For freshman forward Claire Jakubicek, playing basketball was something she wanted to do since she was little.

“My dad and I would watch TV, and we would see the girls in the WNBA and on different college teams playing,” Jakubicek said. “I remember that’s when I started falling in love with the game, and I was like ‘I want to be one of those girls.’ So that’s when my dad signed me up.”

Jakubicek was also a soccer player until her sophomore year at Cary Grove High School. That’s when she decided that basketball was her No. 1 priority.

As she was growing up, Jakubicek played in local AU tournaments in the Chicagoland area. Once she progressed in those tournaments, her dad signed her up to a bigger AU team, where she could get more exposure from colleges around the Midwest.

“I just tried to play the game,” Jakubicek said. “I never really thought too much about how good I was or what I could do. It was all about getting better.”

Jakubicek averaged 19.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 3.1 steals per game during her senior campaign. She also received multiple recognitions from ESPNChicago.com, the Daily-Herald, and the Chicago Sun-Times. She would finish her Trojan career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,700 points.

The four-year letter varsity winner at Cary Grove started receiving her offers to play college hoops the summer of her junior year. Schools from all over the Midwest, including Illinois State, Ball State, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and DePaul were looking at signing the 6’0″ forward.

Claire decided to join the Huskies based on her connection with coach Kathi Bennett.

“She’s really driven,” Bennett said. “Her likes off the court are similar to mine. We both have a very strong faith. She’s fun to coach, and I felt like we hit it off right away.”

With Bennett trying to turn the program around, Jakubicek is one of the players she hopes she can build on as the years move forward.

“We’re trying to build tradition here,” Bennett said. “And Claire is a corner stone to it because she was our first verbal commitment and that’s really special.”

Jakubicek’s versatility to play multiple positions has played a big role toward playing a lot of minutes this season. She averages 25 minutes per game and has a team high 10.2 points per game. Not to mention, she’s 95 percent from the free throw line.

“I appreciate her willingness to do everything,” Bennett said. “It’s neat to have a player that can do that so it’s going to be an exciting time here for her.”