With back to back Rainbow Elementary Girls Basketball titles now to their credit, the Northeastern Cougars have clearly staked their claim among the city elite. A big part of both championship teams, 14 year-old Lindsay Scruton has equally established herself as one of the rising star in the sport.

Born in Thunder Bay followed by a brief stop in North Bay, Scruton has called Sudbury home for much of the past ten years or so. The third of four children in the family, she is prepared to follow in the footsteps of older sister Courtney as she begins her secondary school career next fall at Lasalle.

With a little bit of background in both gymnastics and swimming, Lindsay Scruton admits her initial foray to the hardcourt via the SYBL (Sudbury Youth Basketball League) was not initially laden with success.

“I could never do layups…I was never sure exactly how to do it just right”, admits Scruton. In Grade 6, Scruton transferred to Northeastern Public, hooked up with the 5/6 coed basketball team and started to notice a definite improvement in her game, a move she credits at least in part to a stubborn streak.

“I won’t give up on something – if I can’t get it the first time, I’ll just keep on trying.” Over time, success has continue to build for the talkative teen, highlighted by single basket Rainbow crowns in both 2007 and 2008. Not surprisingly, the teams hold a very special spot in Scruton’s heart.

“They’re really fun to be around – they are all so encouraging”, states the soon-to-be Lancer. Acutely aware of the basketball acumen of older sister Courtney, the youngest  girl in the family also credits her parents for both her interest in the sport as well as her drive to succeed.

“Sometimes, I’ll look up in the crowd at them at half-time and it makes me want to show them that I can do it”, she explains. With exposure to both individual and team sports in her past, Scruton finds the appeal of group play a definite attraction to her.

“Being on a team…working together….you just can’t win basketball by yourself, you have to work as a team”, she says. With the more competitive world of high-school sports awaiting, Scruton made another move in raising the bar, hooking up with the Sudbury Lakers basketball club for the first time this year.

“Overall, I really, really liked it…but at first, it was a little uncomfortable.”  She went on to say that the addition of a couple of Northeastern teammates to the Lakers’ roster helped ease the transition to a new avenue to pursue her basketball dreams.

“It really, really helped me. I could not do a left-hand layup and now I can do it” said Scruton, who adds that she also drives to the hoop a lot more as the season now winds to an end.

Scruton, who praised the work of both of her coaches this year (Mr Barlow at Northerastern; Doug Mackay with the Lakers), tries to keep an open mind as to what exactly the future might hold.

“Well, I would like to play high-school. Depending on how I do in high-school, I would like to play university of college” states Scruton, who notes a career as a teacher or orthodontist as the back-up plan when her basketball days are done.

Of course, with her stubborn streak pushing her along, don’t expect them to end any time soon.