Vikes use a sound approach

So I'm not the only one.

"I always have to eat a sandwich from Potbelly's," Geneva junior Lauren Wicinski said.

I was asking about pregame traditions. Good luck charms. You know what I'm talking about. If you don't wear that lucky shirt, or hear that particular song, or eat the right food, it doesn't matter if you score 30 points, your team is bound to lose.

Wicinski had nothing on teammate Kat Yelle.

"I have to eat at Chipotle before every game," Yelle said, just getting started. "I can't put my hair up before we go into the locker room, and I can't wear finger nail polish. And me and Sammy (Scofield) have to listen to the same music before we get here. And my friend Mike Santa (Santacaterina) gives me motivational speeches before each game."

Whew! Who has time to worry about scouting reports or remembering a new inbounds play?

"I have a lot of superstitions," Yelle smiled.

They are all working. I wasn't part of a 32-0 basketball team, I'm not playing in the Class 4A Final Four this weekend in Normal - which Yelle, Wicinski and the rest of the Vikings are after beating New Trier Monday in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the 54-49 final - but I can relate on one level.

And I deserve my share of credit for Geneva's first supersectional title.

Why?

Because the last two times I've got in the car to head to Geneva games, first Thursday before their win over Lake Park and then Monday night's game at Loyola, when I turned on my car and the radio came on, the first song let me know Geneva had nothing to worry about.

The song?

"I Will Survive."

(Feel free to make fun of the radio station. It was my wife who left it there. Honest.)

If it happened once, OK, random luck. Two times? Coincidence? I think not.

Survive is just what Geneva has done, all the way to Normal. Though "survive" really sells the Vikings short. Stomp, squash - those both are much better adjectives for this highly entertaining, unbeaten basketball team.

If not for a late New Trier rally, Geneva would have picked up another double-digit win. That's one thing to do against so-so opponents in the regular season, quite another in sectional championship and supersectional games.

But that's just what Geneva has done in its path to its first state tournament berth in school history.

"First half holding them to 9 points we showed we could hold our own," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "We're going to face great teams here on out."

True, and that will start with Young on Friday. But Geneva also is a great team, now 32-0, with only three games all year decided by single digits.

So while good-luck charms might not hurt, this Geneva team might be so good they do not need them.

But they are fun to listen to, aren't they? How about one more?

"I sit next to Kelsey Augustine on the bus and listen to music really, really loud," senior Emily Hinchman said. "I get pumped up that way."

Sounds perfect. For that ride down to Normal Friday, may I suggest "I Will Survive?"

And the trip back to Geneva? No matter how the weekend goes, after this remarkable season, it's got to be "Celebration."

jlemon@dailyherald.com