Skyhawk sharpshooter

Johnsburg’s Melissa Dixon pulls up for a shot during a Dec. 5 game against Cary-Grove. Dixon leads the area in scoring with 19 points a game. She also shoots an area-best 87 percent from the free-throw line. (Northwest Herald file photo)

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JOHNSBURG – Melissa Dixon lined up behind the three-point arc inside Johnsburg’s gym and fired a shot.

As her teammates are accustomed, the shot was good. Dixon set up another one from closer range.

Good.

“In the past, a lot of our strength was on the inside,” Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint said as practice let out Thursday evening. “Melissa brought that outside threat. She’s our go-to player. We know we can get her the ball anytime and she can make something happen.”

It makes Dixon not necessarily the most important piece of the puzzle. It’s more than that.

Dixon is the linchpin in an offense capable of dominating opponents.

The Skyhawks’ versatile shooting guard has spent the past three seasons establishing herself as one of the best players to come through Johnsburg.

When she’s in the lineup, she is lethal.

When Dixon’s on the bench, she is her teammates’ biggest supporter. Sitting and watching is Dixon’s worst nightmare, but at different points in the past three seasons, she’s had to play spectator instead of playmaker.

Dixon still has managed to either lead the area in scoring or be a runner-up in total points scored, average points a game, total three-pointers made and top free-throw percentage – even while looking on.

This season Dixon missed three games with back spasms. Last season she missed two because of a strain in her foot that required a walking boot. During her freshman season, Dixon missed a few games down the stretch while she battled mononucleosis.

She returned each time, though, without missing a beat. Dixon averaged 16.1 points a game last year and averages 19 this season to lead the area. She has hit 70 three-pointers – second only to Hampshire’s Jessica Van Dorin – and shoots an area-best 87 percent from the charity stripe.

“It’s her work ethic,” senior point guard Megan Lopez said. “We all love her. She brings her hard work to the table, she can do anything we need her to do and it inspires all of us to play better, especially if she’s not playing. We know that if she can do it, we can do it, not just for her but for ourselves. If she’s out, we gotta bring it too.

“She’s a great player and an even better person.”

Dixon sometimes is overwhelmed with the fact that she wears the same jersey as players she used to admire – Paige Fiedorowicz and Jenny Turpel, most notably.

“When you’re younger you look up at this program and hope you can play for it someday because it’s such a good program,” Dixon said. “To know that I’m in those players shoes now is [incredible].”

This has been a difficult season for Dixon and her teammates. While Dixon was out with back spasms, several of the Skyhawks’ starters battled either injuries or illnesses, too.

The setbacks have made Dixon focus more on her team’s ultimate goals first and her personal goals second. She is being courted by several Division I schools including Loyola, DePaul, Northern Illinois, Creighton, Ball State and Green Bay.

“I work really hard and it feels good when things like [leading the area statistically] happen,” Dixon said. “But more than any of that, I want to help our team go down to state. We’ve been so close, we’ve been right there, and this year I feel like we need to take control the whole time. Never let up.”

Now that Dixon is back in the lineup, she has no problem stepping up for everyone who covered for her while she was sidelined.

The Skyhawks have always succeeded by being a team built on tradition. Johnsburg will contend for its fourth straight Fox Valley Conference Fox Division title tonight against Crystal Lake Central and won two consecutive Big Northern Conference East Division titles before moving to the FVC in 2003.

“Everyone can come back together,” Dixon said. “We have a lot we want to accomplish.”