By John Ring
Published February 10, 2022 in The Burg
There’s a few constants in the Silver Streak girls basketball program and one of them is Mike Rux, who has been coaching at that level for the Streaks for over three decades now.
It’s a run of historic proportions. Not so much for the wins or Western Big 6 titles the
sophomores have won under Rux but it’s that he hasn’t lost a scintilla of passion for the game.
He still has the fire in the belly attitude and it shows during the games.
“Yes, it’s still there,” said Coach Rux after a win over East Moline last week. “I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s great working with the kids and working with Coach Massey. We just support each other and the program and I love coming to practice every day and working and interacting with the kids. It’s lot of fun."
Rux and his team have had a lot of fun this year. They have a 17-3 record and are riding strong post play from Addison Peck and Syriah Boyd, along with a strong point guard in Addy McLaughlin to the coveted 20-win season that few teams enjoy.
“The post players have contributed a lot and both Syriah and Addison have contributed a lot of good things for us. We get scoring from them and Addy has shot well for us as a point guard.
She has a knack for shooting, it’s not a conventional shot because she shoots it so high.”
“But,” continued Rux, “she’s been accurate for us.”
Addy Mac has. In fact, all three have been key players for the Streaks on a roster of 14 players that includes six freshmen. Boyd is 5’8” tall, Peck is 5’10” and McLaughlin is tall but effective for the point guard position at 5’7”. She is a mix of Streak point guards of the past; taller than Watson and Howard, shorter than Bicego, Jenkins or Williams but can do a lot of good things at that position.
Because of a numbers crunch, Rux has had all three-- Boyd, Peck and McLaughlin for two years on his team. “That experience has been beneficial to them in understanding what we’re trying to do.”
Rux said this team is reflective of teams he has had for the last three seasons that won at the sophomore level. “It;’s typical of the last several teams,”he said about his current Streaks, “because there’s things we want to do that we feel will make us successful, like how we defend, who we want to get the ball to and I think this group is as good as any that we have had in the past.”
The only three losses for the Streaks this year came to Geneseo early in the season, to Quincy by five points in an overtime defeat and to a non-conference team. And as a team, the Streak sophomores have been in the upper echelon of teams in the Western Big 6 which bodes well
for the future.
Comentários