DuPage captain: Hinsdale Central's Kokenis made basketball look easy
If Toni Kokenis was going to lose it, this was the time.
A young lady so measured, so in control on the basketball court and off had just lost her protective cocoon. Steve Gross, for 15 years the face of Hinsdale Central girls basketball, had abruptly resigned the day before.
No practice with rookie coach Morgan Kasperek, and one day later it was time to play Benet and a box-and-one defense that had every intention of taking out Kokenis.
To top it all off, there was Stanford University sitting in the stands - Kokenis' dream school - to see her. The night before, it was Kokenis who made the call to Stanford associate head coach Amy Tucker to tell her Gross wouldn't be there to meet her.
Dream? Who wouldn't wake up in a cold sweat.
"I can't even believe what it would be like to go through that," Kasperek said. "The average person would say, 'I'm done.'"
In typical Toni fashion, she took what the defense gave her, scoring 8 points in a 43-25 win, afterward simply saying,"This game was for coach Gross."
"It was a crazy couple days," Kokenis said. "We didn't know what was going on."
A basketball team that prides itself so much on playing at a controlled pace never did miss a step. Kokenis wouldn't let it. Not after guard Anne Mullen transferred to Fenwick or after senior Kat Leach tore her ACL in November.
And not after Kokenis lost her coach.
"They lost their coach," Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland said, "and she just took over."
Numbers-wise, Kokenis averaged 17.9 points and 5.0 assists per game while setting a school single-season scoring record with 607 points. More than that, the 5-foot-10 junior was a second coach on the floor. A sounding board for Kasperek. The first kid to run out suicides for a new coach like she would any other. And the leader for a 31-3 Red Devils team that went unbeaten in the West Suburban Silver and advanced to a Class 4A sectional final.
"I can't say enough positive things about her," Kasperek said. "She stepped up as a leader in a way I don't think she even expected she could do."
"We came together as a team," Kokenis said, "because of what we went through together."
In control, on the court and off, Hinsdale Central's Toni Kokenis is the 2008-09 Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area Basketball Captain.
Making her point
Kokenis calls her favorite players to watch NBA point guards Steve Nash and Chris Paul.
"It's amazing how they control the game," she said, adding, "I can learn from them."
Kokenis' personal point guard school was in session at Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic in December. She averaged 22.5 points in four games, leading Hinsdale Central to its third straight championship.
Most dazzling, Kokenis accounted for 40 of her team's 42 points by way of point or assist in a win over Hersey in the semifinals. She followed it up the next night with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals in beating Waubonsie Valley. All this while not once taking a seat with second-leading scorer Madison Whitley out sick.
Wheaton North coach Dave Eaton encouraged his younger players to sit and learn from Kokenis.
"By far one of the best point guards I've ever seen," he said. "She always makes the right pass. Always makes the right defensive play. Any time Hinsdale needed a play she made one."
In Hinsdale Central's methodical style of play, Kokenis lulls opponents to sleep and then - POW - hits them with a burst to the basket.
"It's something I've never seen before," Kasperek said.
"You give her that first step and she's gone," said Waubonsie Valley coach Kris Kalivas, the unfortunate witness to Kokenis' personal-best scoring games of 27 and later 30 points this season. "Not many females are capable of driving to the hoop and finishing a shot like she can."
An athlete from Day One
Marie Kokenis must have stopped marveling at her oldest daughter's athleticism years ago.
At 6 months old, while Toni was being baby-sat by great aunt Yia Yia Fofo, she sat up and threw a nerf basketball clear across the living room. From the time she could walk she tried to keep up with older cousin J.R. Toni never took to softball (too slow for her, said mom) but was the only girl on the Oak Brook Little League travel baseball team, once cracking a home run that led a parent to ask about the kid with blonde hair tucked into the helmet circling the bases, "Who is that boy?"
Kokenis never played organized soccer until the fourth grade. Thirty seconds into her first game, she scored her first goal. Blessed with "two extra gears" of speed, Kokenis was a natural for soccer, eventually qualifying for the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program. By eighth grade Kokenis thought soccer would be her ticket to college, but when she came to Hinsdale Central she stopped playing travel soccer.
"She told me, 'In soccer, I am dependent on someone passing me the ball,' " Marie recalled, " 'but in basketball I'm in total control of the game.' "
Off-the-charts IQ
Hofland can't say what the best way to slow down Kokenis is. Trust him, he threw everything but the kitchen sink at her in two games this season. A hard man-to-man in December, Kokenis patiently went for 13 points and 5 assists. One month later, a 1-3-1 zone - and she scored 24 points and fell an assist short of a triple-double.
