Childhood friends, Highland teammates will continue basketball careers in college together
Larissa Taylor and Lauren Maas recently finished three years of playing basketball together at Highland High School.
In a little over a month, the former Bulldogs post duo will continue their academic and athletic careers together at Illinois Central College in East Peoria.
Playing basketball together in college is a definite dream come true for Maas and Taylor, who have been close friends since childhood.
“It’s really cool that we can go onto the next level together and translate the stuff together and just kind of go through the same process,” Taylor said.
Maas agreed: “We do have a lot of chemistry from just playing together so long, so it’s fun to get to have one of your best friends playing with you. We’re just gonna continue to get better individually and together.”
Taylor signed with Illinois Central in March and Maas signed with ICC in April shortly after spring break.
Taylor said that the coaching staff won her over during her visit there in February.
“The coaching and knowing that Coach (Redeker) was trying to find a place for me ... we really connected and then the girls too were really welcoming and it felt like the right fit,” Taylor said.
Maas visited during Highland’s spring break in late March and her time with a few of the players helped sell her on the Cougars.
“When I went on my visit it was during spring break and a lot of the girls had gone home, but there were three girls that stayed and drove back to kind of welcome me to answer some of the questions I had,” she said. “So that meant a lot to me because they didn’t have to do that.”
“Coach Redeker also made me feel comfortable and that I would be a part of the family right whenever I got there.”
Since graduating from Highland, Taylor, and Maas have both been busy working summer jobs and lifting and doing shooting and conditioning drills in preparation for the upcoming year at ICC.
The duo spent the day in East Peoria Monday working out with the team in an offseason workout and helping conduct a camp for local 4th through 8th graders. It was a good way to get them an early start on being involved with the program.
“It’s been good and definitely a change of pace to get used to but the kids love us and it’s nice to see support from little kids,” Taylor said.
Maas said the workout was definitely more intense than what they went through at HHS. “The scrimmage, it was good to kind of get up an down the floor and it’s kind of hard to do that when you’re just by yourself working, so it was definitely a good conditioning workout and in just realizing that I need to work a little harder,” Maas said. Everybody plsy st s higher level and you kind of have too adjust to it.”
Both Maas and Taylor have talked with Illinois Central coach Carrie Redeker and her staff and are expected to come in and contribute at the guard and post positions this winter.
Mass is very much looking forward to plying the next two seasons at ICC with the the Cougars.
“I’m just excited to see what this coming season brings and then next season and whatever happens after that,” Maas said.
