New Trier next challenge for Geneva
Geneva hopes history repeats itself Monday night at the Class 4A Conant supersectional.
The Vikings (23-6) play New Trier (29-1) with the winner earning a spot at the state tournament Friday at Redbird Arena in Normal against either Fremd or Huntley.
It was seven years ago when the Vikings earned their first trip to state, and they did it by beating New Trier 54-49 at the Loyola supersectional.
Since then the Vikings have been a fixture playing games late into the season, now with five sectional championships in seven years after throttling red-hot St. Charles East 64-39 Thursday night.
Taylor Whitley scored 14 points in that supersectional win seven years ago over New Trier to tie Emily Hinchman for the Geneva lead.
This year's squad has another Whitley on it, freshman point guard Margaret Whitley, who had 8 points against the Saints and 17 points in Geneva's regional championship victory a week earlier.
"New Trier is a really good team but we are going to play our hardest no matter what," said Margaret Whitley, who like fellow freshman guard Stephanie Hart hasn't let her youth be a factor. "I get the nerves especially in warmups but as soon as the tip I'm just playing. I'm just really focused on the game. It's the time of my life."
Hart had a similar reaction after a solid all-around game of 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals Thursday.
"I was nervous the whole day," Hart said. "We had a half day too so I had more time to think about it. But as soon as I stepped on the court I knew this was a sectional game and I couldn't play any less than I have any other games."
While Geneva was blowing out the Saints, New Trier nearly lost to Evanston in its sectional championship game, holding on 41-39 when a baseline 3-pointer rimmed off at the buzzer.
Junior forward Jeannie Boehm led New Trier with 16 points and junior guards Haley Greer and Kathryn Pedi scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Vikings have plenty of size inside to counter Boehm led by sophomore center Grace Loberg who had 23 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks, then 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in the team's two sectional wins.
Forwards Abby Novak and Janie McCloughan have a combined 7 varsity seasons of experience.
"It just comes down to the mental part," said Geneva's leading scorer, McCloughan. "We know we can beat them but we have to execute. We're going to be prepared. We'll be up for the challenge."
McCloughan scored a game-high 18 points against St. Charles East with 10 rebounds, a big bounce back from a 6-point game against Bartlett on Tuesday.
"Janie is a gamer," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. "She puts in 1,000 hours in this gym. I just said to her you have to trust yourself, trust everything you've done, focus yourself and let's go. She did exactly that. Proud of her."