Mike Williams hasn’t had a long time to build a storied girls basketball tradition at Neuqua Valley. But in a little more than two varsity seasons, he has built a respected one.
The Wildcats improved to 7-1 with a 68-50 win Thursday over Bartlett and have moved up to ninth in the Tribune rankings. Neuqua Valley’s winning margin in its seven victories is 27.6 points a game, but the team’s most impressive result may have been a 52-49 loss to No. 4 Hinsdale Central.
“We forced Hinsdale Central into 35 turnovers, and that’s uncharacteristic of a Central team,” Williams said. “After the game, their coach [Steve Gross] gave us a great compliment. He said, `They beat us up and down both ends of the floor.'”
That Nov. 17 game started as a rout. Hinsdale Central held a 27-6 lead a few minutes before halftime, but Neuqua Valley cut it to nine points by intermission and was able to stay close to the Red Devils.
Cassie Stark and Rnesha Baldwin are the senior leaders of a team that has been trying to find the confidence to “play with the Hinsdale Centrals and Hinsdale Souths,” Williams said. Stark is averaging 20 points a game and Baldwin 12–with nine steals.
Williams said a number of colleges and universities are looking at the 5-foot-10-inch Stark and the 5-7 Baldwin–including Evansville, St. Xavier and Morehead State. “We’re starting to get more mail, more calls every day.”
Juniors Laura Laurent and Jennia Siljendahl and 6-2 freshman Lindsey Wisdom are also major factors in Neuqua’s early success. Wisdom is averaging 10 points and nine rebounds and has 21 blocks. Pressure defense has accounted for more than 200 turnovers by Neuqua’s opponents.
The difference between this team and last year’s, Williams said, was summed up by Stark this week.
“She said everybody on this team is confident and willing to go the extra mile, willing to throw themselves on the floor after a loose ball and not worry about their personal agendas,” Williams said.
Stark said the secret to the team’s success is that “we do a lot of stuff outside of basketball.” She and her teammates are involved in the Big Sister program and feeding the poor. They also traveled the country last summer, going to Oregon and Las Vegas for basketball tournaments. Oregon City’s Brad Smith, whose team has been a national power, and Williams are close friends.
When Neuqua Valley opened with a junior-varsity program in the 1997-98 school year, there was little doubt the athletic fortune of sister school Waubonsie Valley and other neighboring areas would be affected. Stark would have gone to Waubonsie, while Baldwin would likely be playing for Bolingbrook.
“Our big challenge will come at Christmas,” said Williams, referring to the tournament hosted by Naperville North and Benet, two ranked teams. “We’ve never played well there.”
Wildcats, Part II
One would expect West Chicago coach Kim Wallner and her team, after an 8-0 start, might be thrilled. But the Wildcats haven’t gone wild just yet.
“We’ve been excited, but I’m pretty low-key about it,” Wallner said. “We don’t talk about it a lot.”
What she and her players have talked about is last season, when West Chicago had some eye-opening victories over West Aurora, Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville North.
“Then we got blown out by Naperville Central and I couldn’t get the kids back playing confidently,” said Wallner, whose team finished 16-14.
She wants to make sure that doesn’t happen this season. Twins Beth and Kathy Brinn, Alissa Mildebrath and Jaymie Schmidt and juniors Meghan Young and Sarah Bass have helped West Chicago to its best start in Wallner’s 15 years.
And, like those other Wildcats at Neuqua, West Chicago will be facing a test over the winter holiday break in the Benet-Naperville North tournament.
“We had beaten some good teams but were left with a sour taste at how we finished the season,” Wallner said. “The kids learned from it, and so did I.”
Sweet start
Marian Catholic’s victory over Rich South confirmed something coach Shannon Reidy has known.
“Rich South was bigger than us and more athletic,” Reidy said, “but by the end of the game we had worn them down completely.”
That 42-38 victory put the Spartans in the rankings and gave them a 4-0 mark. But the Spartans tumbled 58-44 Thursday in an East Suburban Catholic Conference game against No. 10 Benet.
As expected, Marian is getting a lot of offense from Kandyce Green, daughter of former Hirsch and Michigan standout Rickey. She has been averaging 21 points per game.
“People said she’s great in the open court, but where is her outside shot?” Reidy said.
Well, it’s been just fine this season because the 5-7 senior was a “workaholic” over the summer. Green hasn’t made her college choice yet. She’s being pursued by Bradley, Drake, Loyola, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Evansville. But Reidy thinks the bigger schools “are going to regret” passing up the senior.
“I think she’s been overlooked,” said Reidy, who believes Green’s height has been a factor in the recruiting process. “I look at the girl who starts for DePaul (Molly Watson from Galesburg) and she’s only 5-4.”
Reidy said her team, 13-13 last season, hit the weights over the summer. She also has received much aid from Andrew coach Doug Erickson, “I thought their offense was incredible,” she said. She connected with the Andrew coach after working out with former T-bolts star Tiffany Rudak, now at Eastern Illinois.
Marian’s other senior starter is Jana Panici, runner-up in the three-point-shooting contest in Class AA last season to Fremd’s Maggie Fontana. Two sophomores play prominent roles: guard Missy Mitidiero and 5-11 forward Kelly Duewerth. Mitidiero, Reidy predicts, will be “the next big player out of the south suburbs.” Stephanie Grubisic, a junior, has been the team’s leading rebounder at 5-7. But that might change when 6-3 junior Maureen Simon sees more minutes.
Chemistry class
Bishop McNamara certainly has the brains to be among the top Class A teams in the area. And coach Jim Frogge is pretty sure he has the talent.
“We’re still trying to find some chemistry,” said Frogge, who knows something about that subject. He teaches honors chemistry at the Kankakee school.
His girls basketball team is known for academics. The last two valedictorians at the school both played for him: Jessica Schmidt (now at Notre Dame) and his daughter Jessica (playing volleyball at Yale).
This year’s team is looking to Allie Schmidt, Jessica’s sister, a 5-10 off-guard who is looking at Butler and Bradley.
“It’s her senior year, and she wants to close out strong,” Frogge said.
He’s also getting help from Marian Catholic transfer Rachel Gliottoni, who just happens to be in his honors chemistry class.
Saturday is one of McNamara’s first tests of the season: a two-hour bus ride to Mundelein to face conference opponent Carmel.
Bisons, the sequel
For those who thought they had seen the last of the 1999-2000 state Class AA champion Buffalo Grove girls, think again. Championship-game hero Allison Guth has gotten together with former teammates Patty Vermiglio and Lindsey Hamma for intramural play at the University of Illinois. They’ve also recruited former Conant player Kristin Aloisio and were trying to get another ex-Bison, Christy Compobasso.
