June 2009 Archives

Whitney Young coach Corry Carter wants to dispell some rumors about star guard Chanise Jenkins.
Fact: Jenkins hurt her knee in a game at Montini last week.
Fact: The nature of her injury is not known yet.
Apparently rumors are rampant about Jenkins' knee -- insert worse case scenario here. But until Jenkins sees a doctor, no one knows anything yet.
Jenkins is one of the best -- if not THE best -- guards in the Public League and one of the best in the state. She led the Dolphins in scoring last season with 16.3 points per game and recorded a team leading 131 assists. The 5-3 Jenkins helped Young to the Class 4A state title game in March where they finished second to Bolingbrook. She will be a junior in the fall.
If Jenkins does have a torn ACL, then she will be the second high profile player to go down this summer with the same injury. Last month Bolingbrook's Morgan Tuck tore her ACL at a USA basketball development camp in Colorado Springs.

Marian Catholic 6-0 forward Emily Kobel made an oral committment to UIC Tuesday.

Here's just a few of the top players from the Chicago area and where they are going to play in college. On Saturday, Wheeling's Janelle Cannon committed to Minnesota and Bogan's Brittany Cochran committed to Eastern Illinois.

Uniqua Hampton of Hillcrest to DePaul
Courtney Thomas of Montini to Marquette
Alicia Johnson of Von Steuben to Northern Illinois
Alison Seberger of Montini to Illinois State
Michala Johnson of Montini to Connecticut
La'Terria Taylor of Von Steuben to Northwestern
Dawn Luster of TF North to Loyola
Janelle Cannon of Wheeling to Minnesota
Brittany Cochran of Bogan to Eastern Illinois

This is my first blog entry since at least February. Honestly, I really can't remember if it was February or not. It seems like forever ago that I covered girls basketball.
The reason I've been gone so long is I gave birth to twin boys at the end of February. Each boy was a little over seven pounds, so I was carrying around 15 pounds worth of baby at the end. You can imagine how happy I was when the pregnancy was blissfully over.
So now that I'm back, here's a short look at some noteworthy girls basketball bits in no particular order:
* Montini sophomore point guard Whitney Holloway made an oral commitment to Notre Dame. The 5-4 Holloway, who averaged about 13 points last season, joins center Michala Johnson (Connecticut) and Courtney Thomas (Marquette) as the Broncos' other Division I recruits.
* Hinsdale Central point guard Toni Kokenis, one of the best guards in the nation, has not chosen a college yet. But Kokenis has already had an explosive spring. A striker on Hinsdale's soccer team, Kokenis scored 26 goals in 22 games and helped the Red Devils to the Class 4A state championship.
* Preseason No. 1 Whitney Young and No. 2 Bolingbrook met in the 4A state title game as many predicted. But Bolingbrook dethroned the defending champion Dolphins and captured its second state title in three years.
* Driscoll won the 2A crown in February and about two months later found out the school was closing.
* Former Buffalo Grove coach Tom Dineen came out of retirement to take the head coaching job at Stevenson. Dineen retired in 2008 and coached the Bison to the 2000 Class AA state title.
* And just last week, Bolingbrook phenom Morgan Tuck tore the ACL in her left knee during the U16 USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs, Col. Initially, it was thought Tuck had just sprained the knee, but an MRI revealed that the best player in the class of 2012 had indeed suffered a tear. It will be interesting to see how quickly Tuck returns.
Of course, I've probably left some things out of this list. So forgive me as I get back in the swing of things.