Schaumburg seniors set high standards
There was no strategy to discuss in a timeout with 3:21 to play and Schaumburg trailing Fenwick by 26 points.
But Schaumburg senior Drewann Pancratz had plenty to say going into the final minutes of her high school basketball career in the Lake Park Class 4A sectional final in Roselle.
"Play hard and play with some pride," Pancratz said to her teammates. "Play as a team and finish hard. Do it together. Let's go."
What Pancratz and senior teammates Gabrielle Blackwell, Kylie Castans, Gryte Satas and Kaitlin Marchok did together was take Schaumburg girls basketball to tremendous heights the ended with a 68-48 loss to Fenwick on Thursday night.
Three straight trips to sectional championship games. A school-record 28 victories and trip to the Mid-Suburban League title game this season.
"We made history at Schaumburg and that's something to be proud of," Pancratz said.
"We've been playing together since sixth grade and we have accomplished a lot together," Castans said. "Schaumburg hasn't done as much as we have together.
"It's a little disappointing with this game, obviously. We didn't execute as much as we wanted to."
Fenwick, last year's Class AA state champion, was pretty instrumental in that occurring.
"We didn't execute our game plan for 32 minutes," said Schaumburg coach Bill Murmann. "When you play a team like this you have to execute your game plan for 32 minutes."
But after his seniors came off the court one last time with about two minutes left, Murmann walked down the bench and patted each of them on the head in appreciation of what they accomplished.
"We had a lot of fun," Castans said.
"The memories and bonds we made with each other," Pancratz said, "it's a great group of girls with bright futures ahead of them."
A group that set a standard for the future of a Schaumburg girls basketball program which will have sophomore point guard Taylor Kosla returning from the starting lineup.
"I'm proud of our girls," Murmann said. "Before them there weren't many people talking about Schaumburg (girls) basketball and now people are. It was a great year."