It is known that Illinois is one of the youngest teams in the nation. While having a young and inexperienced team can bring its challenges, Illinois has a young rising star who is a leader on the court: freshman forward Cearah Parchment.

“I love playing with her,” said redshirt sophomore center Lety Vasconcelos of Parchment. 

It’s no secret that Parchment is one of the key assets to Illinois’ young team this year. More importantly, she is a joy to play with on the court and fights for each and every possession to help her team out. 

“Once she got hot, we needed to crowd her space more,” said UCLA head coach Cori Close of Parchment. “But my goodness, I mean, a couple of those (shots) she hit with someone right there.”

Even the coach of one of the top programs in the nation understands just how prominent Parchment is on the court. Whenever Parchment plays, she is one of Illinois’ most active players. She fights hard for the offense and even defends. However, Parchment fights the hardest in her rebounding game.

“If I get an easy point off of getting an offensive rebound, I think that helps me make a three or something,” Parchment said. “It’s a hustle, and I think it helps the entire team. Even if I score, if I pass it out, we get second chance opportunities.”

Right now, Parchment is averaging over eight rebounds per game, with a total of 178 rebounds this entire season. Her activeness on the glass makes her the leading rebounder for her team.

Additionally, Parchment’s work on the glass, alongside her shooting, has accounted for six of her seven double-doubles. Her other double-double came from late November when she amassed an astonishing 10 steals. That game made her the second Illini in program history to have a points-steal double double.  

“She’s starting to figure it out,” said Illinois head coach Shauna Green of Parchment after Washington. “Starting to figure out what it takes day in and day out. The consistency piece, she’s continuing to be consistent every day in practice. She’s being really aggressive and playing with a great deal of confidence. She’s playing extremely hard.”

Playing hard might be an understatement. Parchment is averaging 50.5% of her field goal attempts and 44.7% from beyond the arc. All of her stats put her in close competition to the best of the best in the gauntlet that is the Big Ten conference. 

“I think she does a great job of just being in the moment, and in the last game, she was able to step up and hit some really big shots for us,” said sophomore forward Berry Wallace of Parchment. “She wasn’t afraid of the big moment and playing the No. 2 team in the country, she wanted that challenge.”

Some of Parchment’s teammates, like Wallace, can also see the hard work and dedication Parchment puts on during their games. Parchment knows that she is out there performing for her team and does whatever she can to help them out. 

“She had to work to come off screens and maximize our switches,” Close said of Parchment. “She did that as well as anyone we’ve played. So, credit to her on how she made us pay for some of those matchups.”

Even Close said how Parchment was able to make her team pay on the court. At just eighteen years old, Parchment is able to outsmart opposing teams, including top teams in the nation. One can only wonder what numbers Parchment will be putting up on the court as she grows and matures. 

“If we can just stay together and keep growing together like coach always says, and go through the growing phase that we have to go through as a team,” Freshman point guard Destiny Jackson said. “We have to grow through stuff as a team to get better, then the sky’s the limit for our team.”

Parchment’s fellow freshman, Jackson, is right that if they can stick together and work through this first year and transition period, Illinois might be an unstoppable force in the years to come. 

“Then also, after I leave … watching these girls and see how well they’re going to do,” Junior guard Maddie Webber said. “They’re going to be a champion contender team as well.”

Webber isn’t the only one who thinks that the Illini and their freshmen are on to bigger and better things. Parchment herself can see the Illini growing so much and improving just within the next year. Parchment knows that they don’t have to be senior to be a force to be reckoned with in the collegiate game. 

To have someone who is versatile and can do a little bit of everything is truly special. Whether it’s on the offense making points, the defensive end stealing the ball or being up and active on the glass, Parchment will be there fighting on every possession. 

“I feel like when we talk about CeCe, I feel like a lot of things impress me about her because I feel like she just plays hard,” Vasconcelos said of Parchment. “She’s just a unique player. She’s versatile for her size, she can do a lot of things.”

Parchment along with the rest of the Illini (16-6, 6-5) continue their West Coast trip on Wednesday to take on the Oregon Ducks (17-7, 5-6). 

Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST and is available on Big Ten Plus. 

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