventually developed into a leader and being confident.” Nordstrom said. 

Her favorite part of being at Lake Zurich was the people she met during her sport. She said that she met some of her best friends from sports and that they bring a lot of fun and energy. She enjoys having people by her side who understand the ups and downs of every sport. 

This ultimately led her team to much success. During her time on the team, they won over 90 games, won three regional titles and finished second in their conference three times. She was all conference this year. 

She plans to play basketball and flag football in college at Illinois Wesleyan University.