FRANKLIN — Whitney Schaurer wears a sweatband. Olivia Schaurer doesn’t.
It’s really the only way to distinguish who’s who on the basketball court.
That’s because they’re identical twin sisters — with Whitney being born one minute before Olivia.
Both know how to handle the ball extremely well. Both know how to drive to the hoop. Both know how to shoot from just about anywhere on the floor.
But unselfishly, the seniors know how to dish the ball to their Middletown Christian Schools teammates.
“With those two, it all starts in practice,” Eagles coach Ernie Hayes said. “It’s their competitiveness, their drive and how they contribute to the team.”
The Schaurer sisters indeed contribute — a lot.
They’re leaders — statistically and by example.
Whitney is the top scorer for Middletown Christian, averaging 14.6 points a game. She’s also the assist leader with 3.3 an outing.
Olivia is right behind Whitney scoring 12.4 points.
“Again, it’s because of their practice habits,” Hayes said. “When we line up for a drill, they’re always the first ones in line. When we’re running sprints, they’re the first ones to finish.
“If there’s an opportunity to do extra shooting, they’re the first ones to do it.
“If in practice they didn’t feel like they got the proper conditioning, they’re the ones running sprints after.
“They want to improve. They get after it. They want to push themselves. They allow us from a game standpoint to open up our offense — because they both can drive to the basket, shoot 3s, have a good understanding of the game for their age.”
In other words, “They’re great to coach,” Hayes continued. “Having a type of player with that combination — and having two of them on your team — it’s pretty special.”
‘They’ve got that fire in them’
It all starts at home for the Schaurer sisters, who are Liberty Township residents.
They’re homeschooled, but they take the proper amount of courses at Middletown Christian to allow them to play on the basketball program.
Michelle, their mother and teacher by trade, creates the lesson plans.
Ultimately, Whitney and Olivia’s schedules go hand and hand. If they’re not studying, they’re volunteering at a local nursing home or at church.
Or, they’re playing basketball.
“Even though we are proud of their hard work and skill on the basketball court, we are even more proud of their commitment to who they are as women,” said John, Whitney and Olivia’s father.
Their appreciation for the game of basketball became evident. John gave them some tough games on the court.
“But we play one-on-one all the time, too,” Whitney laughed. “We get mad at each other a lot. But it’s for the better. Our frustration with each other grew us to want to compete.”
Who wins most of the time?
“We literally trade back and forth,” Olivia chimed in. “We are dead even. But we’re competitive — that’s for sure.”
“They’ve got that fire in them,” their coach added.
And it all makes perfect sense. Dad is a firefighter.
John hasn’t had to put out too many fires between his daughters, though. They settle them on the court.
“We started taking basketball more seriously around third grade,” said Olivia, who noted she and her sister played in the Lakota district before moving on to a homeschool program called the Cincy Trailblazers.
“We did a lot of summer challenges,” Whitney interrupted referencing a very aggressive three-month offseason training program where they each had over 20,000 made shots and 1,700 minutes of focused dribbling drills.
“They were so set on accomplishing this goal that they didn’t want to go on the family vacation because it was going to their goal harder to complete,” their father noted.
Whitney and Olivia said they want to continue to hit future challenges head-on. While they still have work to do for the 9-3 Eagles, they’re currently eyeing a Metro Buckeye Conference title.
“Basketball has always been our break from all the challenges life brings,” Olivia said. “It brings us joy.”
The plan is for both of them to attend Miami University — and get their basketball fix through intramural competition.
Whitney expects to major in speech-language pathology. Olivia will likely study strategic communications and marketing.
“We’re not ready for this part in our lives to end yet,” Whitney said.
“Yeah, basketball brings us so much joy,” Olivia added. “It’s definitely my favorite thing in life so far.”
Floor generals
Whitney dribbled the ball down court as Middletown Christian boasted a 20-point lead against Emmanuel Christian in the second half on Thursday.
Olivia was on the bench, which allowed her other teammates to see playing time because of the Eagles’ convincing margin.
“We need one of them out there,” Hayes said. “They just make everyone else around them better.”
It was noticeable.
Olivia subbed in for Whitney, and the process continued on the court until the final buzzer.
“I think we make each other better, too,” Olivia smiled at Whitney.
Just a simple inbounds pass made that clear. But it wasn’t a standard, set-play inbounds pass.
Whitney was the one doing the passing. Olivia was just off to the left of her, guarded by an Emmanuel Christian defender.
Whitney wasn’t even looking in her sister’s direction when she decided to throw the ball in play.
It was like they had done it before.
Olivia caught Whitney’s no-look pass, stepped away from her defender and put up a shot from behind the arc.
It went in.
“We have so much confidence in both of them,” Hayes said. “It’s their abilities to help run the floor and get us established.
“We’re working on becoming a smarter team and not force things,” Hayes added. “We want to value the ball, and they’re a big part in that.
“Not many bad things happen when the ball is in their hands.”
