Cannon helps Wheeling make history
During the school day, Janelle Cannon got a little history lesson from a history teacher.
Then the Wheeling junior guard and her girls basketball team went out and made some history of their own on Friday night.
Refusing to be slowed down by illness, Cannon poured home 19 points, followed by teammates Ashley Wilson (18) and Bianca Szafarowicz (14) as the Wildcats set a single-season school record for wins (29) with a 62-34 victory over No. 8 Round Lake in the championship game of the Wheeling Class 4A regional.
The top-seeded Wildcats (29-1) advance to the semifinals of the Barrington sectional and will face No. 4 Hersey (23-8) Monday at 7:30 p.m.
"Mr. (Don) Rowley (history teacher) knew I wasn't feeling that great and he gave me a talk about Michael Jordan (former Bulls star) and how well he played when he was sick," Cannon said. "So I just wanted to do my best."
She did her best impression of Jordan when she threw in a 32-footer just inside the halfcourt line at the first-quarter buzzer to give Wheeling a commanding 25-6 lead.
"I had a sore throat, a headache and was really tired," Cannon said. "After the first two minutes, I had to come out for a breather to get some Gatorade."
The Wildcats kept the pressure on Round Lake (23-5) all night and didn't seem fazed by its zone defense.
"The last 10 to 15 games we've been seeing more and more zone from teams and the girls have been developing nice patience against it," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel, whose parents Dave and Sonja made the trip from southern Wisconsin to watch the Wildcats. "I thought they did a real nice job of being patient and not forcing things."
Senior Bridgette Gray hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter while Stephanie Kuzmanic, back from illness, hit a basket in the fourth quarter,
"Selma (Smajlovic) did a nice job again in her third career start and Stephanie played great after getting back to practice for the first day this week on Thursday," Wiegel added. "She didn't miss a beat.
Senior guard Labrenthia Murdock led the North Suburban Prairie champs with 19 points while no teammate had more than 5.
"What can I say?" said Murdock, who will play at Lewis University. "We did not come ready to play. The first quarter was terrible. You give a team like that a 26-point halftime lead and it's tough to come back. They have five good players."
The Panthers were facing a state-ranked Mid-Suburban East champion on its court for a regional final for the second straight year. Last year, Round Lake lost at Buffalo Grove 75-30.
"If we weren't the eighth seed, we would not have faced them in a regional final," said Round Lake coach Gary Edge. "There is no way this diminishes what these kids accomplished this season. I'm very proud of the seniors (Murdock, Amber Phillips, Ashley Miller and Gina Olinphant). Wheeling is a pretty good basketball team and we did not play well in the first quarter. We played a much better second half.
"We got beat by a better team. They are more talented and more athletic. If we had gone man-to-man, I probably would have had the subs in even quicker."