Jacobs gearing up for stretch run, mentally and physically

It's mental time.

At least that's what Jacobs girls basketball coach Ed Haugens is preaching to his team as the home stretch of the regular season looms.

"Physically we're fine. Mental fatigue is what we're fighting more than anything else right now," Haugens says.

A lot of teams can say that at time of the season but Haugens' claim has a little more weight behind it when you look at the taxing schedule the Golden Eagles have played.

Jacobs has 25 games under its belt already and has won 19 of them, including 8 of its last 9. The only blemish in that span is a 53-41 loss at Cary-Grove, a setback the Golden Eagles will need to avenge on Feb. 2 if they are to have a shot at the program's first conference championship. Jacobs is off until Jan. 27 when it plays at Huntley, a team the Eagles beat 53-43 earlier. They also have to take on an improved Crystal Lake South team Jan. 30 before the Cary-Grove rematch. Jacobs beat South 40-30 on the road earlier.

"The girls have played really well but now we're coming into the toughest part of the season," Haugens said. "We've played so many games already, the question now is how will we respond the rest of the way. Are we going to step it up or are we going to get fatigued? We can talk about it but they have to do it."

So far the Eagles have done it quite well, and for most of the season with just eight players. The recent return of sophomore Cassidy Sherman gives Haugens another weapon to go to on a talented team that has six seniors leading the way.

"They all share the burden," Haugens said. "If someone's off, someone else is there to pick up the slack."

Two of the top players on the team - seniors Hailey Cnota and Maria Tamburrino - each believe chemistry has played a big role in the Golden Eagles' successful season.

"We click pretty well as a team," said Cnota, a four-year varsity player who averages 10.9 points per game and leads the team with 29 3-pointers as well as 81 assists. "We have six seniors and the majority of us have been playing together for a while. We know where each other are most of the time."

"Our team chemistry has been really good," said Tamburrino, the team's leading scorer at 12.2 ppg who also has 24 3-pointers and 55 assists, both second behind Cnota. "A lot of us have played together for at least four years and we work off each other. It's a lot of fun for us when we all click together."

Haugens likes the team unity he sees as well.

"These kids get along great," he said. "We have our ups and downs like any other team but they have a bond and they all get along real well."

Jacobs isn't a two player team by any means. Seniors Katy Cook (6.1 ppg), Sierra Dunner (8.2), Kathleen Mammoser (2.4) and Kelsey Quitschau (2.1) have all done their part, while junior Melanie Schwerdtmann has contributed 5.2 points per game. The Eagles have also excelled on defense, allowing just under 40 points per game. Only once, in a 62-37 loss to Class 3A No. 1 Montini, has Jacobs allowed more than 60 points in a game.

Tamburrino acknowledges the mental side of things right now but says she and her teammates are prepared to deal with it.

"We've been playing in a lot of games," she said. "It starts to wear on you and you just have to stay focused."

Said Cnota: "It's definitely a physical and mental challenge. We just need to pull together as a team and get it done."

Haugens, who is 145-64 in his seventh season at the helm of the Jacobs program, believed from the start his team could contend for a conference title and 20 wins - but then the personable Golden Eagles mentor believes that every year.

"I've always felt, every year, that we had the ability to win 20 and a conference," he said. "Winning conference has been a block but this is another year I feel we have that ability. We've got good chemistry going, we just can't get caught up in ourselves."

Keeping the team chemistry going is something Tamburrino knows the Eagles must do if they're going to challenge for the conference title and then their second regional crown in the last three years. Jacobs is in the Class 4A McHenry regional and is pretty much assured the No. 1 seed as it owns wins against each team in the field and seeding meetings are scheduled before the Eagles play again.

"If we all play together and play like we know how, I think the chances will be in our favor," Tamburrino said.