Star freshman, sophomores provide hope for Rockford high school girls basketball team
Auburn has had better years recently in girls basketball. Lots of them.
But this may be Auburn's best year to build around. It's a young team with a new, young coach. Together, maybe they could bring stability to the ever-changing world of Auburn girls basketball and help them evolve into a team that can stop the NIC-10 dominance of Hononegah and Boylan.
Those two teams have finished 1-2 in the league 12 of the last 14 years. Hononegah is 15-0 in the NIC-10 this year and Boylan 13-2. The only two times they weren’t the top two is when Auburn won its only conference title in 2020 and finished second in 2015.
This Auburn team is only 13-14 (8-7 in the NIC-10), but it’s three best players are going to be around for a long time. Sophomores Alivia Brown and Ava Gray and freshman Destiny Robinson scored every Auburn point in last week’s 68-36 loss at Boylan. In their previous game, those three combined for 63 points in a 70-63 win over Freeport.
“We will be good together,” Brown said. “All three of us played together in middle school (at West). With our bond, even if we get new coaches, we will be able to pull through. We have many years to grow together.”
“It’s exciting,” said Robinson, the team’s freshman point guard. “We’re going to be with each other for the next three years. It gives me a boost when I see them two at my side. I know we’re so young and we’re going to continue to play together for a minute.”
And maybe have the same coach for more than a minute. Sean Crary, 30, is Auburn's seventh head coach in eight years. He used to teach at Crete-Monee and be an assistant men's coach at Governors State University, an NAIA school in Chicago's south suburbs. He came to Auburn where he could coach and work at the same school.
“I see the girls throughout the day,” he said. “That’s really special.”
And Auburn has its best collection of young talent since Brooklyn Gray and Zhakyla Evans started as freshmen. The two led Auburn to its conference title and only regional title in the last 35 seasons as sophomores the next year.
Can Destiny Robinson, Alivia Brown and Ava Gray do the same?
Auburn is working at it.
“I am going to beef up our nonconference schedule next year,” Crary said. “And we’re going to go to four different team camps in the summer. We have raised a lot of money to make this happen. In team camps, you play 10-12 games over three days, then a tournament at the end. It’s a way to get us 45 games over the summer. We are going to play as many games against the best competition as possible.”
Ava Gray is the younger sister of Brooklyn Gray, a two-time NIC-10 MVP.
“I am trying to make a name for myself,” Gray said after scoring 13 points against Boylan. “Yeah, my sister was good and all, but I don’t try to put pressure on myself to be as good as her. I try to set my own bar.”
Gray said the Knights have “to keep pushing to get better each year.”
It’s a long climb to reach the level Boylan and Hononegah have established. But Auburn had eight winning seasons in nine years under Zay Hoover from 2008-16. This is the Knights’ chance to reach that level again — after eight years of starting over.
“We should be really stable — especially if Coach stays,” Robinson said. “We are going to be so used to that program, with my teammates and the coach.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Star freshman, 2 sophs, young coach could bring Auburn stability
