With Immaculate Heart of Mary ready to compete for its seventh consecutive Girls Catholic Athletic Conference basketball championship, St. Ignatius coach Tom McKenna had what seemed like a sound suggestion.
”At the seeding meeting, I told Dave (Power, the IHM coach) `Let`s just mail you the trophy,` ” McKenna said. ”That`s the way it`s been.”
The quest for seven proved unlucky for the Tigers, however, and host St. Ignatius drubbed them 61-38 Saturday in a tournament championship game that wasn`t really much.
Strong defense allowed the eighth-ranked Wolfpack (22-4) to dominate No. 12 IHM (18-8) from the opening tipoff.
”We got beat pretty soundly,” Power said. ”St. Ignatius played tough. They`re a worthy opponent and a worthy champion. Today, they were definitely the better team.”
Absolutely. The Wolfpack led 11-4 after one quarter and 24-14 at the half. They were up 40-30 after three periods, although IHM caught some life late.
IHM junior Mimi Olson led all scorers with 28 points; she scored all her team`s first-quarter points and all but three by the end of the first half.
”Only three of our five starters came to play today,” said Olson. `I`m not going to mention any names. That would be ignorant of me.”
Going into the game, McKenna wasn`t ignorant of the fact that Olson had to be contained, if not stopped. He gave 5-foot-11-inch junior Stephanie David the unenviable task of guarding the 6-foot Olson in a battle of players who wear uniform No. 13.
”She`s our quickest player and best athlete,” McKenna said of Davis.
”We thought she could do the best job and she did.”
When Davis got in foul trouble, Wolfpack standout Claire Molloy turned her attention to Olson. Molloy, too, had success.
”Our man-to-man defense is getting better,” said Molloy, who scored 20 points. ”We respect IHM. We know Mimi`s a good player, so we had to do the job on her. I liked going up against her. She`s quite good.”
Olson was 8 of 18 Saturday, including a pair of three-point baskets. Her teammates didn`t do much better-IHM was a dismal 12 of 41 from the field. Consider a 6-of-12 fourth quarter and you can understand why Power was concerned with his team`s play.
”I don`t know if it was a letdown after (Wednesday`s) victory over Mother McAuley or what,” he said. ”It was getting frustrating out there. I wanted to press. I almost wanted to throw the ball out of bounds to get the press going.”
McKenna`s club had no such problems.
”We played great defense in the first half,” he said. ”In the third quarter, we really shut them down. They`re such an explosive team that I didn`t think that a shutdown could happen. Next time, they could beat us by 20 points.”
Next time would be Feb. 27 for the Willowbrook sectional title. Of course, St. Ignatius would have to get by teams like Argo and Proviso West, with IHM possibly having to face Lyons Township before a rematch with the Wolfpack.
”I hope we meet in sectionals,” McKenna told Power during a brief postgame exchange.
”I hope we catch a break and somebody knocks you out,” Power replied.
”We`re going to give them the title on loan for one year,” said Power.
”If we have to lose to somebody, it`s nice to lose to someone like St. Ignatius. At least it`s not like losing at the buzzer.”
In the third-place Red Division game, No. 7 Mother McAuley defeated No. 19 Resurrection 61-50. Junior Mary Connolly scored 18 points for Resurrection (21-4). McAuley is 20-5.
In the White Division title game, Mother Guerin edged St. Francis 37-36, while Notre Dame defeated Trinity 27-17 for the Blue Division championship.
