One by one, they shared their emotions and what it felt like to witness something so rare that it almost seemed unreal.
Only this wasn’t some strange phenomenon or religious experience. Or maybe it was.
After seeing Ogonna Nnamani up close and personal Friday, Huntley’s players all but genuflected toward the Normal University High star.
Nnamani, a Tribune first-team All-State selection, left the crowd buzzing with a sensational performance to lead U-High to a 15-10, 15-12 victory in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament at Redbird Arena.
“I’ve never been beat by a one-man team before,” Huntley coach Larry Kahl said. “I felt we were the better team on the court. She’s by far the better athlete. There was just nothing you could do.”
Nnamani, a 6-foot-1-inch junior, is considered one of the best players in the nation. You probably won’t get much argument from Huntley. The Redskins knew Nnamani was good. They didn’t know she was that good.
Perhaps the Redskins should have played on stilts. That’s the only way to counter Nnamani’s unrivaled leaping ability. She finished with 17 kills, using her 30-inch vertical leap to hit over blockers. Nnamani can dunk a basketball.
“It was scary,” Huntley’s Marion Hansen said. “You see her jump and you think she’s eventually going to stop and come down. But she keeps going up.”
Huntley came in with a solid game plan. The Redskins wanted to serve to Nnamani, hoping to slow her down. But U-High countered by setting high, allowing Nnamani time to rise above everyone else for the kill.
“You never practice against the elevation factor,” Kahl said. “We thought we had a good plan, but it didn’t work out that way.”
Still, Huntley (34-7) had its chances. After shaking the first-game jitters, the Redskins led 9-3 in Game 2. But U-High (35-5) regrouped and ended the game on a block by–who else?–Nnamani.
Erin Borhart, Shannan Olson and Hansen each had five kills for Huntley. Becky Dvorak added four kills and four blocks.
“I thought we played pretty well,” Kahl said. “We just couldn’t stop her.”
He didn’t need to mention “her” by name.
