She’s ‘the one.’ H-F’s Alyssa Latham is the 2022-23 Daily Southtown Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
alyssa #alyssa
The most memorable legacy that senior Alyssa Latham will leave at Homewood-Flossmoor isn’t about points and rebounds.
It will be about her leadership.
Testimony about the Syracuse recruit has been given the entire season.
By freshman Jenesis Moore …
“Alyssa pushes me,” Moore said. “That’s the thing everyone doesn’t know. She’s a leader on and off the court. Even with schoolwork, she’s a leader.”
By freshman Aunyai Deere …
“I learn so many things from her,” Deere said. “She teaches me different moves and about me finishing. Any time I need something outside of the court, she’ll help me with it. That’s what I love about her.”
By sophomore Jemiyah McDonald …
“She motivated me to keep going,” McDonald said. “When it would get hard at practice, she encouraged me to keep on running and make the times.”
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And as the youngsters improved, the Daily Southtown 2022-23 Girls Basketball Player of the Year had the best season of her career.
Latham, a 6-foot-2 forward, averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. She was the SouthWest Suburban Blue’s player of the year and earned Class 4A first team all-state honors.
She was also the undisputed spiritual leader in a season that the very young Vikings (19-7) won a share of the conference title and advanced to a sectional final.
H-F coach Tony Smith gave his own testimony about the impact Latham made during her four-year varsity career.
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“I’ve been very blessed to have many of those type of kids who are ‘the one,’” Smith said. “They work, they have that aptitude, they have great parents who let them be coached. She’s one of the those kids who lived up to it.
“When she was a freshman, Alyssa was a kid who listened and worked and learned. Now, the younger kids are listening to her. She was the big sister and built their trust in her. I’m hoping we have some other kids who can do it in the future.”
H-F started the season with four freshmen on the roster. The Vikings ended it with two freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup.
What they achieved was pretty remarkable.
“Looking at it from the preseason, I knew it was going to be tough,” Latham said. “But once we actually stepped into the moment it was like, ‘Wow, we’re really going to have to put some work in.’”
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Latham, the only senior on the roster, suffered her own adversity on opening night. During a game against Crete-Monee, she tweaked one of her knees in a scramble for a loose ball.
The fallout was a handful of games missed and some early losses for H-F. But Latham, who did plenty of leading from the bench, witnessed a positive effect as well.
“It definitely threw things off,” Latham said. “It kind of forced my teammates to want to step up and say, ‘OK, Alyssa’s out. Who is going to step up and be willing to do the things that Alyssa does?’
“I do think, though, that it actually did help them mature a little bit faster. I couldn’t get those rebounds from the bench, so it was them doing it and building their confidence.”
When Latham returned to full strength, the Vikings were virtually unstoppable. They won 12 games in a row and 16 of 17 before their season ended with a sectional final loss to Bolingbrook.
“I’m proud of us for getting over the humps, getting through the adversities we had,” Latham said. “The happy times, the sad times, brought us closer throughout the season.
“Finally getting where we did, I feel it was a huge accomplishment.”