Heartwarming home finale for Hogen
Brittany Hogen couldn’t have written a better script for her final regular-season women’s basketball game at Wisconsin-Parkside.
Playing on Valentine’s Day against nationally-ranked Quincy (23-2), the former Hersey standout gave a performance Rangers fans had to love.
Hogen was honored before the game for Senior Night and then went out and scored 23 points to help lead an 83-60 victory.
She was 8-for-12 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line and finished with a double-double by collecting 11 rebounds. Hogen also added a pair of assists and a steal.
In addition to her numerous accomplishments the four years at Parkside, Hogen was also honored before the game as having the most wins of any women’s basketball player in Rangers’ history.
“Senior night was truly amazing,” Hogen said. “I never would have imagined the night would be such a special evening and it will be a night I will always remember. We played so well as a team and it only goes up hill from here.”
With two more wins after snapping Quincy’s 18-game winning streak, the Rangers are now 21-5 and 15-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The are 14-0 at home.
Team MSL program.
TEAMMSL is a new off-season developmental basketball program for sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys that will feed into any of the 12 Mid-Suburban League schools or St. Viator.
The entire staff is made up of current and former MSL players and coaches, including Dave Yates (girls coach at Fremd), John Clancy (boys coach at Wheeling High School, Dave Brault (Palatine), Marc Boone (Palatine), Jesse Farder (Hoffman Estates), Paul Timko (Buffalo Grove), Garett Gatz (Conant) and Nat Pearson (Palatine).
“Our whole mission is to help develop MSL players so they can make their freshman teams,” said director Matt May of Palatine High School. “This is a really unique program. We really emphasize development of fundamentals, working only MSL kids and we have a really experienced staff who are committed to help develop local players only. In addition, we only keep 28 players per grade level to keep a high player-to-coach ratio (nine coaches to one player).
Tryouts are March 1, 3, and 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Harper Community College. Registration is now open.
For more information including philosophy, coaches’ bios, etc, go to teammsl.com.
“We have had an incredible response from the community so far,” May added. “The parents really appreciate a quality program that is offered in the off season for our local community. Our developmental program last year included players from all 12 MSL schools and St. Viator.”
Men’s basketball
Carroll coach Dave Buchanan said the Pioneers “got a nice spark from Christian Sotos” in a 71-57 over Beloit College. Sotos, a freshman guard from Conant, came off the bench and scored 12 points.
Babcock-McGraw, Kwasinski on the air
Daily Herald sports writer and columnist Patricia Babcock McGraw will be part of the Illinois High School Association and “When We Were Young Productions” that will broadcast upcoming television broadcasts of girl basketball state finals Feb 25-26 and March March 4-5.Longtime IHSA TV Network mainstays Dave Bernhard and Lee Hall return to call play-by-play on all of the boys and girls action. Bernhard teams with Big Ten women#146;s basketball anyalst Babcock-McGraw for the girl#146;s Class 2A and 4A games.Babcock-McGraw brings five total years of broadcasting experience to the IHSA state finals, including having served as the color analyst on television broadcasts for the WNBA#146;s Chicago Sky for the past two seasons.Since 1997, she has been a reporter and columnist for the Daily Herald, writing a weekly women#146;s sports column that is one of the few of its kind in the country. During basketball season, she is a game and studio analyst for women#146;s basketball games on the Big Ten Network. The 1990 Indiana Miss Basketball winner went on to play collegiately at Northwestern University, where she earned All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten honors.IHSA girls basketball state champion Sarah Kwasinski (Fenwick) and current Schaumburg assistant girls basketball coach will join Hall on the Class 1A and 3A girl#146;s broadcasts.
Kwasinski led Fenwick state finals twicem, helping the Friars to a third-place finish in 2000 as a junior and the Class AA title during the 2000-01 season.
In six total state final tournament games, the 6-4 forward averaged 14.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game.
Kwasinski then earned Big Ten All-Freshman accolades and Academic All-Big Ten honors while playing for Northwestern.
