BG’s state champs merit IBCA Hall of Fame
I’ll always remember the lead on the sidebar written by fellow Daily Herald reporter John Radtke when Buffalo Grove won the 2000 Class AA state girls basketball championship in overtime against Chicago Washington.
It read ‘Allison Guth for president!’
That’s because Guth was the president of BG’s student council and she became the school hero when she scored 7 of her 11 points in the extra session as the Bison won 60-51 at Illinois State’s Redbird Arena.
Guth and her teammates will be able to relive the memories of that dream season this Saturday when the team is inducted into the Illinois Coaches Basketball Association Hall of Fame at Illinois State’s Braden Auditorium in Normal.
The coach of that team is already a Hall of Famer. Tom Dineen was inducted in 2001.
“It’s a very nice honor for these young ladies, very fitting and well deserved,” said Dineen, now the head coach at Stevenson. “The 2000 season was a magical time. A lot of good times, big wins and great memories. We truly were the best team in the state that year. Many good teams had all-state players, but we had an unselfish group of hard working, caring friends that didn’t care about statistics or individual honors.”
Just a month earlier the Bison had lost by 30 points on their home floor to that same Washington team.
“It was kind of fitting that we got a second chance to play them because it was definitely our worse loss of the year,” said Lindsey Hamma, a guard on the team who is now the head softball coach at Hoffman Estates. “We were also able to redeem ourselves from a loss in the regular season to Fenwick (the Bison defeated Fenwick in Class the AA semifinals).”
Hamma, a senior that season, was joined in the starting lineup by all-state senior point guard Piper Mead, junior forward Kathleen Nowicki, senior center Kendra Ryl and Guth, a senior guard who is now an assistant coach in the Northwestern women’s basketball program.
Completing the roster were senior Patty Vermiglio, who stepped into a starting role when Nowicki was injured late during the tourney run, senior Melissa Counley, senior Tiffany Mah, sophomore Laura Becker, senior Kristen Schaap and junior Melissa Peterson
The Bison were undefeated Mid-Suburban League champions that season and wound up with a 34-4 overall record.
“They were playing a game they loved with their best friends and played together better than anyone that season,” Dineen said. “Everyone contributed at so many times and in so many ways.”
Hamma is looking forward to seeing her former teammates.
“We’re excited to be getting back together,” she said. “We have stayed good friends through the years. A lot have families now so it’s nice to be able to connect this way. It was a tight-knit group and we’ve stayed that way through the years.”
It was a season in which the Bison became only the second team from the Mid-Suburban League to win a girls basketball state championship. Elk Grove won in 1981.
“It was so neat to be a part of that special season,” Dineen said. “The girls, their families and friends all made it a season every player dreams about.
“The most rewarding part of the season, of Saturday’s honor and being the coach of these wonderful young ladies, is how they conducted themselves on and off the court, how well they treated each other and everyone associated with the journey, how well they embraced the team concept and handled their roles, how well they represented Buffalo Grove.”
Dineen has enjoyed keeping in touch with them.
“Most importantly is how the girls have grown and have had great careers and beautiful new families and still are best of friends,” he said. “The memories and the friendships are life-lasting. I am so proud to have been a part of their high school family, to see how successful they are today, to go to their weddings, see their children grow and to be able to call all of them my friends.”
Sports notes trivia
The above-mentioned Tom Dineen won or tied for 17 Mid-Suburban League titles at Buffalo Grove.
Name the coach who directed the Bison to their first MSL championship in 1978 and then eight years later steered another District 214 school to the title game.
National championship for Guth
Former Palatine volleyball standout Hannah Guth was a member ofMarquette’s club volleyball team that won the national championship.
The team was ranked No. 3 in the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation rankings before the tournament started and defeated the No. 1 and No. 2 teams en route to the title.
Marquette has won two national championships in the last six years and has made it to the national championship game four times in the last seven years. In the past 15 years, the club volleyball team has finished in the top three of the national tournament nine times.
Men’s volleyball
Kyle Bolinder (Barrington High School), the assistant volleyball coach at Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, helped lead his team to the Mid-American Men’s Volleyball Intercollegiate Conference Championship.
Bolinder played on the Barrington High School 2005 state runner-up team and played at Saint Ambrose University.
Softball
Carthage senior Krystina Leazer (Elk Grove) was named a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin softball Player of the Week.
Leazer was 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA for the Lady Reds, pitching all 7 innings and striking out five in a 6-0 shutout of Wheaton. She then won both ends of a doubleheader against Augustana.
Leader started and won the opening game, 14-3, striking out four. In the nightcap, she was the
winner in relief, going 3.1 innings with five strikeouts in a 4-3 win over the Thunder.
타 Millikin’s Becca Thompson (Schaumburg) scored the winning run in the Big Blue’s 6-5 victory over North Park. Thompson had 2 hits and 2 RBI in the game.
Rachel Mickey commits
Rolling Meadows senior Rachel Mickey has made a commitment to play volleyball for Carthage College in Kenosha.
Mickey, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, led the Mustangs with 88 blocks in the regular season, was second with 195 kills (.295 efficiency) and tied for most aces with 31 (90 percent serving). She also had the best passer rating at 1.99 on a 3-point scale.
“Rachel exemplifies what we want our Rolling Meadows volleyball players to strive for throughout their playing career.” said Mustangs coach Joe DiSilvio after the season. “She never played back row up until her senior year and did a great job passing and playing defense for us.”
Golf outings
The northwest football and basketball officials group (Athletic Officials Service) will hold the fourth annual John Katlzer/Leukemia Research Foundation Golf Outing on Saturday, June 8 at 11 a.m. at Terrace Hill Golf Club.
It will be a scramble golf outing. For more information, please contact Jeff Curtin, j-curtin@sbcglobal.net, 847-980-8429.
타 The George Verber Charity Golf Outing will be held Monday, June 10 at White Deer Run Golf Club in Vernon Hills to celebrate the life of the longtime area coach and to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The golf outing will be a shotgun start at 9 a.m. with a four-person scramble. Cost is $125 and includes range balls, on-course beverages, barbecue lunch and various prizes. Or you can pay $25 for lunch only. Those interested are asked to RSVP by May 10. For information contact Brad Verber at (773) 814-4242.
Baseball
Wheeling senior Ryan Bendewald has verbally committed to Dominican University.
In his first Mid-Suburban League start this season, Bendewald threw 7 scoreless innings while getting a no-decision against Elk Grove.
Bendewald (0.74 ERA) has thrown 19 innings, giving up 10 runs, 2 earned runs, 17 hits. He has 10 strikeouts and 4 walks. Opponents are hitting .224 against him.
타 Carthage’s Kyle Pusateri (Schaumburg)had a RBI single in both games of a 4-0 and 8-3 sweep of Lakeland in Kenosha.
Track and field
Former Buffalo Grove sprinter Ashley (Geddling) Brown, who graduated in 2006 as a three-time state qualifier, is a social studies teacher at Jeffersontown High School in Louisville, Ky.
She is also the boys head track coach and girls assistant track coach at the high school.
Trivia answer
Ann Penstone’s 1978 MSL North girls basketball champion Buffalo Grove defeated South champion Elk Grove for the MSL crown. Penstone then directed Hersey to the MSL North title in 1985. She and current Hoffman Estates coach Mike Nocella (former Prospect coach) are the only persons who have coached two different schools in a MSL title game.
타 Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.