Girls Basketball: Alyssa Hughes, hungry St. Charles North have high hopes

ST. CHARLES – St. Charles North junior Alyssa Hughes has already established her refined prowess as a knock-down shooter through two years of varsity action.

The next step is putting it all together at her more natural point guard position, as her offseason and AAU focus was primarily built on improving her court vision.

During the 2020-2021 shortened season, Hughes averaged 11 points, 2.1 assists, 1.6 steals and shot 37% from 3-point range. Hughes was also an all-conference selection.

“Just making sure I can get my teammates involved as much as possible,” Hughes said following last Friday’s team scrimmage as a tune-up for the season. “And [also] just looking to put my teammates in the best position [for success].”

Perhaps it’s even become one of the more underrated aspects to her game on the court.

“I think maybe my ability, like I said, to find open people,” Hughes added. “Just because it’s something I’ve been working on. So, I feel like that’ll be a nice little surprise.”

Hughes will headline a hungry North Stars team that is searching for the program’s first regional title since 2007.

Joining Hughes will be sophomore star forward Reagan Sipla, senior forward Erin Stack, senior guard Morgan Klug and senior forward Eva Saltsman in the starting rotation.

“I’m going to try and see if I can out-rebound Erin this year,” Klug said. “I don’t know; she’s 6-foot-2. But I’m going to see if I can get six-seven rebounds a game...I feel like the scoring doesn’t really need to come from me so I can bring the rebounds and the assists.”

Aside from the North Stars’ shooting potential, length in the front court and the returning varsity experience figure to be team strengths heading into the season.

“I think our defense is actually pretty good if we can learn how to get into the help and get in gaps and play together, Klug continued. “Our defense is going to be really good this year, and then put it together with the offense and it’ll be a really good team.”

One player to keep an eye on figures to be Katrina Stack, the younger sister of Erin. Katrina Stack will likely push for playing time early as a sophomore.

“I think we’re both very confident with our shots,” Erin Stack said. “We’re both trying to evolve our games, but I think I’m more comfortable [with my] back to the basket than she is.”

What does that evolution look like for Erin Stack?

“In our [DuKane] Conference this year, I think I’m going to have a lot of mismatches, so just being able to post-up and get to the basket from either mid free throw line or from the block.”

To North Stars coach Mike Tomczak, one of the more underused aspects of Erin Stack’s game is from the mid-range.

“I think between 12 and 17 feet, she’s as good as anyone in the conference,” Tomczak said. “I think, sometimes, we kind of look at that three point line a little bit; we drift out there, but Erin is the type of player that can knock down the open shot.”

“When we utilize her in pick-and-roll, you’re going to have to commit bodies to her on the block,” Tomczak continued. “That’s going to open things up for other shooters. Erin being an inside-outside threat for us is going to make us a lot tougher this year.”