Nell Murphy got a bit nostalgic the other day.
“It’s so different,” the Loyola senior said. “We were always in the top three, favored to win. Now we’re not ranked. We’re the underdogs.”
That, in her concise wording, is the history of the Loyola girls basketball team the last two seasons. The Ramblers were almost invincible just a few years ago, winning the 1997 and 1998 Class AA championships. And they reached the Elite Eight in 1999, only to suffer a heartbreaking last-second quarterfinal loss to Galesburg. Then the difficult to spell and pronounce Olga Gvozdenovic and Laura Sobieszczyk left for college along with Elizabeth Fletcher and Jeanette Paukert.
These days the Ramblers are somewhat beatable. But reports of their demise are–in the words of Mark Twain–an exaggeration.
Despite the defection of one of the nation’s top juniors, 6-foot-3-inch Kari Embree, to Wheeling just before the season started, Loyola has compiled a 13-7 mark and nailed down a No. 3 seed in the Maine West sectional. And the Ramblers, after a one-year absence at the Ameritech Shootout, are back on the schedule in the 11th season of this top girls basketball event.
“In spite of the fact that we don’t have Kari Embree, we have a record that’s been improving the past few weeks,” said coach Tanya Johnson..
Loyola started the season 3-5, including consecutive losses to Fenwick, Fremd, Libertyville and New Trier. Since Dec. 9, things have gotten much better for Johnson. Loyola’s only losses were in double overtime to unbeaten Mother McAuley and by six to surprising Downers Grove South in the title game of the Chicagoland Holiday Challenge.
“You’ve got to find the positives, and that’s hard for me to do,” admitted Johnson.
She attributes her team’s turnaround to the McAuley loss, which would have had a different result if the Ramblers had only survived the final 1.8 seconds. Loyola’s two-point lead evaporated in that amount of time, and the Ramblers fell by three in the second overtime.
“Even though that was a loss, it helped turn things around,” Johnson said.
RAMBLERS, PART II
Apparently no one, not even Johnson, knew she had picked up her 400th career victory in December. And to make this even odder, Johnson’s 400th came against Maine South–when Mike Deines was stuck on 399.
“I didn’t even know it,” said Johnson, who has coached at Elmwood Park, Marillac and Loyola. “It’s a joke on me.”
Deines picked up his 400th this week against Maine West. Johnson is now up to 403.
PIERRE’S POINTS
Pierre Pierce became Westmont’s all-time leading scorer Monday during his 41-point outing in a one-point victory over Sycamore. Pierce broke Joe Morganfield’s record of 2,219 set in 1983.
“He does everything it takes to win,” Westmont coach Craig Etheridge said. “We didn’t play a very good game against Sycamore. He was the backbone of the team for the entire game.”
Pierce has scored 40 or more three times this season and is averaging 35 for Westmont (13-2, 8-0). The Iowa-bound senior has 2,253 career points, 48th among Illinois’ all-time leading scorers heading into Westmont’s Suburban Prairie White game Friday against visiting Lemont.
SPEAKING OF POINTS
Austin’s Michael Edwards had 62 of them Wednesday against Spalding–to go along with 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 11 steals. And yet it’s still far short of the state record of 91, set by Cathedral’s John Battle in 1979.
ECHOLS UPDATE
No news on the eligibility fight of Najeeb Echols, who transferred from Young to Morgan Park. But even if he were eligible now, Echols wouldn’t be playing. Morgan Park coach Herb Ray said the 6-7 Missouri signee is still three to four weeks from being able to run on his injured knee and may end up sitting out the season anyway.
MORE HOOP DREAMS
Robert Roberts said he could have put together simply a basketball tournament this weekend in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King. “But I wanted to do something with social significance,” he said.
So the second MLK Dream Classic will take place with everything from a youth gospel concert to high school and college basketball and Illinois’ largest black college fair.
Two girls and two boys basketball games will be featured Saturday at Young. The 16th-ranked Washington girls with Illinois-bound Angelina Williams will face Birmingham Huffman, one of the top teams in Alabama, at 1 p.m. That game will be followed by Dunbar and Desire Wheeler against Central Gwinnett of Georgia. Huffman was fourth in Alabama last season and returns all-stater Donyel Wheeler, who is likely to wind up playing in the Southeastern Conference. Central Gwinnett has last season’s Class 3A player of the year in Georgia, Michelle Conklin.
The seventh-ranked Morgan Park boys face Atlanta Westlake at 4 p.m. Last season’s Class 4A champions in Georgia featured Indiana recruit A.J. Moye. This season their top two players are Earl Calloway and Jonathan Walker. Defending Alabama AA champ Birmingham Woodlawn meets No. 19 Julian in the nightcap.
Roberts said one of the reasons he’s bringing in teams from Alabama and Georgia is the historical significance those states had during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. It’s also the reason Morehouse College, King’s alma mater, will be featured in Sunday’s double-header featuring traditionally black colleges at Kennedy-King College. Morehouse faces Central State (Ohio) at 5 p.m.
UNLUCKY BREAK
Nina Simotes, Minooka’s outstanding 6-foot senior guard who has signed a letter of intent to play for Louisville, broke her right wrist Saturday against Morris and is expected to miss at least two weeks. Simotes is averaging 20 points a game and is 25 points from the 1,500 mark for her career.
