After building momentum throughout the summer, the Mac Irvin Fire program will look to cap their year with a strong showing in the fall.
“We felt like we had a really good summer because we just kept playing better and better,” said Coach Mac Irvin. “We usually start a little slow, and then we start working through the kinks in the spring. Then we get going full swing in the summer. That’s when we tend to gel and really start playing well.”
The Fire will complete their 2015 schedule in their backyard at the Chicagoland Tournament of Champions. The All Star Girls Report event, which will be played on Sept. 26 at Bolingbrook High School, will feature an outstanding field.
As their play improved during the summer months, the Fire athletes began drawing more and more interest from college coaches. The team has been led this year by Destiny Harden (2017, G, 5-11, rated as the No. 74 recruit in her class by ASGR), Aireal Dickson (2018, 5-6, PG, No. 195), Marlee Kyles (2017, 5-7, CG, No. 264) and Savannah Altman (2017, 6-2, F).
“It seems like Destiny has gotten a million calls in the last few days,” Irvin said with a laugh. “She is one of the hardest workers we’ve ever had in our program, and she has one of the best motors in the country. She is just a very good all-around player, and with that motor she is all over the court.
“Aireal is one of the best on-ball defenders in the country. Offensively, she is a point guard who will run the show, and she can attack the rim. Marlee was an unknown before the summer, but she is getting calls from everywhere now. She is crafty with the ball, she is shifty, and she can shoot the three. Marlee is just a versatile, old school guard. Savannah is what I call a European post player. She can decent post moves, but she is good as a face-up player and she can shoot it out to 15 feet. She is a tough, physical player.”
In addition to those athletes who are coming off a strong summers, Irvin was also hopeful that highly-regarded Tori McCoy (2016, 6-4, P, No. 4) would be making her 2015 debut after she suffered an ACL injury back in December.