Stevenson's Dineen surpasses 800 career wins

He's old, he jokes. Winning never gets old, however, especially when it's accomplished with a Division I talent unable to play due to injury.

Even better for Tom Dineen, who reached another coaching milestone Saturday morning in DeKalb with his 800th victory? His wife, Chris, and two of the couple's three children, daughter Jaime and son Sean, were courtside, as Stevenson's girls basketball team opened DeKalb's MLK tournament with a 67-28 win over the host Barbs.

Dineen's two grandchildren, Logan and Kiley (Jaime's kids), were expected to be in attendance for the Patriots' second game Saturday against Maine South.

"My family - my wife, my kids, my grandkids - are obviously very important to me," said an emotional Dineen, holding the game ball, which will be displayed among his personal collection in his office at home. "I appreciate them being here today. They're my biggest fans."

Dineen won 677 games in a hall-of-fame career at Buffalo Grove from 1980-2008. In his sixth season at Stevenson, he is en route to his sixth 20-win campaign. Behind 14 points apiece from Sophia Way, Janine Fajardo and Ashley Richardson, the Patriots improved to 17-1.

"I think it's great for him," Way, who's in her fourth season under Dineen, said of her coach. "This is just another achievement for him that I'm sure he knew was coming. He's a winning coach."

Despite playing its first game of the season without Butler-bound Taylor Buford, who sprained her right ankle in practice earlier in the week, Stevenson bolted to a 21-9 lead after one quarter.

"I wanted to see how we responded with an all-area player out of the lineup," said Dineen, whose team recently lost backup guard Jessica Burke with an ankle injury as well. "I thought the kids responded very well. It was a good team effort. I thought we came out very aggressive, shot the ball well, distributed the ball well and played with a lot of energy."

The Patriots showed no letup in the second quarter, receiving a pair of 3-pointers from Fajardo and one each from Way and Richardson in increasing their lead to 45-19 by halftime.

"We knew we were going to be missing a big part of our game - Taylor - and we knew a couple of people had to step up," Richardson said. "I think people did. I think everyone just had an overall good game."

Skylar Blackstock and Madison Wicklund added 8 points apiece for the Patriots.

"I think it just speaks to the fact that this really is a deep team," Way said. "We're not just the starting five. We've got kids that have been working their tails off in practice since the start of the season."

Buford is not expected to play Monday, either, when Stevenson plays two more games at DeKalb. The Patriots resume North Suburban Lake Division action Wednesday night at Warren and are hoping to have their star forward back.

"She's having some problems putting weight on (the ankle)," Dineen said. "This is a nice tournament, but there's no sense of pushing her. We got to keep an eye on the big picture. We want to get her healthy for the conference and end of the season."

Buford leads the Patriots in scoring at 13.4 points per game.

"We miss her energy," Richardson said. "We miss her rebounding and we miss the way she attacks the basket."

The Patriots prevailed anyway. Which Dineen teams usually do.

Stevenson 63, Maine South 45: In the Patriots' second game of the day at DeKalb, Ashley Richardson scored 18 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and Janine Fajardo added a season-high 17.

The score was tied 23-23 at halftime. Skylar Blackstock chipped in 13 points, tying her season high, for Stevenson (18-1), which will play Huntley at 4:30 p.m. Monday in a semifinal game at DeKalb.