Cook girls basketball notes: Maine South continues perfect start; Injury bug hits Conant

With their championship in the Dundee-Crown Komaromy Classic over Stevenson and another win over the Patriots last Saturday, Maine South improved its perfect start to the 2023-24 season to 19-0.

Jeff Hamann, in his sixth season as the Hawks head coach with a 127-38 record, has been working at Maine South for the past 26 years.

During that time, the Hawks have never been undefeated this deep into the season.

"The keys for us have remained the same," Hamann said. "Our girls continue to be very unselfish and when we play at our pace both on the offensive and defensive side, we can be difficult to keep up with for four quarters. While this run that we are on has been a ton of fun so far, our goal is always to go 1-0 on game day."

Maine South takes part in the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest on Monday at Benet when the Hawks play Bolingbrook (15-2) at 7 p.m.

Conant’s Cobb sidelined: Conant's girls basketball team took a tough blow a few weeks ago when it lost senior point guard Asha Cobb for the season to a torn ACL.

"It's a big loss for us," said Cougars coach Todd Strauch about having to play the remainder of the season without one of the top guards in the Mid Suburban League, a four-year varsity player who was averaging 6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 deflections.

"Asha brought stability and leadership from the point guard position," Strauch said. "Along with being somebody that we trusted with the ball every night, she's a great defender that was extremely active and physical on the defensive end. She set a tone for us and was a great example of somebody that worked hard and played with a toughness."

The Cougars went 2-2 at the inaugural Loyola Christmas tourney where Kanna Bradarrich was named second-team all-tourney. She averaged 5 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists to go along with 3 deflections and 2 steals in the four games.

"Kanna is having a great year for us," Strauch said.

For the season, Bradarrich is averaging 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2 deflections and 2 steals.

Everyone involved: After its first 18 games, Rolling Meadows had eight different players lead the team in scoring.

"We've shared the ball well and executed most of our defensive game plans," said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "Our team play starts with Roisin Grandberry who is one of the most selfless stars that I've coached." Ciara McMahon has been 'very efficient' according to Kirkorsky as she led the Mustangs in the Loyola tourney and was named first-team all tourney.

"Emily Romanacce (double-double vs Cary Grove last week) makes the right plays on both ends of the court and has impacted winning on a nightly basis," he added. "Olivia Zielinski continues to excel as an inside/outside threat and has led us on many nights. Dalia Grandberry has really improved and has become a force on both ends of the court. Lizzy Andriano is the glue of our team as she primarily runs the point and takes on one of the toughest defensive assignments each night. Anna Kast has consistently provided a spark off the bench."

And the Mustangs coach said that probably the biggest factor for his team so far is its talented varsity roster.

"These kids compete each day at practice,“ Kirkorsky said. ”We have a lot of room for improvement, but I'm excited for what we can do in the second half of the season.

Linke all-tourney: Prospect went 3-1 at the inaugural Loyola Christmas Tournament with sophomore Alli Linke garnering all-tourney action. Linke averaged 16 points in the four games with 50% shooting, 4-of-5 3-pointers), 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.8 steals and .5 blocked shots.

Knights coach Matt Weber also applauded the p;lay of his bench led by junior Sadie Splinter (19 points, 30 rebounds, 7 steals), junior Colleen Shute (16 rebounds, 12 points, 5 steals, 8 assists) and senior Campbell Conner (14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals).

O'Boye's gem: Tourney director Jim O'Boye's 34th annual Dick's/Coach Kipp Hoopsfest on Saturday and Monday is packed with big games and players.

On Saturday, the coaches of the Lake Zurich/Montini game are wearing special warmup shirts honoring former Maine West Hall of Fame coach Derril Kipp and his Illinois Hustle teams from when they coached and played with the Hustle in the late 90's.

Lake Zurich's Chris Bennett and Montini's Shannon Spanos have never coached against each other. "So they thought this would be a great way for the two of them to pay homage to coach Kipp who was so instrumental in their young days of basketball growth," O'Boye said..

Here is the Saturday lineup when games are at Montini High School: Marist vs Maine West, 9:30 a.m. Lyons vs. Sandburg, 11 a.m., Batavia vs. York, 12:30 p.m., Lake Zurich vs Montini 2 p.m., Glenbrook South vs Fremd, 3:30 p.m., Geneva vs. Prospect, 5 p.m., Lincoln Way West vs. Sycamore 6:30 p.m. and Mother McAuley vs. Plainfield North, 8 p.m.

The Monday games are at Benet High School. Area schools in action that day are Fremd vs. Indian Creek, Ind., at 2 p.m., Rolling Meadows vs.Benet at 2:30 p.m., Hinsdale South vs. Libertyville at 4:15 p.m, .Hersey vs. Willowbrook at 6 p.m., and Bolingbrook vs Maine South at 7 p.m.

Big milestone: While it hopes for more success in 2024, Maine West hit one big mark in the 2023 part of its schedule when it won its 1,000th game with a 51-26 win at Niles North on Dec. 1. Only six other girls basketball teams in Illinois have accomplished that feat.

"We had a big celebration with current and former players and coaches," said current coach Deana Kuzmanic, a former AAU player for former Warriors coach Kipp who posted 788 of those 1,000 wins.

"After playing for Derril Kipp and the Illinois Hustle for six years, he and Maine West have always held a special place in my heart," Kuzmanic told the Daily Herald's John Radtke last month. "He helped me develop as a player, and like so many other players in the state of Illinois, he helped with my recruiting process so that I could play at the next level (she starred at Alabama-Birmingham)."

The Warriors are currently 8-8 and 4-1 in the Central Suburban North.

"We are excited for the second half of conference play," said Kuzmanic, whose sister Kellie (Brasse) is in her first season as the head coach at Wheeling.

The two sisters faced each other in Wheeling on Dec. 19 when the Wildcats won, 41-36.

"We have been working hard to improve their skills throughout the season," Brasse said. "We are looking forward to the opportunities we will have to take the court after returning from winter break."