Prep Hoops: A Chance To Continue A Career

The distance between Eldorado and Jacksonville, Illinois is roughly 206 miles and some three-plus hours.

The distance between Paige Zertuche and her love for basketball is unmeasurable.

The Eldorado senior will call Jacksonville home for the next few years as she signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for MacMurray in the fall.

Zertuche, who has been playing basketball since the first grade, said getting the opportunity to sign with a college program has been her childhood dream.

"It means a lot that I get to continue my basketball career. I've been playing basketball since I was in the first grade and its just something that I've grown to love and I'm just so happy to continue to have the opportunity to play."

Zertuche who led the Eagles (16-13) in scoring this year at 14.55 points per game is hoping to duplicate that at the next level.

"I would say one of my strengths going in is my shooting. I think I'll be playing more of a shooting guard position rather than point guard like I did in high school."

Eldorado head coach Scott Artman has known Zertuche since the fifth grade and could tell even then that she was destined to play college hoops.

"I'm tickled to death for her that she gets to play at the next level," Artman said. "At the beginning of the year one of the first things I set out to do was put her in a program that I felt would best prepare her for college basketball. We worked really hard to get her in shape.

"I think she'll have an immediate impact and make great strides. I wouldn't be surprised if she lights up that conference next year."

Zertuche was named to the Black Diamond All-Conference Team the past two seasons and was named to the Harrisburg Invitational and Eldorado Mid-Winter Classic All-Tournament teams the past two seasons.

The accolades could have been more, but Zertuche missed a good portion of last season after tearing her ACL, which the senior thought was the end of her basketball playing days for good.

"That's why this means so much to me," Zertuche said. "When I first tore my ACL, I thought it was all over. Then after some therapy and them telling me I could possibly come back early, gave me a new lease on what I thought was going to be the end of my basketball career."

She also knows that despite her accomplishments this past season, it's little consolation what's ahead of her.

"I have to continue to work on my game, from now until the end of summer, I'll be doing drills and whatever I can do to fine tune things before I go to MacMurray."

Zertuche joins classmates Taylor Aldridge, who signed with Rend Lake College for golf and Ashton and Taylor Goodley, who signed to play golf at Austin Peay University next fall.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.