Gray's Big Milestone Part of Barrington's Success; Palatine Hopes Effort Pays Off
Girls Basketball Notes on Libertyville, Lake Zurich, Grayslake Central, Wauconda and Antioch; MSL 20-Win Milestones and Alums; Big News as Max Christie Traded
It’s hard to believe it’s early February and another high school basketball season is nearing an end. Some notes from the last week:
Gray Gets 1K, Barrington Continues Solid Play
Barrington junior Oliver Gray and assistant coach Michael Sowa were having a fun debate Friday night about when Gray crossed the 1,000-point career threshold.
Maybe it was on his third 3-pointer of the game in the first quarter of Friday’s 62-56 Mid-Suburban West win over Palatine? Or was it on a free throw with 20 seconds left that led to some enthusiastic cheering?
The main thing after Gray scored 22 points is he had achieved the milestone that he really wanted.
“It’s a big accomplishment,” Gray said.
One confirmed to have been accomplished by three other players in program history - all-time scoring leader Jason Richards (1,779) and late-1970s teammates Ike Person (1,177) and John Tomlinson (1,008) - through the Unofficial History of Barrington High School Basketball by retired coach and athletic director Mike Obsuszt and the reporting of the Daily Herald’s Keith Reinhard.
Gray added to his total with 17 points in Saturday’s 61-29 nonconference win over Huntley.
“It’s a testament to his work ethic,” senior teammate Bruce LeBlanc said. “You see him work every day and go hard all the time. He stepped in as a freshman and put in that work and this is a result of that.”
Having a senior like LeBlanc deliver 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a couple of key blocks is also a big reason the Broncos (15-6, 6-2) have won six in a row and 11 of their last 14 going into next Friday’s MSL West showdown at Fremd (21-2, 7-1).
“Bruce is really great for us and he can do it all,” Gray said. “He defends, makes shots, rebounds. You need a player like that.”
In one late-game possession against Palatine the 6-1 LeBlanc switched from battling 6-4, 265-pound junior Tony Balanganayi in the paint to chasing 5-11 Carter Monroe on the 3-point arc.
“I like the challenge of guarding whoever I can,” LeBlanc said.
“Bruce is so versatile, so strong and so solid,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. “He did a nice job getting offensive rebounds (4) and he plays both ends for us, that’s for sure. It’s a luxury to have a versatile player like him.”
It also helped to have the duo of 6-5 Gus Edstrom and 6-7 Danny Shackleton ready to battle inside against Balanganayi since Barrington’s 6-2 football standout Ian Tepas was limited to brief minutes coming off an illness.
“Everybody is ready to go in and perform for us and they came in and did that tonight,” LeBlanc said.
“The kids did a great job of everyone getting ready and we had a good couple days of practice getting ready for them,” Tucker said. “Everyone got after it and it’s a tribute to those guys. They don’t take it for granted and they’re always ready when we call your number.”
And starters Chris Tacher and Adam Baird and reserves Jackson Roberts and Connor Harris also came through to extend Barrington’s lead to double figures early in the fourth quarter while Gray went through a 20-minute scoreless stretch.
“They’ve just got more weapons and do a good job of spreading it out,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone, whose team won the first meeting 61-41 in early December. “They don’t need Oliver to score 30 points. When your best scorer goes through a dry spell and you get other guys to absorb that, it’s the mark of a good team.”
Richards set his career scoring record in four seasons (2000-04) and also holds school records for points in a season (605), career 3-pointers (191) and free throws in a game (16), season (169) and career (472). He led NCAA Division I in assists in his final two seasons at Davidson as the backcourt mate of a pretty decent shooter named Steph Curry.
Person and Tomlinson were part of a three-season run where Barrington made the Class AA Elite Eight in 1977 and supersectionals in 1978 and 1979. Person, who played at Michigan, holds the single-game scoring record of 42 points and rebounds in a season (345). Tomlinson, who played four varsity seasons at Barrington and played at Dayton, holds the career rebounding mark (825).
