Ashley Deschampe breaks 1,000 -- talks girl’s hoops

Cook County Vikings Girl’s Basketball wiz Ashley Deschampe recently made her 1,000th basket. It happened against the Ely Timberwolves, Jan. 22. Ashley is a junior, but she’s been thinking about the landmark number for a while.

Ashley: I think my sophomore year I started learning that I could reach 1,000, but I didn’t think it could happen this fast.

Besides consistently scoring in double digits, Ashley is an excellent student. It’s a balancing act between sports and studies.

Ashley: During the off-season, it takes a lot of dedication, you know. You always have to be in the gym or in the weight room. And during the summer, our coach sets up a lot of tournaments for us, which really helps a lot in the off-season, so you’re always practicing and stuff.

Ashley started the game young and now she spends her extra time helping today’s young girls learn the game.

Ashley: You’ve just got to keep encouraging them, you know. Keep telling them “practice, practice, practice.” The ones that really like it, I’m sure at home will start dribbling a basketball. But, they have a lot of fun at morning basketball, so it’s mainly just about having fun and learning about basketball.

The Viking Girls have a strong team presence on the court and Ashley explained what it takes to stay on top of the game. She also credits her coach with giving strong positive advice.

Ashley: You know, you always have to positive. Once you’re negative, it brings the team down and it doesn’t make anything better. But, it’s all mental. You have to be mentally tough. Mostly what my Coach Super tells me is always good advice, you know, just practice. He’ll always come up to me after practice and tell me what I need to work on, what I can always do to get better.

Ashley said that even when they fall behind in a game, which doesn’t happen very often, it’s hard work and a positive attitude that can turn them around to a win.

The entire Ashley Deschampe interview with Jay Andersen and Roger Linehan as broadcast on "Daybreak" is also attached.