Expect nothing but the best from Holloway
Whitney Holloway isn't one to accept even her slightest misstep.
Jason Nichols found out that quality quickly.
“I remember summer before her freshman year, we were at a game at Maine West,” recalled Montini's coach, “and she made a mistake and she was visibly upset. She came up to me and said, ‘Coach, I will never do that again.' I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?' It's summer, a meaningless game.”
Holloway seldom made the wrong move the next four years.
Steering Montini to the top of Illinois girls basketball, Holloway committed just 224 turnovers over 139 games with 631 assists.
As a senior she was even better. Holloway had an incredible assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 4-to-1.
The 5-foot-4 Notre Dame recruit averaged 14.2 points, 4.6 assists and 4.1 steals per game while leading Montini to a 36-1 record and its second straight Class 3A championship.
In four years under Holloway's lead, the Broncos went 125-14. She scored 1,594 points and shot 64 percent from the floor.
If the difference between good point guards and the great ones is decision-making, no surprise Holloway stands as one of the elite guards nationally in the class of 2011.
“The reason we were so good is Whit did not cost us possessions,” Nichols said. “That is the true trademark of an unbelievable point guard.”
For those efforts Whitney Holloway is the Daily Herald DuPage County 2010-11 All-Area basketball captain.
Growth of a point guard
Nichols already knew his team was in good hands with Holloway, but she affirmed that thought during a December game against Marian Catholic. Holloway had not left the court yet, and Nichols told her toward the end of the third quarter to give him 40 more seconds and he'd get her a break.
“She came back to me and hit me on the leg and said, ‘I'm not coming out. I'm fine,' and I told her, ‘You go, this is your game,'” Nichols said. “That was the first time Whit spoke up and gave me an opinion. In the back of my head I thought, ‘We're probably going to win this thing (a state championship) again.'”
No doubt Holloway, and her game, have grown in four years.
She arrived at Montini as a scoring point guard. As a freshman Holloway was the second-leading scorer on a team that took third place in Class 3A.
Misfortune cost Holloway her running mate, Michala Johnson, the next two seasons to ACL tears. But Holloway stepped up her game as a junior to lead Montini to its first state championship.
This year Holloway led Montini to seven wins over ranked opponents during the regular season, scoring a personal-high 28 points in the win over Marian Catholic. The lone blemish was a loss to 4A champion Bolingbrook at the McDonald's Shootout.
“Even with that loss it was a perfect season,” Holloway said, “because we still won the state championship. That loss made us stronger.”
Nichols called Holloway's intangibles, such as reading defenses, “frightening.”
“She's so dynamic with her ability to set people up,” Nichols said. “How many kids can run screen and roll like (Steve) Nash and (John) Stockton? She's awesome at it.”
Holloway also is a game-changer at the defensive end. She swiped 7 steals in the sectional semifinal against Hampshire. At the top of Montini's matchup zone, the lightning-quick Holloway gets her hands on countless balls, leading to easy offense the other way.
“She has amazing speed,” said Montini senior Kasey Reaber, who played against Holloway for three years before transferring in. “When she is going full out I don't know if anybody is as fast as she is.”
Not satisfied with her game, Holloway wrote down a list of goals prior to this season. One was to be a better free-throw shooter.
Sure enough Holloway improved from 62.4 at the line as a junior to 79.2 percent this season, one of the best in the area. She also hit 46 3-pointers, 25 more than her junior year. And she committed 19 fewer turnovers while playing three more games.
“Coaches don't like when you turn the ball over,” Holloway said, “and I hate making turnovers. I take my time on offense. If something is not there I try my best not to force it. It's kind of instinct, really.”
‘It was always basketball'
Holloway's game was born on the YMCA practice court. As a 5-year-old, she tagged along to her older brother's practices. Whitney shot around on a side basket. Her dad, Chris Holloway, soon noticed she was making as many shots as boys four years her senior.
“I said, ‘Either you boys or horrible or she might be pretty good,'” Chris Holloway said with a laugh.
The following year the Holloways signed Whitney up for YMCA ball. Before long Whitney was playing in games where her team scored 24 points — and she had 20 of them.
When Whitney was in fifth grade Chris' job with the Union Pacific Railroad moved the Holloways from Omaha to Plainfield.
She excelled at track in middle school — “she wouldn't even let me buy her track shoes,” Chris said — forever dueling against future Bolingbrook basketball star Taylor Tuck on the pavement.
“But it was always basketball for her,” Chris said.
What Chris and his wife are most proud of, though, is the way their daughter carries herself off the court.
“We get nothing but good reports,” Chris said. “Parents that we don't even know, her principal and teachers, I get compliments about what a nice young lady she is. She's going to leave a mark at Montini.”
‘There ain't no dents in the armor'
Chris Holloway has always taught his daughter to respect her opponent. He speaks from experience.
As a senior at Jennings High School in St. Louis, Chris and his team expected to go to state. They lost to an opponent they had beaten by 30 during the season.
Whitney, and Montini, never were guilty of looking past an opponent during a dominating playoff run.
“I often tell Whitney that sticks with me to this day. It's the one thing that kind of sits in my craw,” Chris said. “We try to teach Whitney as well as our son to respect other people, respect property and in general treat others the way you wish to be greated. In basketball respect your opponent.”
Holloway clearly leads off the court as well, evidenced by her 4.0 grade-point average. Academics were a big reason Holloway committed to Notre Dame two years ago.
If there is concern that Holloway's 5-foot-4 frame can't make it at the next level, she won't let on. She doesn't even think about it.
“She'll find a way,” Nichols said. “That will be the knock on Whit for a long, long time. Keep telling her she won't do it — she will prove you wrong.”
Reaber said that power of positive thinking rubs off on teammates.
“She never has anything negative to say toward anybody,” Reaber said. “She's a good leader and a very motivational person. Before games she will say stuff to pump us up and she gets you focused if you're messing around.”
Like Chris Holloway said, Whitney leaves her mark at Montini.
“There's not a negative bone in that body,” Nichols said. “You try to look for a dent in the armor; there ain't no dents.
“I don't know if I'll find somebody like that again. I'm blessed early, I guess.”
DuPage County all-area captain honor roll:
1988-89 — Tammy Kocher, Montini
1989-90 — Ann Hoving, Montini
1990-91 — Jennie Driscoll, St. Francis
1991-92 — Andrea Miller, Willowbrook
1992-93 — Kelly Miller, Lake Park
1993-94 — Terri Zemaitis, Downers Grove South
1994-95 — Autumn Braddock and Amy Wardle, Hinsdale Central
1995-96 — Casey Leonhardt, Downers Grove North and T.J. Williams, Naperville North
1996-97 — Ashley Luke, Waubonsie Valley
1997-98 — Ashley Luke, Waubonsie Valley
1998-99 — Ashley Luke, Waubonsie Valley
1999-2000 — Charliss Ridley, WW South
2000-01 — Candace Parker, Naperville Central
2001-02 — Candace Parker, Naperville Central
2002-03 — Candace Parker, Naperville Central
2003-04 — Candace Parker, Naperville Central
2004-05 — Kelly Krumwiede, Glenbard West
2005-06 — Erica Carter, Naperville Central
2006-07 — Keilani Moeaki, WW South
2007-08 — Samantha Arnold, Lake Park
2008-09 — Toni Kokenis, Hinsdale Central
2009-10 — Toni Kokenis, Hinsdale Central
2010-11 — Whitney Holloway, Montini