Sisterly bond leading Tecumseh girls basketball team
CLINTON — For six years, Addi Zajac has been anxiously waiting her time to take the floor for Tecumseh girls basketball.
The day finally arrived Thursday as the freshman made her varsity debut, helping Tecumseh roll to a season-opening win at Clinton, 70-14.
"I liked being on the floor a lot better than being on the sidelines," she said. "I would watch my sister do things on the floor that annoyed me and would make me angry. But I liked playing with her a lot tonight."
Tecumseh has a tight-knit group with nine girls and no JV team, making it feel like everyone on the team are kind of like sisters.
"We're all so close," junior Alli Zajac said. "We're all best friends and we have a lot better chemistry now."
While the team is close, no two are closer than the Zajacs.
They are both different players with Alli being the playmaker while Addi being the dominant presence down in the paint.
"Addi steps up in the rebounding game to help Alli out a bit," coach and mother Kristy Zajac said. "She makes her tougher inside. They know where each other are on the floor and make the right reads."
Alli Zajac is being looked to step up as a leader this season with no seniors on the team. Her and Ashlyn Moorehead are the most tenured student-athletes on the team as juniors along with Lauren Kilbarger and Faith Wiedyk, who joined them this season.
Sophomores Makayla Schlorf and Chloe Bullinger return while Sophia Torres joins the squad along with freshman Amaria Brown.
"Me and Ashlyn are putting in those big roles," Alli said. "It's always come to us since we've been on the team as freshmen. We know what we're doing and we help take control and help everyone."
Everyone got involved on Thursday in Tecumseh's 56-point season-opening win.
Alli led the team in scoring with 22 points and four rebounds while Moorehead had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds and Schlorf had 13 points with three 3-pointers and Addi had six points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
"Everybody stepped up and hit big shots," coach Zajac said. "We had a lot of assists and a lot of points scored. Defense I thought we looked good, we were diving on the floor for loose balls and we outhustled them."
She was pretty happy to see two of her three daughters on the floor together, playing at the varsity level. The youngest, Avery, will join in two years to play with Addi, but will miss playing with Alli.
"It's awesome," coach Zajac said. "I loved seeing them both on the court. They work super hard and work well together. It's a great experience for them. I played with my sister for three years and I loved every second of that, so I hope they enjoy it as much as I did."
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Sisterly bond leading Tecumseh High School girls basketball team
