Mocchis take sister act to Northwestern

If you've enjoyed watching the all-state girls basketball twins from Buffalo Grove for the past three years, you won't have to go to far to continue watching them at the collegiate level.

Seniors-to-be Maggie and Alison Mocchi, the 2006-07 Daily Herald All-Area honorary co-captains, committed verbally on Wednesday to play for Northwestern University.

They are the first players in Hall of Fame coach Tom Dineen's career to commit to a college prior to their senior season at Buffalo Grove.

The Mocchis, who both rank among the top 10 in all-time scoring at BG, helped lead the Bison to the Class AA Elite Eight the past two years and have been among the area's top players since their freshman year.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for both of them," Dineen said. "They are great kids. They work very hard. They are very personable and will be a great addition to

"Northwestern's program, which seems to be getting more local players recently. Obviously, it is a great situation for their parents, too."

Mike and Rose Mocchi will be able to see plenty of their daughters' games at the Evanston-based Big Ten school. The twins' top three choices were DePaul, Miami (Ohio) and Northwestern.

"Evanston is close to home, and that was a big thing for both of us," Maggie said. "Northwestern just felt right. It's a great school. We liked the coach (Beth Combs) and we knew some of the girls. We wanted to make a decision soon and this just seemed like the right one."

"The whole recruiting process was fun, but at times, overwhelming," added Alison, who suffered an injury to her patella in the first quarter of the state quarterfinal in March and underwent surgery shortly after. "We are happy with our decision."

Dineen is also happy for his talented guards.

"The recruiting process is very flattering but its also overwhelming," he said. "After awhile it can wear on you. The hard thing for these girls is saying 'no' because they're such nice girls. But at some point it just hits you and you know what you want to do.

"They called me (Wednesday morning) and told me they made their decision and said thanks for the help. Then after they made it official to the coaches at Northwestern they said they were happy.

"It's a great decision for all. Now they can go on and not worry about it and have even more fun their senior year of high school."