Jazmine Little, a 5-4 freshman from Addison Trail, won the Class 4A three-point contest Friday night. Little edged out St. Charles North sophomore Kiley Hackbarth in a tiebreaker 6-3. Little will compete in Saturday’s Queen of the Hill competition.
In the second 3A semifinal from Redbird arena today, Freeport (the Pretzels--gotta use the nickname) beat Montini 41-35 and will face Marshall in the title game Saturday at 12:45.
Montini will play Quincy Notre Dame at 11 a.m. for third place.
Pontiac's Ashley Timmerman won the 3A three-point shooting contest with 10 treys Friday afternoon at Redbird Arena.
Timmerman advances to the Queen of the Hill competition on Saturday against the 1A, 2A and 4A winners. The 4A contest will be held Friday at 8 in between 4A semifinal games.
Katie Broadway of Bethalto Civic Memorial was second with 9 threes in the 3A contest and two were tied with 8.
Word among Public League officials and administrators I talked to at the Class 3A girls state semifinals Friday, was that the Illinois High School Association is investigating comments allegedly made by Johnsburg supporters during the Marshall-Johnsburg supersectional game at Loyola University Monday night. Young principal Dr. Joyce Kenner, who is also a member of the IHSA’s Board of Directors, said she sent a letter to Johnsburg’s principal telling him of a phrase that the Johnsburg student section allegedly said during the Marshall game. IHSA assistant executive director Beth Sauser said the IHSA is investigating the matter.
The Commandos end Quincy Notre Dame’s unbeaten season with a wild 76-73 win in overtime. Marshall did it without Adrienne GodBold, who fouled out at the end of regulation.
Marshall has relied on Sarah Rogers, a UMass recruit, and Adrienne GodBold all season.
But in the postseason, the two have really set the tone for the Commandos.
Statistician Maria Craig reminds that Sarah has had 70 points and 50 rebounds in the postseason and Adrienne has had 73 points and 35 rebounds.
Sarah Rogers has scored 20 points or more in the Commandos' last three playoff games (20 vs. Orr, 22 vs. Fenton and 20 vs. Trinity), and in all four playoff games she has had double figures in both points and rebounds.
Marshall will play Johnsburg in the Class 3A supersectional at Loyola University Monday night.
Got back today from the Class 2A state finals in Normal and kept turning a few things over in mind:
Was it frustrating for Bishop McNamara to go Downstate again, for the fourth time since 2004, and not win a game?
That question was asked to coach Jeff Bennett during the postgame news conference after the Irish lost to Teutopolis in the third-place game and finished fourth. Actually, the reporter in question (whom I didn't know) asked Bennett if he ever gets frustrated as a coach that his teams just can't win in Normal.
He thought for a few seconds, what seemed like a while, and said no. His kids work hard and many would envy his teams for going Downstate.
I feel bad for seniors like Brittany Hasselbring, Brandi Branka and Laura Schmidt. They were freshmen when the Irish went Downstate in 2005 and left their hearts out on the floor Saturday night. Bennett said it was a pretty emotional locker room after the game.
But what everyone was stressing all weekend was that everyone gets a trophy in the new four-class system no matter if you lose Friday or not. Everyone's a winner even if you lose.
I'm not dimishing what McNamara did. I'm glad they got a fourth-place trophy to take home. It's going to look a lot better on Monday, probably, than it did Saturday night.
But I'm just wondering where high school sports is going if everyone is considered a "winner" in this four-class system. It's like no one is allowed to lose or feel the emotions that go along with it.
Like one coach told me a year ago: he's worried that state championships are going to mean a lot less down the road than they did in a two-class format.
I'm worried we're already there.
Sometimes not being considered a winner -- or even just downright failing at something -- makes you a heck of a lot stronger in the future and makes you work that much harder.
