Suburban Life girls basketball notes: Stella Sakalas stars for new-look, 13-2 Nazareth group

Stella Sakalas' childhood has been a unique one spanning two continents.

Now the junior is at a unique juncture in the Nazareth basketball program.

The first girl off the bench as a freshman for the 2023 Class 3A state champs, and a starter for last season’s 4A runner-ups, Sakalas is one of the last links to that special group, the lone returning starter.

But Nazareth isn’t going anywhere.

A young team with just one senior – Valparaiso commit Allia von Schlegell – is 13-2, and as Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel noted, is a stone’s throw from being 14-1.

“We lost to St. Ignatius, led the whole game until 20 seconds to go. Benet beat us up,” Stritzel said. “We’re not where we want to be, but our ceiling is really high. It’s a fun group to coach.”

A fun group to play with, too, for Sakalas, a smooth 6-foot-1 forward and Division I prospect.

“I would definitely say we started off strong, but we keep getting stronger. We are learning as we go,” Sakalas said. “Our team chemistry is good not only because we are teammates but friends off the court. It helps that we practice together and go to the same trainer to get to know and work on our game all the time. We are better at reading each other.”

Athletics is in the DNA for Sakalas. Her parents met at Iowa State where her dad played center for the football team and her mom was a swimmer.

Stella was 1 year old and her mom pregnant with her twin brothers when the family moved to Melbourne, Australia.

“My dad had a work opportunity and my parents were up for the adventure,” Sakalas said. “Australia is a lot warmer than Chicago. We did live on the beach. There is a lot of swimming and soccer, more outside aspects of life. Me and my two brothers did a lot of sports.”

That included rugby, cross country and track and field. Basketball stuck. It’s a popular sport in Australia, but the game is taught in a different way than the U.S.

“There is a lot more focus on development and basketball mechanics. The first half of practice we wouldn’t touch a basketball, we’d just focus on defense,” Sakalas said. “In America they focus more on offense. In Australia it’s more defense.”

The family moved back to the U.S. in March 2019; the first week back Stella’s dad found her an AAU basketball team with the Midwest Elite program coached by Stritzel.

“We would practice at Naz when I was in the fifth grade playing with all the girls and we stuck together,” Sakalas said. “Definitely I just loved the community at Nazareth. Coach is an amazing coach and all the girls were so welcoming and very good at basketball going back to when coach’s daughter Annie played here.”

Sakalas averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds as a freshman and 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds last season for a talented veteran team, numbers that have spiked significantly this year.

Coming into the week she was averaging 16.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Sakalas went for 31 points in the championship game of the Sandburg Holiday Classic Dec. 28.

“She is probably the most efficient scorer that I have had in years,” Stritzel said. “She’s shooting 60% from 2-point range, she can shoot the 3, she has a midrange game, she’s added a post-up game. She’s flat out a really dynamic offensive player.”

She’s the leader of a Nazareth team with four girls averaging close to double figures.

Nazareth’s group the last few years was known for its sensational defense, and Stritzel noted this group is not there yet.

But between Sakalas, von Schlegell, junior Lyla Shelton and sophomores Sophia Towne and Sam Austin – kid sister of former Nazareth start Olivia Austin – the Roadrunners are averaging close to 60 points per game.

“What we can do is score,” Stritzel said. “We have 4-5 girls who can put the ball in the basket.”

The Roadrunners will get plenty of tests over the season’s stretch run. They play York and Montini at the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest, and play at defending Wisconsin Division I champion Arrowhead Jan. 25 followed by a rematch at Benet Jan. 29.

Stritzel keeps telling the girls that either this year or next year is Nazareth’s “year” – and hopes it’s this year. Meanwhile he’s enjoying being under the radar after playing the role of the hunted the last few years.

“It’s a nice change and the girls are thriving with it,” Stritzel said. “We don’t want to peak now, but it’s pretty amazing, I don’t know any other program that can lose the four starters we did and be as competitive as we are.”

Coach Kipp Hoopsfest lineup

The lineup for the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest has been finalized with games Jan. 18 at Nazareth and Jan. 20 at Benet.

The seven games on Jan. 18 will include Downers Grove South-Maine West at 10:30 a.m., Lyons-St. Charles East at 3 p.m., Benet-Prospect at 4:30 p.m. and Nazareth-York at 7:30 p.m.

The 10 games in two gyms on Jan. 20 will include Nazareth-Montini at 10:30 a.m., Downers Grove North-Lincoln-Way Central at 11 a.m. and Benet-Libertyville at 2 p.m., Hinsdale South-Lake Central (Ind.) at 4:15 p.m.