By Paul D. Bowker
MaxPreps.com
Despite a 31-1 season which has featured 30- and 40-point wins, the Whitney Young High Schools girls basketball team is discovering the 4A state tournament won’t be an easy road.
The Dolphins, ranked No. 4 nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and No. 1 in Illinois, advanced to a super sectional Monday by holding off No. 6 Fenwick, 50-41, in a regional final Thursday night. In the regional semifinals, Young defeated unranked Bogan by just four points.
Young, a Chicago selective-enrollment public school, has not lost in Illinois all season and is attempting to win its second straight 4A title. The Dolphins, winners of 23 straight, will play Marian Catholic in the super sectional at St. Xavier University on Monday.
They led Fenwick by 16 points in the third quarter, but Fenwick got back into the game with a 9-0 run.
Chanise Jenkins, a sophomore point guard, led Young with 13 points.
“There were some times when we had mental lapses,“ Jenkins told the Chicago Tribune.
Tricia Liston of Fenwick scored a game-high 20 points.
The Chicago area’s top three teams – Young, No. 2 Wheeler and No. 3 Bolingbrook – are all in the super sectionals. Bolingbrook (22-4), a southwest suburban team, will face No. 4 Edwardsville on Monday at Illinois Wesleyan. Thursday, the Raiders knocked off Hinsdale Central, 53-42, led by freshman star Morgan Tuck’s 21 points.
Bolingbrook is in the super sectionals for the fifth consecutive season.
Wheeling, which defeated Lake Zurich in the Barrington sectional, will meet No. 24 Rockford Boylan in the super sectionals.
Supersectional winners will play in the state semifinals March 6 at Redbird Arena in Normal.
Class 3A: Marshall knocks off top seed
Adrienne GodBold, an Illinois recruit, scored a game-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds, leading defending Class 3A champ Marshall to a 53-40 victory over top-seeded Trinity in the final of the Orr Sectional.
Marshall (24-6), unranked in Illinois, will face Montini (28-4) in the supersectionals Monday at Loyola University.
Trinity committed 21 turnovers and was outrebounded, 43-23.
Class 2A: Driscoll in Final Four
Driscoll will bring a 31-1 record into its Class 2A semifinal-round game Friday against Olney East Richland at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill.
Courtney Lindfors scored 15 points, and had 13 rebounds and 8 blocked shots in the Highlanders’ 54-35 win over Bishop McNamara in the 2A super sectional on Monday.
“It’s the best feeling ever,” Lindfors said.
If Driscoll wins Friday, it will play either Nashville or Hamilton in Saturday night’s title game at 8 p.m.
In Class 1A, Brimfield will play Winchester and Hinckley-Big Rock will meet Colfax Ridgeview in Friday’s semifinals at Normal. Saturday‘s title game will begin at 12:45.
Boys Basketball: North Lawndale wins city title
The Chicago Public League championships gave the Class 3A field in Illinois a glimpse of just how tough North Lawndale will be in the upcoming tournament.
Trailing by six points after three quarters, the Phoenix used hustle and muscle to knock off Hyde Park in the title game Sunday night at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion. North Lawndale, ranked No. 4 in Illinois by MaxPreps, held Hyde Park to two points in the fourth quarter to force a tie, then won it in the extra period.
It was the first-ever city championship for the Phoenix (24-5), which knocked off two Class 4A schools in the semifinals and finals (No. 6-ranked Whitney Young, No. 13 Hyde Park).
Jonathan Mills had a game-high 23 rebounds for North Lawndale and Jermaine Winfield added 14 points and 8 rebounds.
“We’re the dogs and we try to intimidate you with our toughness,” Mills told the Chicago Tribune.
The Phoenix is the No. 1 seed in the LaGrange Park Regional at Nazareth Academy, and will play Chicago Little Village or Elmwood Park in a second-round game Tuesday. The championship game will be played March 6, with the winner advancing to the Riverside Sectional.
Hyde Park is the top seed in the 4A regional at Brother Rice, and will play Downers Grove or Brothers Rice in the March 4 semifinals.
Notable…
Matt Vogrich of Lake Forest scored 38 points in a 74-63 win over North Chicago in the North Suburban League championship game. A Michigan recruit, Vogrich also had 12 rebounds for Lake Forest (21-4). … Michael Phillips scored 21 points and Alex Dragicevich scored 20, leading Glenbrook North to a 76-71 overtime win over Waukegan in the Central Suburban League championship game Wednesday. Jereme Richmond of Waukegan had monster stats: 28 points, 20 rebounds. … Prospect avenged a regular-season loss to Schaumburg with a 61-57 win in the Mid-Suburban League title game Wednesday.
Baseball: Ping! Metal bats stay
Chicago’s high school baseball teams will stick to metal bats. At least for now.
Robert Fioretti, a city alderman, pitched the idea this week for wood bats to be used at high school and youth baseball games, but received virtually no support among other Chicago aldermen.
Calvin Davis, director of athletics for Chicago Public Schools, opposed the idea due to its cost.
Fioretti is pushing the idea of wood bats because of the injuries some say are caused by balls coming off a metal bat at a higher speed than those hit by a wood bat.
Manufacturers say it’s not the aluminum bats.
“While we are sympathetic, very sympathetic, with the families and players that have suffered the rare injuries that occur in baseball, there’s no credible evidence that non-wood bats are at fault,” Mike May, a spokesman for Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, told the Chicago Tribune.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