"With the ball in her hands, they're always making the right decisions - it's amazing," he said, "I've never seen a kid like that. She's so smart of a player, she'll eventually figure out what you're doing."
Kasperek recounts how one conference opponent threw a "weird press" at Hinsdale Central.
"I told her once what they were doing," Kasperek said, "and every single time she read it right, what to do. She was able to read defenses, when to take it and when to pass it. Because she's so humble she lets everybody else take a shot. Her basketball IQ is amazing."
Not surprising, coming from the girl who was once voted at a soccer banquet "most likely to score a 36 on the ACT."
The ACT is still a couple months away, but Kokenis does carry a 5.77 grade point average, taking Advanced Placement courses in everything but English. She hopes to major in kinesiology, working with athletes to return them to the playing field. Kokenis took interest after going to a new doctor last summer for an injured back.
"I always wanted to do something involved with sports," she said.
Kokenis' list of colleges reflects that of a true student-athlete. She has always aspired to Stanford but has also visited Duke. Vanderbilt, Boston College, DePaul and Northwestern are also potential destinations.
Kasperek, who played collegiately at Iowa after winning a state championship at Hinsdale Central, said defense is where Kokenis has the most room for improvement.
"Offensively, she is there," Kasperek said.
"The point guard's job is to run the team and read defenses - I don't see a problem with that. With her work ethic and her size, the sky's the limit."
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>All-Area basketball teams coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Cook County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276980">Girls team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276982">Boys team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276929">Captain: Ashley Wilson</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276927">Captain: Cully Payne</a></li> </ul> <h2>Cook PDF pages</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/cook1.pdf">Page 1 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/cook2.pdf">Page 2 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/cook3.pdf">Page 3 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/cook4.pdf">Page 4 </a></li> </ul> <h2><A HREF="http://dailyherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=706057&CategoryID=5971">Purchase PDF page reprints</A></h2> <h2>DuPage County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276984">Girls team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276985">Boys team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276917">Captain: Toni Kokenis </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276915">Captain: Danny Crawford</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276916">Past girls captains</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276914">Past boys captains</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276931">The best of the girls season</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276930">The best of the boys season</a></li> </ul> <h2>DuPage PDF pages</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/dupage1.pdf">Page 1 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/dupage2.pdf">Page 2 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/dupage3.pdf">Page 3 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/dupage4.pdf">Page 4 </a></li> </ul> <h2><A HREF="http://dailyherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=706057&CategoryID=5971">Purchase PDF page reprints</A></h2> <h2>Fox Valley</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276978">Girls team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276990">Boys team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276709">Captain: Kati Yohn </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276820">Captain: Marc Little</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276780">Captain: Conrad Krutwig</a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/multimedia/?category=19&type=video&item=88">Fox Valley captains </a></li> </ul> <h2>Fox Valley PDF pages</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/foxvalley1.pdf">Page 1 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/foxvalley2.pdf">Page 2 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/foxvalley3.pdf">Page 3 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/foxvalley4.pdf">Page 4 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/foxvalley5.pdf">Page 5 </a></li> </ul> <h2><A HREF="http://dailyherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=706057&CategoryID=5971">Purchase PDF page reprints</A></h2> <h2>Lake County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276987">Girls team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276981">Boys team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276907">Captain: Lydia Bauer </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276908">Captain: Brandon Paul</a></li> </ul> <h2>Lake PDF pages</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/lake1.pdf">Page 1 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/lake2.pdf">Page 2 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/lake3.pdf">Page 3 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/lake4.pdf">Page 4 </a></li> </ul> <h2><A HREF="http://dailyherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=706057&CategoryID=5971">Purchase PDF page reprints</A></h2> <h2>Tri Cities</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276989">Girls team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276988">Boys team</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276904">Captain: Taylor Whitley </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276905">Captain: Jeremy D'Amico</a></li> </ul> <h2>Tri Cities PDF pages</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/tricities1.pdf">Page 1 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/tricities2.pdf">Page 2 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/tricities3.pdf">Page 3 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/tricities4.pdf">Page 4 </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/images/allareapdfs09/tricities5.pdf">Page 5 </a></li> </ul> <h2><A HREF="http://dailyherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=706057&CategoryID=5971">Purchase PDF page reprints</A></h2> </div> </div> </div>