Encouraging Effort for the Pirates
Three consecutive MSL West losses to Fremd, Hoffman Estates and Barrington ended any hopes Palatine had of winning a third consecutive MSL title. But coach Eric Millstone was encouraged by the effort he saw in Friday’s trip to Barrington.
“I thought we showed good fight,” Millstone said. “When you play a team like Barrington that’s as disciplined and well-coached as they are, there’s not a lot of room for error.”
The Pirates did rebound less than 24 hours later for a non-conference win over Cary-Grove.
“Our goal now is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season,” Millstone said. “We have enough pieces to do that but we need to put together a good 32 minutes.”
Libertyville Zones In on More Success
Libertyville doesn’t play a lot of zone defense. When the Wildcats do it helps to have two energetic and disruptive forces at the top of their 2-3 in 5-4 guards Sophia Cesnovar and Sophia Swanson.
They helped turn an early 12-point deficit into a 50-45 win over Lake Zurich last Wednesday that clinched a share of a 20th North Suburban Conference title for the Wildcats. They claimed the crown outright with a Friday win over Mundelein.
“I thought they did so much for us and we ask them to do so much on defense,” said Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen as he smiled. “I’m sure they’re tired.
“Sophia and Sophia have come up through the program, battled against each other and it’s awesome to see them working together. They’re the engines at the top that make things go.”
Libertyville played a zone in its first victory over Lake Zurich and a little bit in a loss to state-ranked Benet.
“Like playing man, we had to play with all our energy and hustle our butts off to get this game,” Swanson said.
“The preparation we did in practice and watching all the film and looking at scouting reports, to execute that well, we did a great job,” Cesnovar said. “Being at home was a little advantage and we never looked back.
“One of the key factors if we would win this game was if we pressured their guards into turnovers. Sophia (Swanson) did a great job of that. We huddled up at halftime and took a deep breath and knew we had this.”
Libertyville is now 10-0 this season and 37-2 the last three on its home court. It improved to 21-5 after beating Glenbrook South 51-45 on Saturday for its sixth consecutive 20-win season under Pedersen.
Lake Zurich Gears Up for Another Run
The Lake Zurich girls basketball team also plays one of the more challenging schedules around with the plan of a big postseason payoff. They need one more win for their third 20-win season in the last four while playing Libertyville and Stevenson twice in the NSC and facing teams like Loyola, Fremd, Benet and Maine South in nonconference games.
Their 50-45 loss at Libertyville last Wednesday is only the Bears’ second in their last 16 games.
“I know we’re trending in the right direction,” said LZ coach Chris Bennett. “It’s a matter of getting a couple of things fixed.”
Dealing with challenges is not one of those areas. Libertyville looked like it had control with a 46-39 lead with less than three minutes left when LZ responded with consecutive 3s by juniors Alex Nowak-Tice and Layne Nordstrom to get within a point with 1:14 to play.
The Bears also had two possessions to tie or get within a point in the final 45 seconds.
“We’ve been doing that all year long,” Bennett said. “We’ve really fough hard in fourth quarters all year long.”
The Bears will be trying to extend their streak of regional championships to four.
Ram Tough Schedule Pays Off for Grayslake Central
As Grayslake Central girls coach Steve Ikenn was talking about postseason seeding this week he mentioned how much he missed having coaches meet in person to have discussions and debates about what teams have done. That’s a common theme from coaches who have been around awhile.
One can understand Ikenn might want to talk more about the Rams’ record that improved to 21-5 overall after the Northern Lake County Conference leaders won 68-40 at Antioch. All five losses for the Class 3A powerhouse are to 4A teams - Libertyville, Maine South, Hersey, Mundelein and Homewood-Flossmoor.
“We purposely set up the schedule we’ve had so we would be challenged as a veteran team,” Ikenn said. “We wanted to challenge them and see how they would respond.”
The response for the Rams included a 45-38 win over Stevenson last Monday.
“At the Buffalo Grove Thanksgiving tournament those first games against big schools are tough games, but they definitely help us out in the long run,” said Central senior Madison Hoffmann.
