Everyone wants to know how good Nina Smith is.
Put it this way:
– When Nina was in 8th grade, Tony Pappas, the girls basketball coach at Waterloo (Iowa) West High School, wanted her declared eligible for his team. (She wasn’t.)
– As a sophomore at Waterloo West, the 6-foot-3-inch Smith is making 70 percent of her shots from the field and averaging 22 points and 10 rebounds a game.
– Joe (no relation) Smith, a nationally known expert on women’s basketball, has declared this Smith the No. 1 sophomore in the nation.
“She’s so physically imposing,” said Pappas, who brings his team in town for this weekend’s 24-team Chicagoland Prep Classic at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park. “She’s probably stronger than 90 percent of the players in college.”
So how good is the seventh edition of the Classic?
Put is this way: Smith, whose team faces the Chicago area’s fifth-ranked team, Resurrection, Saturday at 3:30 p.m., is just one of nine of the acknowledged top 100 players in the nation who will take the court Friday, Saturday and Monday.
Not only is Ms. Smith coming to town, but so is the team from Pickerington, Ohio, which is out to make life miserable for its two Classic opponents–No. 6 Young and No. 4 Loyola. The Lady Tigers not only have 6-3 senior Tamara Stocks, who averages 16.5 points a game and is Florida-bound after high school, but three other players taller than 6 feet.
Two are 6-1 seniors headed for Ohio University, Lisa Hindenlang and Lori Moorman. The other is 6-4 sophomore LaToya Turner.
“Those four kids rotate inside without a huge amount of difference,” said coach Dave Butcher, who has built himself a national powerhouse in the community 15 minutes southeast of Columbus.
Pickerington isn’t exactly used to losing–Butcher has a 318-26 record in his 14 years as head coach, and seven of those losses came in his first season. So one might say that the team’s 52-45 overtime loss to Stevenson two years ago is, well, memorable.
“We’re playing Stevenson, it’s a sellout at DePaul, we’re up three with a minute to go,” he said recently as if the game were last weekend. And he goes on to do a virtual play-by-play of that last minute: how Pickerington lost the lead, how his best player–Beth Ostendorf, now at Vanderbilt–misread the scoreboard, how Stevenson won in overtime.
One might say he and his team are eager to redeem themselves. Ranked No. 2 nationally, Pickerington faces Young at 5 p.m. Saturday and Loyola at 2:30 p.m. Monday.
Those are not the only outstanding matchups. USA Today’s No. 19 team, Leo (Ind.), meets Young Friday at 7:30 p.m. in WJYS-Ch. 62’s high school game of the week. Leo comes back to face No. 8 Maine West at 12:30 p.m. in one of Saturday’s six games.
And the Chicago area’s No. 1-ranked team, Glenbrook South, meets Illinois Class A power Dunlap at 4 p.m. in one of Monday’s six matchups.
Stocks and Smith are two of the nation’s top 100 girls players here, and tournament promoter Jim O’Boye notes that the others are Young’s Natasha Pointer and Clarissa Flores, Glenbrook South’s Dana Leonard, St. Ignatius’ Maureen McManaman, Loyola’s Kristin Santa, Maine West’s Dawn Vana and Belvidere’s Amanda Levens.
“We’re looking forward to this,” said Smith, whose father, James, played pro baseball and got her started in basketball at the local YMCA. “Ball in Chicago is most definitely different from ball here.”
And her status as one of the nation’s top basketball prospects is different from most others’ lives in the Iowa town.
When she gets to school in the morning, there’s a stack of mail on her desk. Smith estimates that about 100 colleges are interested in her services–she also plays volleyball, and West made the state finals in the fall–but “I’m still looking around.”
Asked how she handles the attention, Smith said she’s still trying to adjust.
“But the coach keeps me busy.”
And, apparently, humble.
“We play the guys in practice, and it’s a reality check. They kick my butt.”
CHICAGOLAND PREP CLASSIC TEAM PROFILES
BELVIDERE (12-4): Amanda Levens, 5-8 senior, leads the Bucs with 22 points and six rebounds a game. Recruited as a point guard by Old Dominion.
BUFFALO GROVE (15-2): Coach Tom Dineen has the “Welcome Back” sign out for 6-2 senior Kate Harker, who dislocated her right knee in December. Senior Tanisha Brewer averages 16.1 points a game.
DUNDEE-CROWN (13-4): Will make its first Classic appearance behind Billee Russell (16.5 points, 10.1 rebounds), Kelley Storm (13.7 points, 4.3 assists) and Bridget Voltl (11 points, 9.8 rebounds).
