Morgan Park coach Thomas Johnson said he’s never had so many injuries on a team.
The Mustangs learned last week that 6-foot-1 St. Bonaventure recruit Gabrielle Richmond is out with a torn ACL and meniscus in her left knee. They also lost potential starter Khalilah Morrow and Camille Terry to knee injuries before the season.
Senior Kendyl Nunn had a minor knee injury earlier this season. On Saturday at the Chitown Showdown at Young, junior guard Kiara Carter went down with what appeared to be a sprained knee, according to Johnson.
The Mustangs (7-4) are trying to move on with a young supporting cast for Nunn and senior point guard Debra Jenkins.
“We’re trying to teach them, ‘Don’t quit,'” Johnson said. “No matter what the odds are, keep fighting until the final horn.”
Jenkins demonstrated that attitude Saturday against St. Louis Miller. While Nunn sat on the bench for much of the game in foul trouble, Jenkins helped engineer Morgan Park’s near comeback in a 65-61 loss.
“We’ve got to push our younger kids harder,” said Jenkins, who had 16 points and seven steals. “We’re real aggressive in practice so they can be stronger in games. I know if I push hard, everybody else is going to follow and push hard with me.”
A fair comparison: St. John the Baptist coach Ted Oberg took his team from New York to play at the Chitown Showdown this past weekend, and the Cougars lost 59-22 to No. 5 Trinity on Friday and 64-27 to No. 2 Young on Saturday.
Oberg had good things to say about the Blazers and the Dolphins, who play each other Saturday in River Forest. But it was clear Young left the bigger impression.
“(A fellow coach) said that’s the best high school team he’s seen, and I kind of agree with him,” Oberg said of Young “You’ve got Nazareth in New York ranked No. 1, and I think they’re better than Nazareth. They’re a good basketball team, with size, speed, everything. I love the way their guards pull up off the dribble and knock down shots. You don’t see that in girls basketball all that much.
“Trinity’s good, too. They have size, good shooters. We just got unraveled quick and didn’t play our best game. We played a much better game against Young, played much more controlled, but they were just too big for us.”
A glaring grouping: Regional and sectional playoff assignments were released last week, and one grouping made it likely state finals weekend will be less exciting this season.
No. 1 Bolingbrook, No. 2 Young and No. 5 Trinity are in the same supersectional, meaning only one will make it to the state semifinals at Redbird Arena in Normal.
If the Raiders and Dolphins hold their rankings through the regular season, it will be the second straight year Nos. 1 and 2 didn’t meet in the final. They met in a semifinal last season. Bolingbrook won in overtime and then won the championship by 29 points over Zion-Benton.
The change is good for Marist, Marian Catholic, Homewood-Flossmoor and Lincoln-Way East, which watched Young advance from their supersectional the last three seasons.
Monday’s shoutouts: Geneva’s Ashley Santos and Fremd’s Haley Gorecki experienced the thrill of making winning shots last week.
Santos’ jumper at the buzzer gave Geneva a 64-62 win against Springfield Southeast.
Gorecki’s layup with 12 seconds left gave Fremd a 42-41 win against Palatine.
Don’t miss: The week starts off with an Upstate Eight Valley clash between undefeated Bartlett and Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday, continues with a Southwest Suburban Blue showdown between Lincoln-Way East and Homewood-Flossmoor on Thursday and ends with the meeting between undefeated Young and Trinity.
