After early season injury, Syracuse recruit Alyssa Latham returns to lead H-F. ‘I’m a little beat up. But it feels good.’

Her day was done.

Homewood-Flossmoor senior Alyssa Latham had just scored a career-high 32 points against Sandburg.

During the Jan. 12 game, a 51-48 victory, she looked like she felt 110%.

Afterward?

“Ha-ha … more like 50%,” Latham said. “I’m a little beat up. But it feels good.

“I knew my team needed me. I stepped up. Whether it was a double team, a triple team or a quadruple team, I was going to go get a bucket and stay tough and aggressive.”

The smile on her face said it all. Wherever she is health-wise, the Syracuse recruit is still putting 150% heart out on the floor.

It’s why coach Tony Smith can’t help smiling when asked about it.

It’s what H-F (9-6) needs during the stretch run of the regular season.

“That’s the will, that’s the attitude we want all of our young ladies to have,” Smith said. “You can’t do anything but love that kid.

“Alyssa’s a committed kid. She doesn’t waver. I tell her she’s going to be a special young lady. I can’t say enough about her.”

Latham is making up for lost time. Three minutes into the first game of the season, she became tangled up with two Crete-Monee players and went down with a knee injury.

She had to sit out for a few games and was limited in a few more when she did return.

But Latham has gotten stronger with every outing. And the four freshmen Smith has put on the court are starting to become contributors.

“It put a little dent in there,” Latham said of her early season misfortune. “I missed a couple of games, but I feel like I learned things by watching. I got a chance to coach from the sidelines, which helped me work on my vocal leadership.

“It stunk to have to go through that. But I’m healthy now. Everything’s all well.”

Practice pays off: Junior guard/forward Lilly Dockemeyer is more or less a self-made 3-point artist for Lincoln-Way East.

“I just keep shooting by myself,” Dockemeyer said. “No one really fixes my shot. It just comes naturally, I guess.”

Shooting those threes during games also has fringe benefits.

“Yeah,” Dockemeyer said, laughing. “It’s better than getting beat up inside. But I will take the ball to the basket every so often.”

She did both Saturday for the Griffins during two games at the DeKalb MLK Showdown.

From the arc, Dockemeyer shot 7 of 10, totaling 32 points. Among her other baskets was one that resulted in a 3-point play.

“I remember going into the girl trying to get the contact,” Dockemeyer said.

For the season, Dockemeyer is averaging nine points for Lincoln-Way East (15-7). Her 38 3-pointers are well behind the 71 by teammate Lana Kerley, but her shooting 41% from the arc leads the team.

Last season, coach Jim Nair brought Dockemeyer up from the sophomore team just before the state playoffs. She earned a starting position on the varsity during the summer.

“Lilly has been coming on a little bit,” Nair said. “Having Lana and Hayven (Smith) on the other side is opening things up for her.

“She definitely spreads the floor. It makes it difficult for teams because they want to double team Hayven. On any given night, it could be a different kid stepping up for us. Lately, it’s been Lilly.”

Did you know? Dan Murray is the all-time winningest girls basketball coach at Marian Catholic, with a career record of 223-82. He broke Annie Byrne’s mark of 216 when the Spartans beat Butler to win the Hillcrest Holiday Classic.

Murray is also the winningest coach at IC Catholic with 162 victories.