Oak Lawn’s Reagan Cameron, Moraine Valley’s leading scorer in basketball, is going to nationals in tennis. ‘I had never even picked up a racket.’

In the wild world of Reagan Cameron’s athletic career, she actually came to Moraine Valley to play both basketball and soccer. She only played soccer for a year.

The Oak Lawn graduate gave that sport up because it interfered with basketball, but in the fall, she joined the tennis team. As a novice, she stunningly qualified for nationals.

“Before this season, I had never even picked up a racket,” Cameron said of her previous tennis experience. “I knew nothing about tennis. I couldn’t name a professional player. Some of them have names that are hard to pronounce. I never watched it.

“I had no idea about anything.”

While she’s excited about heading to tennis nationals in May, Cameron knows basketball is still her main sport. It will be her best road to an athletic scholarship at a four-year school.

The 5-foot-7 sophomore point guard leads the Cyclones (5-4) with 19.2 scoring average — No. 23 in the nation among Division II players — and 20 3-pointers.

Longtime Moraine coach Delwyn Jones, who last week was named to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, has no doubt about Cameron’s future.

“There are schools that have called about her that have interest,” Jones said. “I’m not worried. She’s a good enough player. I had players who were not as good as her going to the next level, so she doesn’t have anything to worry about in that regard.”

Now, about this newfound tennis success …

Cameron worked a summer kids camp in Oak Lawn with Cyclones women’s tennis coach Matt Marusarz. Fearful Moraine wouldn’t to be able to field a full team, he asked Cameron to join.

“She’s a very athletic, hardworking person, so I asked her if she wanted to play and she’s now a regional champion going to nationals,” Marusarz said. “She’s a good athlete. She’s a strong and tough player.

“She’s always been competitive. Even in sports camp, if we have a counselor vs. counselor competition in anything, she’s always out there trying to beat everybody.”

Cameron won the Region IV championship at sixth singles as the Cyclones earned their first regional title since 2014. Marusarz said if Moraine didn’t have a full team, none of the Cyclones’ points would have counted.

Although the Region IV Tournament was held in October, nationals will not be played until May.

“I’m very surprised and very excited for that,” Cameron said. “My first few practices were a little rough. I just tried to have a positive mindset because I knew I was new.

“I knew I was going to make mistakes. I felt the more I stayed positive, the better I would do.”

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The Cyclones women’s basketball team has two national tennis qualifiers.

Former Lincoln-Way West standout Aubree Schultz, a freshman, qualified at fourth singles and at second doubles with Cate Gerl, also a Lincoln-Way West graduate.

Unlike Cameron, Schultz had played the sport in the past and performed well, qualifying for state as a senior in 2021 and finishing 2-2.

Schultz also finished fourth in the state in the Class 4A girls basketball 3-point showdown in the spring. She’s second this winter for Moraine in scoring, averaging 12.1 points, and also has nine 3-pointers.

After a rough 1-4 start, the Cyclones feel like they are on the right track as they take a four-game winning streak into Tuesday night’s game against Triton in Palos Hills.

“I love the team this year,” Cameron said. “We have really good chemistry. We didn’t start the way we wanted, but we stuck together and are playing well now.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.