St. Edward expecting a challenge in semifinals
The St. Edward girls basketball program has never been one to take lightly come postseason time.
But now, after convincing 20 and 16-point wins in last week's Class 2A Aurora Christian regional, the Green Wave have again earned enough postseason respect that they expect a tougher battle Monday night when they take on a future conference opponent - Chicago Christian of Palos Heights - in the 8 p.m. semifinal of the Plano sectional.
"We're going to have our hands full," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. "They've got some tough post players and some good perimeter players. But we feel we can be competitive with them. The girls were really focused and sharp at practice (Sunday)."
St. Edward comes in 17-11 having won the 13th regional title in program history. Chicago Christian, which will leave the Private School League next year to join St. Edward in the new Suburban Christian Conference, is 13-16. The Green Wave and Knights have a common opponent in Wheaton Academy, which they both lost to - St. Edward 57-42 and Chicago Christian 49-40. The Knights also lost to St. Francis, a team St. Edward split with, 43-35.
The underlying story, of course, is St. Edward senior Katie Yohn's pursuit of the all-time school scoring record. The Suburban Catholic Conference player of the year enters Monday's game with 1,764 career points, just 8 shy of tying Beth Hasenmiller's record of 1,772. Hasenmiller, now Beth Sauser and the IHSA's assistant executive secretary in charge of girls basketball, graduated in 1987 and went on to a stellar career at DePaul. Yohn, who is average 23 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists per game this season, will play at Bradley next year.
"I know Katie Yohn is a good player," said Chicago Christian coach Brad Engbers, who has his team has won seven straight regionals but never a sectional during that time. "You have to keep your eyes on her but she makes everyone around her better. When the defense comes out on her the other players they have are very good at weakside rebounding and attacking the basket.
"We're used to playing teams with a star player but it takes more than one player to win a game. But Katie can take over a game anytime she wants and we know that."
Those "other" Green Wave players include senior forward Val Gotheridge, sophomore point guard Enza Ranallo and freshmen Maddie Kerr and Callie Johnson, as well as junior reserve Kristi Knott, all of whom made key contributions in last week's regional.
"Our rebounding has really stepped up these last couple games," Dawson said. "We haven't been giving teams many second shots. We have to keep doing that."
The Knights beat St. Francis deSales 69-22 and CICS/Longwood 60-26 to win their own regional. They are led by junior forward Julie Iwema, senior Tracy Helmus and junior point guard Molly Boonstra.
"It's been one of those seasons where the record could be swapped," said Engbers. "We lost some close games. I don't think our record reflects what we've actually done this season."