Sisterly Love on Lady Patriot basketball team

LEROY - It’s always special when sisters who are close in age go to high school together and get to play on the same basketball team. What makes the North Vermilion Lady Patriots unique is they have two sets of sisters living that dream.
Lilly and Ava Denais are 20 months apart. Lilly is 18 and the lone senior on the Lady Pats’ squad. Ava is 16 and a junior.
Taylor and MaKenzie Marceaux are 16 months apart. Taylor is a 17-year-old junior. MaKenzie is 15 and a sophomore. She turns 16 in April.
For the Denais sisters, it was Lilly who got Ava into basketball. Lilly was a soccer player looking for something else to help pass her time.
“I was a big soccer girl,” Lilly said. “I wanted to try something new, so my mom put me in basketball.”
Ava watched her sister play while she was busy with cheer, dance, gymnastics, and soccer. Seeing the fun her sister was having grew Ava’s curiosity about the sport.
“I was such a girly-girl,” Ava reminisced. “I’d go to all of Lilly’s games. I’d see her play and that made me want to play too, so I started basketball.”
For the Marceaux sisters, basketball has been a part of their lives since they were born. Their dad, Kevin Marceaux, played basketball in high school at Kaplan. He’s coached them and their older brother since they could walk.
“It’s great!” Taylor said sarcastically about having her dad so involved. “It’s really good to have your dad coaching you, helping you get better at something you love. He coached our whole school team growing up, so we all been playing together for a long time.”
MaKenzie feels having her dad coach the biddy and AAU teams brought not only her and her sister closer together, but the whole team.
“From the first year I started playing, we had a lot of the girls on the high school team on that team, MaKenzie explained. “We been playing together ever since. We know how each other plays.”
Sharing a passion for basketball has made the Denais sister’s bond much tighter. Although, it’s not always fun and games.
“It’s helped us a lot, honestly,” Lilly said. “We didn’t play together in biddy because of the age difference. Then we got to middle school and started playing on the same team. Ever since then, we got closer as sisters and started doing more stuff together.”
“We’re always together,” added Ava. “We used to argue a lot. Now we argue even more. Our personalities complement each other well.”
When it comes to playing against each other, Lilly admits her younger sister has her number now, but she was better when they were younger.
“In middle school, I would have had to say I was better,” Lilly said. “But since we got to high school, Ava’s grown so much. I feel like she could one-up me now.”
While the Marceaux sisters share that competitive spirit, their games are molded to fit as teammates, not as competitors. Taylor is more of a post player who plays with her back to the basket. She does the dirty work.
MaKenzie is more of a point forward. She can handle the ball and shoot from the outside, or she can go mix it up inside.
“She’s very aggressive and hustles the whole time,” MaKenzie said of her sister’s game. “She’ll push someone to the ground to get to a loose ball. She’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
While sporting a satisfactory grin, Taylor nodded approvingly of her sister’s analysis. Then she returned the favor.
“She a good ball handler,” Taylor said of her sister. She’s very good at driving to the basket. She needs to shoot more though.”
Having teammates who know your game inside and out is invaluable to a basketball team.
“We all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Lilly said. “We been knowing for years.”
“We have chemistry,” added MaKenzie. “We know what each other’s thinking. We trust each other.”
One thing all the girls agreed on is that being able to share the high school experience with your biological sister is sweet. Sharing the high school experience with teammates who are sister-like is even better.