Bailey Boulay visited the Lake of the Ozarks last week with a few friends.
It was a welcome break for the Eureka High basketball standout who played in three national tournaments this summer for the Napheesa Collier Elite team. Collier is a forward for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women’s National Basketball Association and sponsors the team that features some of the most talented prep players in the St. Louis area. Her connection to St. Louis is through her husband, Alex Bazell, an NBA/WNBA skills coach who graduated from St. Charles West.
Before heading to the lake, Boulay, a junior, flew home from Orlando, where the Collier Elite won the Elite 40 Tournament. Some of her teammates will be her opponents this coming season.
“It’s so fun because we’re all doing the thing we love,” she said. “In (Orlando) we went to shops and restaurants to get that team bonding off the court, which makes us better on the court.”
Boulay plays club basketball in the spring and summer, honing her game for the prep battles of winter.
“I like to stay busy,” said Boulay, a Wildcat starter at guard and forward the past two seasons. “I’m always looking to get better on defense and improve my shot.”
As if basketball weren’t enough, Boulay is a three-sport athlete, playing lacrosse in the spring and tennis in the fall. The Wildcat lacrosse team made it to the state championship game for the first time this spring, with Boulay scoring both Eureka goals in a 7-2 loss to Mary Institute-Country Day School.
“I had no idea we’d all come together like we did,” said Boulay, who played attack. “Each game we got better and better and brought it at practice.”
Boulay began playing tennis for Eureka in 2020, after COVID wiped out the spring sports season. She wanted to get out and do something, so her mom, a former tennis player, played with her.
“My mom was really good,” Boulay said. “It gets you in shape.”
Once tennis ends this fall, Boulay will hit the hardwood with the Wildcats, who were 20-7 last year. Their season ended with a loss to St. Joseph’s Academy in the Class 6 District 2 semifinals. Boulay admittedly didn’t have her best game against the Angels, making just one of nine shots from the field and pulling down one rebound.
It was atypical of her season as a whole, however, as she was one of three Wildcats, along with junior Zoe Cuneio and senior Kaylee Gross, to average double figures in scoring. Boulay led the team with 11.3 points per game and made a team-high 59 baskets from 3-point range. Both totals represented almost double the output from her freshman year. Her season high was 24 points, against Hazelwood Central and Waynesville.
As a freshman, Boulay became good friends with Kate Hillyer, a 2021 Eureka graduate who holds the school’s single-season and career records for 3-point baskets.
“I do love my 3-pointers,” Boulay said with a laugh.
The Wildcats will aim high this winter with nearly the entire squad back; they lost only four players to graduation.
“We’re all coming back and that’s awesome,” she said. “We want to keep getting better individually and together. We’re all so excited. Last year was our trial year (in) getting it together and this year we’re going to go full force.”
She hopes to get stronger in rebounding this season, investing time in the weight room.
“In the fall, I do some one-on-one training,” she said.
All under the watchful eye of Eureka head coach James Alsup.
“He’s good at communicating and sets times to get into the gym and shoot. He checks in on us.”