Recruiting Report: Jackson Northwest’s Sydney Shafer (2019)
GRAND RAPIDS — It’s understandable to be a bit intimidated when you’re in a wholly unfamiliar environment. Or when you’re facing the preeminent program in the state, in your particular sport. If the Jackson Northwest Mounties, making their first appearance…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingGRAND RAPIDS — It’s understandable to be a bit intimidated when you’re in a wholly unfamiliar environment. Or when you’re facing the preeminent program in the state, in your particular sport.
If the Jackson Northwest Mounties, making their first appearance in the state finals, were at all intimidated by their surroundings at Calvin College’s Van Noord Arena, they certainly didn’t show it.
And they didn’t appear taken aback at all by the name on the front of the jerseys of their opponents: Country Day.
“You always see them at the state finals. Their coach (Frank Orlando) is like a legend in basketball. He’s got 12 state championships,” said Mounties junior Sydney Shafer of facing Detroit Country Day in the Class B championship game. “We’re fearless when we go out on the court, and I think we can hang with anybody if we just really try our hardest. And I’m not scared of anybody that we go against.”
That’s certainly how Shafer played for the whole weekend.
She dropped in 21 points, along with 13 rebounds and six steals in a 56-47 win over Michigan Center in the semifinals, then posted 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the 64-48 title-game loss to Country Day, which won its third championship in four years, and 13th overall.
For the Mounties, who’d never been that far before, they were still making history themselves.
“The fact that we’ve never done it makes it even better, because we’re making history. We’re hanging numbers. That was our thing, kind of,” Shafer said. “It’s just surreal. Not many people get to experience what we’re going through right now.”
A three-sport star (golf, basketball and track), Shafer already has hoops offers from a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools in Grand Valley and Wayne State, as well as one Division I offer from Western Michigan.
The junior averaged 17 points per game and 6.5 rebounds for the Mounties.
At 5-foot-9, with long arms, she has the tools to excel on defense — averaging four steals and one block per game. She also moves well without the ball on offense.
It’s with the ball in her hands that Shafer stands out, though.
She’s an adept ball-handler, with good hesitation dribble, and a step-back jumper. She is more than willing to draw contact and get to the line (shot 155 free throws on the season), where she makes 74 percent of her attempts.
With her slight frame, though, it would seem like constant contact would wear her down, but she has an ability to slither around defenders, altering her path on the move to avoid the brunt of the impact, lessening the blow.