Yorkton Regional Lady Raider leading scorer Amber Tilcox’s 2016 basketball season is not over just yet.
The 15-year-old basketball phenom – who won’t turn 16 until the beginning of October – recently attended tryouts for the 2016 Saskatchewan girls’ U16 team, where she impressed coaches enough to earn a spot on the Provincial team to become the first Lady Raider to do so in over 10 years.
“I’m pretty proud to have made the team,” Tilcox told Yorkton This Week during an interview Monday evening, adding that throughout tryouts she wasn’t sure whether she would impress enough to earn a spot on the U16 squad. “There were a lot of really good players there, and they all knew each other from last year, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make the team.”
Tilcox said that her feeling of unease in regards to making the team didn’t go away after the first of the three tryout practices; a practice she felt wasn’t her best. “We had a long drive to Regina for the first tryout and I was pretty tired, so I really didn’t even think I had a chance to make the team after that,” mentioned the YRHS grade 10 student.
However, the second and third tryout practices went well, leading Tilcox to believe that she might just have a shot at making the team. “There were a couple of other tryouts that weekend as well and they both went really well, so by that point I still wasn’t sure if I would make the team, but I knew I had a better chance now than I did after the first one,” said Tilcox, continuing, “and then I found out that I made the team, and I was surprised, but it felt great.”
One person that wasn’t surprised that Tilcox made the team was her high school basketball coach, YRHS Lady Raider head coach Jessica Kyle, who has watched Tilcox grow as a player from the beginning of grade nine until now. “I knew she had a really good chance at making the provincial team if she played like she did all season,” suggested Coach Kyle. “She’s had a strong season and she’s a hard worker, but she’s from Yorkton, so she’s not exposed to the basketball community outside of Yorkton at all, so for her to go to those practices and go to those tryouts and make the team, I’m so excited for her and proud of her, but I knew she could do it.”
Tilcox will now continually travel to Saskatoon and Regina for provincial team practices, while also taking part in some high-calibre basketball tournaments such as the HoopSource West Coast Spring Showcase in Portland, Oregon May 14-15, as well as a tournament in BC later in the summer.
