At 5-foot-11, Lake senior Carly Huston is never asked to drain 3-point shots in coach Denny Meyer's offense.

In fact, Huston said she has never even attempted a shot from beyond the arc during her high school career.

“I'm not really out there,” she said. “I enjoy playing down low. It's physical and you get to bump people around. I'm better at that. I've always been taller, so I can shoot over people.”

Huston is a big reason why the Flyers are 15-0 and 8-0 in the Suburban Lakes League this season. She is second on the team in scoring at 9.7 points a game, and her 7.3 rebounds a game is tied for the team lead.

Senior teammate Kaysie Brittenham leads Lake in scoring (18.6 ppg.) and she also averages 7.3 rebounds.

On Monday, Brittenham became the school's' all-time leading scorer in Lake's 62-27 rout of Eastwood. Brittenham, a four-year starter, now has 1,200 points, breaking Kris Livingston's school mark of 1,198. Livingston, who graduated in 1979, went on to play at Miami of Ohio.

Lake senior Carly Huston (30). (Press photo by John Pollock/www.pollock. smugmug.com)

Meyer, who in his third season has guided the Flyers to 58 regular-season victories, has seen Huston grow from a valuable role player last season into a full-time starter and team leader.

“This year she's become a very good leader for our team,” Meyer said. “I didn't know if she had that in her. With us only having two seniors, I didn't know if either of them were real good leaders. Kaysie leads by example, but her and Carly have both become more vocal leaders.”

Huston said the Flyers' coaching staff chose her and Brittenham to be this year's captains, and she was more than ready to fulfill that honor.

“I definitely wanted to be a captain,” Huston said. “I wanted to be a role model for the younger girls. I wanted to be a leader and show them how to be a leader.”

Meyer said he knew that in order for Lake to maintain its success, the Flyers would need more offensive production from Huston, who averaged less than four points a game as a junior.

“We told her we definitely had to have scoring out of her this year,” Meyer said. “She's doing what she's always been doing, but now she's finishing around the basket. She's always been a good rebounder and she's always had good moves, but this year she's finishing.”

Huston played with her teammates last summer – the Flyers played in open gyms and also traveled to San Diego for a tournament - and she also played for the Northern Titans club team last spring.

“I wanted to get better at finishing, looking to score more,” she said. “I've always seen myself as more of a defensive player. I've been developing more and more. I always go out there looking to try to score. I know I have to be a threat, but I'm OK with somebody else scoring the points. I'm OK with having assists and rebounds and not having a lot of points.”

Huston, who has a 3.5 GPA, plans to go to college at either the University of Toledo, Ohio University, or Akron. She wants to become a civil engineer like her maternal grandfather, Dale Stiles.

One of her goals this season is to keep the Flyers' regular-season winning streak intact. Lake was scheduled to play SLL rival Woodmore on Thursday.

“That's always in the back of my mind - what happens if we do lose?” Huston said. “I don't want to lose. I don't want to be on the team that ends the winning streak. If a team is better than us, it would be easier to accept. We know we have to come out and play our best so we can continue this winning streak."

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