Brooke Sartin '23 Recruiting Profile

I started playing organized basketball when I was eight years old in the 4^th grade at Taft Elementary School.  I was usually the best player on the court and scored most of my team’s points.  In the 5^th grade, I earned the starting point guard position on the Junior High 7^th grade team and came off the bench for the 8^th grade team.  This began a period of very positive basketball growth for me, because every year afterwards, I was the starting PG for both the 7^th and 8^th grade teams.  In 2015, as a 5^th grader on the 8^th grade team, we made it to the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) State Finals Tournament.  We made it again when I was a 6^th grader on the 7^th grade team, and again when I was a 7^th grader on the 8^th grade team.  My 7^th grade team fell one game short of the tournament that year. Three of my teammates and I are a part of a small distinct number of girls who have made three straight appearances in IESA Finals Tournament history.

I usually play my best under pressure.  One of my best early games came against a team we faced in the 2016 Sectionals and were down to most of the game.  Knowing that we needed a surge, I scored the final basket of the 3^rd quarter to bring it to three points.  In the 4^th quarter, my defense on their point guard helped us hold them to only four points, and I scored five of our 12 points, including the free throw to ice the game, and we advanced to the Finals Tournament.  At Taft, I was a part of a special group of girls known as “The Fantastic Four” because we accumulated a 52-7 record and won five Regional and four Sectional titles during that span.  The local newspaper, The Lockport Legend, published a story about our success.  I was also honored to be one of a few girls to grace the cover of the 2018 IESA Finals Tournament Booklet.

I started playing AAU/Travel ball in my 6^th grade year, and I have always been the starting PG on every team I played on.  I enjoy travel ball because of the variety of teams we play, the high caliber of talented players, and the various states we visit.  I play my best during these tournaments because it forces me to play at a high level while under pressure to succeed.  I have a high basketball IQ and as much as I like to score, I also take great pride in my defense and love to lock down my opponents.  One of my AAU coaches nicknamed me "The Hairdresser" because I'm known for styling up my opponents with an assortment of wraps, weaves, finger waves, locks, fades, and crosses.

On the Lockport Township High School freshman team, I began on both the A & B teams, but after a few games I played on the A team exclusively.  About a third of the way into the season, I became a starter and helped our team to an 18-7 record, including a streak of 12 wins in row.  I was the starting PG on the Junior Varsity team and I helped lead our team to a 16-6 record, including a streak of 13 in a row.

I credit my parents and older brother as inspirations because they taught me to be the best player and person that I could be.  As much as I love basketball, I also like my academics, because I maintain a 3.66/4 GPA.  I was inducted into the LTHS chapter of the National Honor Society, and I have been on the LTHS Academic High Honorable Mention List 6 of 7 semesters.  I like hanging out with my friends, watching cartoons, playing video games, and traveling to different vacation spots with my family.  Although I haven’t decided on a major field of study yet, I look forward to going to college and becoming an asset to a basketball program.  The school that has me will have an intelligent, strong-willed, determined, and tenacious player who will always give 100% of herself towards our team's success.