After playing a year professionally in Luxemburg, she worked as a broadcast and video production manager for the WNBA#146;s Chicago Sky and has served as an analyst on television broadcasts of high school and collegiate basketball, including the 2010 IHSA state finals.
Women#146;s soccer
Katherine Stachula, a Schaumburg senior goalkeeper, has signed to play soccer for Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights.Stachula received an academic and athletic scholarship, as well as scholarship money from the math department. She will be studying secondary math education. Stachula is an Illinois State Scholar and a member of the National Honor Society. Trinity Christian finished 18-4-2 last season and took third place in the NCCAA national championship tournament. St. Viator signees
St. Viator student-athletes recently gathered to sign their letters of intent to play their respective sports at NCAA Division I and II colleges.
Included were Taylor Skala of Long Grove, who will play basketball at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Skala is the leading scorer and point guard for the Lady Lions. She follows her former teammate, Susan Hohenadel, who last year signed on to play guard for the Hawks.
Cory Kay of Arlington Heights committed to play baseball at the University of Houston. Named by the Daily Herald as an all-area catcher, Kay last year hit .402 with 8 homers, 10 doubles and 47 RBI for the Lions, who made it to the Class 3A sectional semifinals.
#147;Cory has great leadership and work ethic qualities that any program would love to have,#148; said Lions coach Mike Manno.
Brian Goss of Arlington Heights is the first St. Viator lacrosse player to formally commit to a Division I program. He will play next year at Siena College in upstate New York, bringing his strong left-handed shot and scoring ability with him. Last year, Goss scored 41 goals and had 37 assists for the Lions.
#147;Brian was recruited for his unique combination of speed, size and a great left handed shot,#148; says lacrosse coach Bill Sanford.
Haley Cooper of Palatine committed to playing soccer at Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia. She is a powerful central defender, playing with the Eclipse Soccer Select Team, and is ranked among the top defenders in the Midwest. She now brings her considerable talent to the Quakers, whose team last year were the champions of the Ivy League.
St. Viator athletic director Tim Carlson said the group is smaller than last year#146;s crop of eight signees but is no less talented.
#147;We#146;re very proud of our student-athletes,#148; Carlson said. #147;We#146;re sure the success they#146;ve experienced here will carry them on at their respective universities.#148;
Also, one St. Viator junior has committed.
Danny Lopez has made a verbal commitment to Harvard University to play hockey in the fall of 2013.
Chicago Hitmen
The Chicago Hitmen, a local North American Hockey League team, spent Valentine#146;s Day visiting patients at Children#146;s Memorial Hospital.
As part of their on-going efforts to give back to the community, five members of the team went to the Brown Family Life Center located inside the hospital to help co-host and participate in the hospital#146;s weekly game of #147;body parts.#148;
#147;Body parts#148; is a game played every Monday in the hospital hosted inside the Brown Family Life Center. It is similar to bingo, where patients match their game card to parts of the body that the host, #147;Extra Technician#148; Tracey calls out. Patients are allowed to come to the set to play and the show is also broadcast live over the hospital television system which reaches an average of two hundred rooms every episode.
#147;It was a good time for all the boys who went- we had a blast,#148; said Chicago Hitmen goalie Brennan Knoblock. #147;It made all of us feel good to be able to go and be a part of the kids#146; day and to go and have a good time with them.#148;
Special guests are not unfamiliar to the Brown Family Life Center.
The Hitmen are among a plethora of athletes from the Chicago area that visit the children. Teams including the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bulls have made appearances.
The center also received a visit from Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville with the Stanley Cup last year.
As part of the Valentine#146;s Day event, the Hitmen served as both players of the game as well as an added extra. Chicago Hitmen defenseman Shane Piggott and goalie Reid Mimmack co-hosted the game by assisting #147;Extra Technician#148; Tracey with the game#146;s score board.
#147;It#146;s great to have the opportunity to spend time entertaining children that are going through a lot in their lives,#148; said defenseman Alec Wilhelmi. #147;Giving back to the community is extremely important in showing the character of your organization, and I feel that we represented the Chicago Hitmen very well.#148;
The Hitmen play their home games at West Meadows Ice Arena in suburban Rolling Meadows.
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