“It shows us what we have to work on when we see teams like that later in the season,” said Central senior Annie Wolff. “We’ve seen this before and we know how to react to it.”
That’s why there was no panic when the Rams got hit with a quick 6-0 deficit to start the game at Antioch. They have won 20 games for the ninth time under Ikenn and are looking to go a step beyond last year’s trip to a 3A supersectional.
“We’re doing all the good things we need to do and the little things like Ikenn says,” Wolff said. “Our season has progressively gotten better.”
It doesn’t hurt to have a unique player like the 6-foot Hoffman. The Wisconsin-Green Bay recruit not only is the program’s No. 3 career scorer with 1,600-plus points but also the career leader in assists. She set the single-game record with 11 against North Chicago and followed it up with 8 against Antioch.
“She’s unbelievably unselfish and it’s a pretty rare combination,” Ikenn said of Hoffmann’s scoring and playmaking. “She can play inside and outside.
“They’ve been together for awhile since we had no seniors last year. They’ve got really good chemistry together.”
Grayslake Central has a key NLCC matchup next Saturday at Wauconda (19-2, 10-1). The Rams won the first meeting 33-17.
This Bulldog Edition Reads Well in Wauconda
Grace Parker and Emma Wisniewski are senior starters looking for a big finish for Wauconda.
The Bulldogs improved to 19-2 overall and matched their win total of last season with a 63-26 win over Grant on Saturday. They have now won seven in a row since their 33-17 loss to Grayslake Central.
“We work on defense a lot and it’s just improved so much,” Wisniewski said after their 67-55 win over Antioch on Jan. 25.
“We’ve worked on sharing the ball and I think we’re peaking right now,” Parker said. “Everyone is sharing the ball better and our defense is improving for us.”
Last year the Bulldogs lost 3 of their last 4 and were upset by St. Viator in a 3A regional final to finish 19-8.
“We’re starting to peak,” said Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis. “Last year I thought we peaked a little early and got complacent and lost the regional.
“Now we’re still building. We keep putting more and more good stretches together. It’s still not perfect but the seniors want another shot at Cetnral and the regionals and they’re hungry. I love where we’re at.”
Especially when 5-2 junior Lexi Manalo is setting an aggressive tone on both ends of the court. She is a big part of keeping the Bulldogs balanced and able to showcase their depth.
“When she’s not on the floor we get a little scattered and our organization isn’t as sharp as it needs to be,” Dennis said. “When she’s on the floor she’s the general. There’s a calm about her when she’s out there.”
Antioch Battles the Best in NLCC Girls Hoops
The Antioch girls basketball team is in position to finish in third place in the NLCC as it goes into its final two league games against rival Lakes and Round Lake.
The last two Saturdays saw the Sequoits have their positive moments in losses to the NLCC’s top two teams in Wauconda and Grayslake Central. Head coach Jamie D’Andrea said “we miss that consistency” because a lot of her players’ primary sports are softball and volleyball.
While D’Andrea is in her second year as head coach at Antioch she’s been in the program for 23 years so she doesn’t think it’s been a big difference from the past.
“The girls are harder on themselves than I am on them sometimes,” D’Andrea said. “We talk about controlling the controllables. They’ll get down after missing a shot but I’ll tell them, ‘Then go get a rebound.’”
D’Andrea certainly liked jumping to a 6-0 lead on Grayslake Central and how the Sequoits played and competed in the first half of their 68-40 loss. And despite falling behind by 29 points going into the fourth quarter they kept the game from going to a running clock.
There are also encouraging signs for the future with junior Heidi Rathmann, who already has 1,000 career points, junior Addie Webb and sophomore Scarlett Carroll in the starting lineup. Webb is also a softball standout who recently committed to play at Bradley. Sophomore Heaven Nix and recent freshman callup Evie Baronello are playing a lot of minutes.
“We’re not where we should be but we’ve had some injuries,” D’Andrea said.