DUNLAP (19-0): Class A power counts on junior Heather Cassidy (15 points, 8.5 assists) and 5-10 senior Beth Zeone (19 points).
EMINENCE, IND. (6-5): The Eels have won four of their last five games. Junior Lori Warmoth, a 5-7 forward who averages more than 20 points, recently scored a career-high 34.
FENWICK (15-4): After a three-game slide in mid-December, the Friars have been tough. Highlight of the season was a 45-36 victory at then-No. 1 Loyola Jan. 7.
GLENBROOK SOUTH (18-0): Chicago’s top-ranked and only undefeated team gets 28 points and four assists per game from Northwestern-bound Dana Leonard. South also has the scoring of Brett Leonard (10 points, 6.4 assists) and Erin Partaker (10 points) and the rebounding of Susie McCreery (10.5) and Stacey Puccini (8.0).
JOSEPHINUM (12-2): One of the area’s top Class A teams is powered by sophomores Dominique McClain (16 points) and Keshia Paige (11 points, 12 rebounds) and junior Catina Scott (14.5 and 11.5).
KOKOMO, IND. (10-2): The Wildcats, 13th in the Indiana coaches’ poll, have a 4-4 Classic record and get balanced scoring from Tamie Stiner, Tia Davis and Ashlie Kinney, all with 12-point averages.
LEO, IND. (12-1): Four seniors carry the load for No. 19 team in USA Today’s poll: 5-10 Shannon Dunbar, 12.1 points; 5-10 Carrie Lightfoot, 11.8 and committed to Rhode Island; Laura Douglass, 11; and 6-0 center Megan Turner, 9.5.
LOYOLA (14-1): Monday’s game against Pickerington (Ohio) closes a tough week for No. 4 Loyola (ranked No. 9 nationally), which beat No. 11 New Trier Tuesday and battles No. 13 Mother McAuley Saturday.
MAINE WEST (16-2): Only blemishes on record: double-overtime loss in opener to Glenbrook South, holiday tourney loss to Resurrection. Dawn Vana, Warriors’ 6-2 center, may be best junior in state.
MOTHER McAULEY (13-3): Katie Schumacher, Maggie Moore and Beth Dilling have been solid contributors this season, but Eilish Coleman has recently sparked the 13th-ranked Mighty Macs, averaging 10 points and eight rebounds in her last five games.
NEW TRIER (12-5): With 5-11 sophomore forward Brittany Larson back (from a separated shoulder suffered over the holidays), the Trevians are healthy for the first time in weeks. Emily Krone, 5-11 senior, averages 17 points a game.
PICKERINGTON, OHIO (11-0): Tamara Stocks, a 6-3 senior who averages 16.5 points and is headed for Florida, leads the national powerhouse. Dave Butcher’s Lady Tigers, unbeaten and ranked second by USA Today, bring in a potent inside game.
QUINCY (8-7): Has only one senior and lost star Heather Hillebrenner (torn anterior cruciate ligament) in its first game but has rebounded behind junior center Ruth Kipping (23 points).
RESURRECTION (13-2): The fine inside play of 6-0 Amy Anderson and 6-1 Beth Gawlinski was expected. But guard play of Jenny Accardo and Andrea Mendyk helped the Bandits to Dundee-Crown title.
ROCK ISLAND ALLEMAN (12-5): Will be tested by Galesburg Saturday before heading to the Classic. Jenny DeSmet (12.1 points, 7.4 rebounds) leads Pioneers.
ST. IGNATIUS (11-4): All four losses have been to ranked teams. Maureen McManaman (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Michelle Shaughnessy (11 and seven) lead 19th-ranked Wolfpack.
STEVENSON (5-13): Two-time defending state champs could use Tamika Catchings, who is putting up big numbers for Duncanville, Texas.
WATERLOO (IOWA) WEST (7-0): Iowa’s No. 1-ranked team features the player considered the No. 1 sophomore in the nation, 6-3 Nina Smith (22 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 blocks).
WAUBONSIE VALLEY (15-3): Coach Julie Callan will take her team to the Classic for the fifth time, but it’s the first time the Warriors, led by sophomore Ashley Luke (27.6 points), won’t be spectators.
WILLOWBROOK (10-9): DePaul-bound Yolanda Lewis (18 points, 17 rebounds) has recorded an impressive season-low 12 rebounds and a high of 25 in 1996-97 for the hosts.
YOUNG (15-2): Clarissa Flores, the 5-8 senior wing, has come out of Natasha Pointer’s shadow, averaging 17 points and seven rebounds. But Pointer (26 points, six rebounds, six assists) makes this machine hum.
Alan Sutton and Marlen Garcia. (Page 10.)
