Rough RideRs - Roosevelt High School

Rough
riders
Suriya McGuire (RIGHT) is one of the nation’s top ballers, but her ability to
lead Roosevelt deep into the postseason will depend largely on how well
co-captain Shakila Boler is able to rebound from a pair of knee injuries
words By Phil Perry
photos by Carlos Gonzalez
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Suriya McGuire
School: Roosevelt // Class: 2010 // Position: Guard // Ht: 6-0 // College: Miami
Nicknames: Ray-Ray, Ray-Ray Fresh, SM3 & Sugar Ray
YearPointsReboundsAssistsSteals
2008-09 12.5
9.9
6.7
3.3
* lost in Class 2A, Section 4 final
BlocksTeam Record
3.2
20-10*
McGuire on one of her superstitions: “It’s embarrassing. I sing ‘I’m a Little Teapot’
to myself at the free-throw line for every free throw. It helps get me in my zone.
When I sing ‘Here is my handle,’ I make sure my elbow is in. Then on ‘Here is my
spout,’ I follow through. I shoot about 80 percent.”
“We’re just trying to get
all our pieces to the
puzzle together.”
It’s 3:30 p.m. on a weekday in early January,
and Roosevelt senior captains Suriya McGuire
and Shakila Boler are together at practice. But
just watching them warm up, it’s clear: They are
in very different places.
From the first layup drill, McGuire stands
out. Catch her on a good day and the lean
6-foot guard with the unbridled athleticism and
ridiculous hops might just rise above the rim and
dunk a teammate’s lob.
Boler is all but grounded. A steady presence,
she’s careful through the drill, trying not to do too
much. The Teddies’ point guard doesn’t garner
as much attention as her high-flying teammate.
Not at this point in her rehab, at least.
For those who know Boler and are accustomed
to watching a methodical baller with sneaky quicks,
she now stands out because of everything they don’t
see — her spin move, her hop-step, the four screws
and bit of wire holding together her left knee.
You may never know it from watching them
get loose, but as the high school season comes to
a close, this duo — one the picture of athleticism,
the other returning from injury — will be relying
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on each other to help Roosevelt make a run at its
first-ever Class 2A state championship.
Led by McGuire, the No. 16 player in the
ESPNU HoopGurlz 100 who has committed to
Miami, the Teddies’ chances at the 2A trophy
were already good. Now, as Minneapolis thaws
out, and as Boler — a pure point guard and
future floor general for Northern Arizona —
returns from multiple knee surgeries, the title
talk is heating up.
“People are talking, but we’ve had a tough
stretch of the season to start,” says Teddies coach
Michael Wright, whose team was 7-7 at press time.
“We’re just trying to get all our pieces to the puzzle
together. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
A key piece to Roosevelt’s championship
puzzle, Boler has been missing for the better
part of the last two seasons.
Her knee troubles began in July 2008 while
she was playing at the Blue Star Showcase Camp
in Chicago. In the middle of a scrimmage and in
front of the watchful eyes of big-time college
coaches, her knee awkwardly buckled.
Doctors told Boler she had torn her ACL,
MCL and meniscus. After surgery, she would be
sidelined for six months to a year.
With a new scar and a bulky knee brace, she
returned to Roosevelt six months later in time
to play in the team’s final 14 games of her junior
season. She finally felt fully recovered after
exploding for 40 points in a one-point loss to
Jordan in the Section 4 final. But as long as it had
taken for her to regain her swagger, it was just as
quickly ripped away.
While walking around a Minneapolis track in
May 2009, she broke the patella (kneecap) in her left
knee. Boler didn’t trip or catch her leg; the previous
injury and subsequent surgery had merely left her
knee so weak that the patella snapped in half midstride. That, too, would require surgery and Boler
McGuire’s Favorites
TV Show: “America’s Best Dance Crew”
Movie: “Love & Basketball”
Musical Artist: Beyoncé
Pre-Game Song: “Fear” by Drake
Athletes: Allen Iverson & Candace Parker
Sneaker: Jordan Retro V
Book: “Slam!” by Walter Dean Myers
Shakila Boler
School: Roosevelt // Class: 2010 // Position: Point Guard // Ht: 5-8
College: Northern Arizona // Nicknames: Shak & Sha
YearPointsReboundsAssistsStealsTeam Record
2008-09* 11.8
3.0
2.0
1.9
20-10**
* Boler was limited to 14 games in 2008-09
** lost in Class 2A, Section 4 final
Boler on sitting out during practice: “You see people not wanting to run at the
end of practice, but I’m sitting there like, ‘I can’t wait to do killers!’”
“They know they’ll
have to do it
together.”
would miss most of this her senior season.
“It’s been extremely tough,” she says. “It gets
you down but it gives you a different perspective
when you’re out. You feel like maybe you took it
for granted.”
Because she knows what it’s like to sit out,
she’s been rehabbing everywhere from the
swimming pool to the squat machine in an effort
to get back to full strength.
Inspired by Boler’s effort, McGuire has been
doing just about everything possible on the
basketball court to fill the void.
“We know she’s working hard all the time and
doing what she can do to come back,” McGuire says.
“I feel for her because we know she wants to be out
here but at the same time it just makes me want to
work harder. When she comes back, we want it so
that she doesn’t have to try and do too much.”
Though everyone calls her Ray-Ray, Wright
calls McGuire his Transformer because he’s
comfortable putting her at any position on the
floor. She’s rewarded him with all the fireworks
of a blockbuster action flick.
A player who models her game after Allen
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Iverson’s, she leads the team in every major
category, averaging 16.2 points, 8.9 rebounds,
6.9 assists, 4 steals and a block per game midway
through her senior season.
“She can get to the basket at any time,” says
Wright. “She knows when to take over but she
likes to get her teammates involved too. What
makes her special is that she’s so unselfish.”
While Roosevelt struggled against some of
Minnesota’s top teams early on, Wright pictured
McGuire driving to the basket and kicking passes
out to Boler, a familiar long-distance threat.
“Defenses are going to have to respect
both athletes,” says North Tartan AAU coach Bill
Larson. “They both know each other so well and
they’re so smart on the court, there’s no question
a state championship is not that far away. But
they know they’ll have to do it together.”
Boler spent the first half of the season serving
as an informal assistant coach, using her high
basketball IQ to mentor players during halftimes
of games. Now, as she starts to feel comfortable
again with the crossovers and cuts that put the
most strain on her knee, she tries to keep the big
picture in mind.
“I don’t want to push it too hard right now
because I want to be healthy for college,” says
Boler. “But I can’t wait to get back to what I’m
used to doing. I don’t care at all about points. I’m
a leader and that’s all I’m going to do.”
Roosevelt knows that with the combination
of McGuire and a healthy, confident Boler, its
hard-luck streak of three-straight Section 4
defeats is much more likely to come to an end.
“We’re hungry,” McGuire says. “When Shakila
is back to full strength, she’s going to be another
warrior for us. But even with the way we are now,
I don’t think there’s anyone in our section who
can stop us.”
And to think, this duo is just warming up.
Boler’s Favorites
TV Show: “Bones”
Movie: “Titanic”
Actress: Angelina Jolie
Musical Artist: Whitney Houston
Athlete: Steve Nash
Sneaker: Nike Zoom Sharkley
Book: “The Library Card” by Jerry Spinelli