D’Andrea was excited to get senior guard Maddie Avila back on the court from a back injury. But they were hurt by the recent loss of junior Miley Volkmar to a knee injury in practice and were without a few key reserves against Grayslake Central.
Fremd, Meadows Boys Have 20-20 Vision
Rolling Meadows hit the 20-win mark for the fifth consecutive full season under coach Kevin Katovich with its 70-35 win at Prospect on Tuesday. The Mustangs went 15-0 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
The only other MSL boys program with five consecutive 20-win seasons was Conant under Tom McCormack from 1989-90 to 1993-94. Barrington had seven successive 20-win seasons from 1948-49 to 1954-55 when it was in the Northwest Suburban and North Suburban conferences. Buffalo Grove had four straight 20-win seasons under Ryan O’Connor from 2004-05 to 2007-08.
Fremd improved to 20-2 with its 47-44 win over Schaumburg on Tuesday as Mike Brown became the third coach in MSL history to win 20 games in his first varsity season in charge of a program. Peter McBride went 24-7 at Hoffman Estates in 2021-22 and Dave Brown went 28-3 with Meadows’ Class AA Elite Eight qualifier in 1989-90.
The 20-win season for Fremd is its 15th - with eight under Mo Tharp and six under Bob Widlowski - and ties Conant for the most in MSL boys history. Conant’s 15 were under McCormack, Jim Maley and Dick Redlinger. Barrington has 13 since it joined the MSL in 1977-78 under Bryan Tucker, Marty Dello, Mike Obsuszt, Paul Gillette, Tom Moony and Gary Cook and 24 since 1948-49.
And 1994 Meadows grad Glenn Olson, an all-area guard in basketball and standout second baseman in baseball, just got his 13th 20-win season and seventh conference title in 16 years at Niles North with a 63-43 Central Suburban North win over Highland Park on Friday.
Olson is 336-136 at Niles North and 373-156 overall in 18 years (37-20 at Maine East). Niles North had two 20-win seasons in program history (1984-85 and 1999-2000) before Olson arrived in 2009, according to IHSA records.
MSL Alums Raethz, Brettner Having Big Seasons
Huntley’s Steve Raethz (Hoffman Estates) and Vernon Hills’ Paul Brettner (Rolling Meadows) are two MSL grads whose girls basketball coaching careers have been on somewhat similar trajectories of success.
Raethz, an all-area guard for Bill Wandro in 1994, inherited a Huntley program in 1999 that won 1 game the previous season. This year’s team is one of the best in the state at 25-0 overall and 12-0 in the Fox Valley Conference and he is now 471-288 with a fourth-place Class 4A finish in 2013.
Brettner, who graduated from Meadows in 1985, started the Vernon Hills varsity program from scratch in 2000. His team this year is 18-10 after losing to his alma mater on Saturday and in second place in the CSL North. Brettner has won 393 games with two 3A state runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2013.
Max Christie Traded (That’s Not the Headline?)
I don’t follow the NBA like I used to - mainly because I don’t find the game or the Bulls very compelling anymore. But obviously the late Saturday night/early Sunday morning trade news caught my eye.
Rolling Meadows’ grad Max Christie was traded! OK, so that wasn’t the big part of the blockbuster three-way deal that’s sending Chicago native Anthony Davis and Christie from the Lakers to Dallas for Luka Doncic and also involves Utah.
It was interesting locally that it came just hours after Christie had 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting in the Lakers’ 128-112 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Stevenson alum and Knicks’ all-star Jalen Brunson, who is having a fantastic NBA career, had 17 points and 7 assists in 40 minutes, but it was a bit of a rare off night for him with 7-for-18 shooting and 6 turnovers.
Christie is having the best of his three pro seasons as he’s averaging 8.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 25 minutes in 46 games. His younger brother Cam has seen action in 4 games for the Clippers in his first NBA season but has been out with a sprained ankle.
Another local component is Lakers’ VP of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka starred at Lake Forest High School in the late 1980s. He played at Michigan on its 1989 NCAA championship team and with the “Fab Five” NCAA runner-ups in 1992 and 1993.