It was, after all, the day after Christmas. Perfect for returning gifts. Perfect for starting on that New Year’s resolution list. Perfect for those 10 a.m. holiday basketball tournament games.
Which suited Mother McAuley, well, almost perfectly in the opening game of the Public League girls tournament Thursday.
The ninth-ranked Mighty Macs opened a 17-1 lead over Hubbard’s overmatched Greyhounds. Then McAuley coach Barbara Edwards called off her press. No matter. The tournament host ran a clinic en route to a 99-9 victory.
Too bad Hubbard’s Elton Harris, more at home coaching football than girls basketball, wasn’t around to see the entire lesson. He gave the officials an earful, and–down 39-3–got an earful in return with back-to-back technicals for “unsportsmanlike conduct” in the second quarter.
That left Hubbbard assistants Arlene Mack and Semelda Elverton to stick around for damage control.
And that left McAuley’s Edwards, whose team is now a perfect 8-0, looking for the upside in a 90-point blowout.
“You just continue to play your game,” said Edwards, whose team has a 10 a.m. date Friday with Chicago Vocational. “You keep striving to get better and do things the right way. And it’s a nice chance for everybody to get a chance to play.”
Katie Schumacher, McAuley’s 6-foot-2-inch senior center, didn’t even play half the game and wound up with 21 points–12 in the third quarter.
Hubbard, which fell to 4-5, was shut out in the fourth quarter.
In other games, fifth-ranked Young (8-1) got 27 points from Rutgers-bound Natasha Pointer in an 84-29 win over Lindblom. Kewanee Wethersfield improved to 11-1 with a 61-34 victory over Dunbar.
Morgan Park, behind sophomore Constance Jinks’ 16 and freshman Tenesha McDaniel’s 14, also ran its record to 11-1 with an 86-33 romp over Collins.
Washington (8-5), still without injured 5-9 senior Michelle Artis, had 24 points from 5-9 senior Josie Cole to breeze by Roosevelt 64-29. Washington coach Willie Byrd said he thinks Artis will be back in two weeks.
Leading Barrington to its 52-38 victory over Hyde Park were 6-1 senior Betsy Spicer and 6-foot senior Courtney Murdock with 16 each. Senior Lashawn Dowd had 18 for CVS in its 55-44 victory over Fenger, and 5-foot junior Catrina Bush’s 19 paced Phillips over Simeon 55-34.
