Wheeling savors super season started last summer
NORMAL - The Wheeling girls basketball team was running smoothly when the squad played the marquee game of the McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook during the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.
The Wildcats, coming off a sectional final loss to Buffalo Grove the preceding season, were riding high after winning their first 21 games of the year.
But the wheels came off when defending state champion Whitney Young administered a 75-53 decision in the showdown of Illinois' top-ranked teams.
"We got exposed and found out what we needed to work on for the rest of the season," Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel said of the one-sided loss to the Chicago magnet school and eventual state runner-up. "We put together another nice run after that game."
The Wildcats defended their Mid-Suburban League East Division title, won the MSL championship and advanced to the state finals for the first time in program history by turning back Rockford Boylan at the Elgin Community College supersectional.
Bolingbrook denied Wheeling in the semifinals en route to its second state title in the last four years, but the Wildcats rebounded by beating Geneva to capture third place in Class 4A.
The Wildcats finished 33-2 - their 2 losses coming at the hands of the state finalists - and the school recognized the team's achievement with an assembly Monday morning in the Wheeling gym.
Wiegel said the genesis of the Wildcats' run germinated after the last school year ended.
"I really think (the foundation took root) over the summer," Wiegel said. "We had all the tools, all the weapons. We knew we had the talent."
The twin anchors for Wheeling all season have been senior Ashley Wilson, the first-team all-state forward who has signed a letter of intent to play at Purdue, and junior guard Janelle Cannon. Wilson and Cannon averaged 18 and 16 points, respectively.
Wiegel had another viable offensive threat in junior Bianca Szafarowicz, who ended the year averaging 14 points per game.
"I thought from summer league on, we were going to make it downstate," Szafarowicz said.
In the Wildcats' 59-40 victory over Geneva in the third-place game, the trio proved to be the difference against the Vikings.
Wilson was a force inside with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds; Cannon was brilliant on the perimeter and at converting free throws to lead all players with 20 points, while Szafarowicz added 18 points and 8 rebounds.
"We're definitely not a two-person team," Wiegel said after the Geneva game. "Every one of the five starters wanted to contribute."
Cannon offered a self-deprecating explanation for the Wildcats' climatic 13-0 third-quarter run that wrested control of the game for good against Geneva.
"I just wanted to shoot and I made it," Cannon said of two near-NBA-range 3-pointers that were indispensable to the Wildcats' third-quarter burst. "I did what I needed to do to get the run going. Ashley always wanted to come down here. It was great finishing with a win, even though it wasn't the win we wanted."
"It was a great experience," said Szafarowicz, who paced Wheeling with 13 points against Bolingbrook before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. "We just left our hearts on the floor. We made history."
Stephanie Kuzmanic had a pair of inside scores in the Wildcats' unanswered third-quarter run against Geneva to finish with 8 points. The final starter, senior guard Bridgette Gray, played all but two minutes in the two state final games.
Wheeling features a dozen players, including 11 juniors and freshman Kellie Kuzmanic, the only reserve to see action against Bolingbrook, expected to return next season.
But the team realizes Wilson is virtually irreplaceable.
"I can't wait to see (Wilson play) in college," Cannon said.