We have the upset of the postseason. Crete-Monee beat Hillcrest in a regional final Friday night. I received this e-mail as a comment to a blog item I posted Friday, but I think it's worth more than just a small bit in a comment section where it would get overlooked. It deserves its own entry:
CONGRATS TO CRETE-MONEE HIGH SCHOOL, ON THEIR VICTORY
OVER HILLCREST 57-47,FOR THE REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
THIS MAY GO DOWN AS ONE OF THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN
IHSA HISTORY. A TEAM WITH SEVEN PLAYERS BEATS A TEAM
24-3. THEY NEXT PLAY AT THE HILLCREST SECTIONAL.
IF THEY MAKE IT DOWNSTATE REMEMBER THIS GAME, THIS
MAY BE THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN SOUTH-SUBURBAN HISTORY.
HILLCREST A POWER FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS GETS BEAT BY
A TEAM WITH SEVEN PLAYERS, PLEASE GO OUT AND SUPPORT
THE LADY WARRIORS, AND COACH POPE. CRETE-MONEE HAS A
WELL OILED MACHINE AND THEIR COACH HAS PREPARED THEM
VERY WELL, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE LADY WARRIORS, NO
LONGER A WELL KEPT SECRET. I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE
COACH POPE, FOR COACH OF THE YEAR.
All-Area Reaction
Today is one of the hottest times of the girls basketball season next to the day my preseason rankings are released.
The Sun-Times All-Area team was announced today. I received numerous e-mails and phone calls about why certain players were left off. Mind you, all of the following players were special mentions.
Why was Trinity’s Monica Albano not on all-area?
Why wasn’t Lake Park’s Samantha Arnold on the team, considering she’s put up solid numbers and has already committed to Michigan?
Why wasn’t Hope’s Ashley Brown on the team, considering she’s scored 1,003 points and shoots 64 percent?
To that, consider these numbers:
We cover 275 high schools in the Chicago area.
There are at least a thousand girls to consider who are starters on those teams.
There are only 20 spots on the team. All three of the above were given serious consideration and it is regrettable that there wasn’t room for all of them.
To put those three on the all-area team, you would have to take three off. Who would you take off?
It’s easy to say who should be on the team, but not as easy to decide who gets left off.
Seventh seeded Oak Forest won its first regional title in girls basketball since 1996, beating Rich South (a No. 2) seed 60-53 Thursday night.
Sophomore Kristyne Smyth had 28 points and junior Jen Swanson scored 19.
"To say I am very proud of these girls would be an understatement. They have stood up to adversity and are now a TEAM in every sense of the word," said coach Steve Schanz in an e-mail.
This all comes a few days after two starters and a reserve left the team.
Oak Forest coach Steve Schanz has never had to deal with a situation like this in his coaching career. On Saturday morning, three girls (two of them starters) left the team after breaking a team rule. Junior Aubrey Sparrey and senior Cy White were the two starters who departed and junior Amanda Sheppard also left.
Thursday, Oak Forest hosts Rich South in a Class 3A regional final. But on Tuesday, Schanz said the team played its best game of the season, a 78-35 win over Seton in a regional semifinal. The win improved Oak Forest's record to 18-9.
"We went out and played the best game of the year," Schanz said. "The rest of the girls really stepped up and played. I understand that teenagers get upset, but the team really stepped up Tuesday."
Schanz said he had already brought up four sophomores for the playoffs and isn't planning on adding anyone else for the stretch run.
With the way his girls are playing now, he shouldn't have to.
The Chicago Sky have named Mother McAuley this week’s girls basketball high school team of the week. The Macs are 20-9 and finished among the final four in the GCAC Red tournament. Also, all 13 players on the varsity roster have made academic all-conference. McAuley will be honored during a Sky game this summer.
* Whitney Young coach Corry Irvin has been named an assistant coach for the McDonald's All-American game, taking place March 26 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Irvin's career record is 148-33.
* Maine West coach Derril Kipp pointed out that his Warriors have beaten every team in the Central Suburban League (both north and south divisions) except Waukegan and Niles West — and that's only because the Warriors haven't played those two teams this season.
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