Top basketball players of the century: Girls No. 5, Lindsay Schrader of Bartlett
Editors note: The Daily Herald is counting down the Top Ten boys and girls basketball players of the century in our coverage area. We continue today with No. 5 - Drew Crawford of Naperville Central and Lindsay Schrader of Bartlett.
To everyone who remembers Lindsay Schrader as Illinois Ms. Basketball and a McDonald's All-American in 2005 at Bartlett, one of the best basketball players the suburbs and state has seen, the following might come as quite a surprise.
Schrader, now a district manager for major accounts at ADP in Seattle, said not only does she not play basketball casually these days, it's been six or seven years since she's even touched a basketball.
She needed a break from a sport that brought her so much.
"When you put so much effort into something for so long, I was done," Schrader said. "People say how can you just walk away from something that's been part of your life for so long? Honestly it's pretty easy. Because when you are consumed by something for so long it's good to take a breath."
Schrader averaged 22.4 points and 10.5 rebounds that senior year at Bartlett when the Hawks went 30-5 and reached the Class AA state championship game, losing a hard-fought 52-48 battle to Peoria Richwoods. She finished with a school-record 2,422 points.
Schrader continued at Notre Dame, a tri-captain of the Fighting Irish her final two seasons in South Bend. She scored 1,388 points in the 125 Notre Dame games she played.
After a couple coaching stints and an internship with the Big Ten, Schrader decided she was done with basketball and it was time to put her business degree to use. She went into sales and worked at United Rental for six years before moving to Seattle two years ago.
"I love it out here even though I miss my family," Schrader said. "I'm the one who spread my wings a little bit. The mountains, the hiking, my dog loves it."
Schrader said even if she wanted to play basketball again her body would tell her differently.
She also knows the memories of those special seasons at Bartlett will always be there.
"I definitely knew when I was done my senior year in college," Schrader said. "My body was breaking down. I've been paying for it ever since. I wake up and hurt.
"(High school) went by too fast. It's hard to believe how long ago it is now. Senior year we got far that year, put a lot of work into it. We didn't get the championship but we came close."