Sidelines: Weber, Thomas help represent the ladies at Lake County Shootout
The annual Lake County Senior Shootout basketball all-star game was held Saturday at Waukegan High School. On the girls side, the roster was thinner than normal.
Boys and girls all-star games had both been scheduled as usual, but only four girls committed to play — Hadassah Brown of Waukegan, Ny’Asia Short (Warren), Keira Thomas (Vernon Hills) and Hannah Weber (Buffalo Grove).
That was the fewest number of girls since the games were first held in 2010, according to coordinator Fred Fleming, a coach with the Lake County Challengers AAU team, who started the shootout with Dwayne Springs of Springs Preparatory Academy.
Fleming believes the low number of girls was a “one-off.” A lot of prospective players either were taking college visits or competing in spring sports, he said in an email.
All was not lost.
“Instead of canceling the girls (game), we decided to add the four players to the boys game, which ended up being a fantastic decision,” Fleming said.
“They all were excited to play in the game and competed very well.”
Indeed. Weber, who scored 12 points with 6 rebounds, was named co-MVP along with Carmel’s Ethan Matz, who scored 17 points with 7 rebounds. Their East team beat the West 102-85.
Matz also won the Lake County competition’s slam dunk title over Trey’Veon Roberts of Waukegan. Antioch’s Mark Render was the 3-point champ, ahead of Vernon Hills’ Thomas.
To shore up the female contingent for the 2027 Lake County Senior Shootout, Fleming said he intends to spread the wealth.
“Next year we will be extending our invitations to female players outside of Lake County as well,” he said.
Victory laps continue
In voting by state media, Naperville Central senior Trinity Jones won Illinois’ Ms. Basketball award. Previously, the Clemson recruit was Illinois’ sole player named a McDonald’s All-American.
Also, Warren junior Jaxson Davis was voted Mr. Basketball, winning the award a second straight time. The three-time first-team all-state guard earned Gatorade’s Illinois boys basketball player of the year last month.
Going out on top
After 33 years teaching English at her alma mater, Hinsdale South High School, Sue Howard will be retiring after this school year.
With her she’ll undoubtedly take many memories, relationships — and unless something happens this spring, two Hornets girls track and field records, in shot put and discus.
A state qualifier all four years as a student, and a six-time all-state thrower, the former Sue McDonnell’s top marks were 43 feet, 3¼ inches in shot put and 147-7 in disc, both achieved as a senior in 1987.
Howard went on to compete at the University of Wisconsin, where she added javelin to her discus and shot put. She made it into the Big Ten Conference finals “a couple times,” she said, and was a three-time Big Ten all-academic selection.
For nine years Howard coached girls track and field at Hinsdale South, ending in 2000.
There’s still time, but she hoped that somewhere over these past 39 years another Hornets thrower would have surpassed her marks.
“I would have preferred to coach somebody who beat those,” Howard said. “That would have been more ideal for me.”
See you soon
We don’t really cover sports below high school in this column … but for this I’m making an exception.
The Illinois Elementary School Association recently released its Scholar Attitude Awards, which recognizes one eighth-grader in each of the IESA’s 15 divisions statewide, plus one at-large pick, based on academics, athletic participatio and citizenship.
In 2026 this prestigious group includes Braden Blackowicz of Lake Zurich Middle School North and Justin Florentino of Thompson Middle School in St. Charles.
The IESA also salutes school sportsmanship winners over its statewide divisions. These include Highland Middle School in Libertyville, Hawthorn Middle School North in Vernon Hills, and Gower Middle School in Burr Ridge.
They’ll all be honored at the IESA Celebration of Excellence, April 28 in Bloomington.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com