Geneva's goals remain high
Monday marked the official start of the high school girls basketball season, and no one was more eager than Geneva's Kat Yelle to enter the gym for the first day of practice.
“After we lost in the supersectional (60-54 to Hersey exactly eight months ago Monday), I wanted nothing more than basketball season again,” said Yelle, one of the expected senior leaders for the 2010-11 squad.
“Now that it's here, it's really exciting,” added Yelle.
The Vikings enjoyed a fantastic season in 2009-10 that included capturing regional and sectional championships for the second consecutive year.
Fresh from their fourth-place state showing (32-2 record) in 2008-09, the Vikings won their first 31 games before falling to Hersey in last year's supersectional clash at Streamwood.
“Kat is so excited about the season,” said Geneva coach Gina Nolan. “She's ready to get it done. She wants to correct what she feels we didn't get done last year. I know she took that very personally.”
Not being satisfied with a 31-1 record speaks volumes about where Geneva's girls basketball program stands these days.
To be sure, the expectations are at a lofty elevation.
“We tried to take some consolation in the off-season in that five or six years ago we were ecstatic to win a regional and now we were crushed not to win the supersectional and not get to state,” said Nolan.
“I'm happy that that's where our standards have risen to,” the coach added.
While watching the final half-hour of Monday's practice, I'll admit it seemed a little strange not to see Lauren Wicinski or Kelsey Augustine grabbing an offensive rebound.
But the two 6-footers have since graduated, leaving Yelle, classmate Sammy Scofield and talented junior Ashley Santos with added leadership roles.
“It's going to be different,” admitted Yelle. “I've seen the older girls and how they led the team. I'm just trying to take a piece of each of them and what they brought to the team and mix it in.
“I'm trying to encourage the team to believe that we can do whatever we want,” added the Ohio University recruit.
Yelle certainly counts as a qualified source, having lost just 10 games in three varsity seasons.
I'm talking about a three-year record of 84-10.
“We want to keep winning,” said Yelle. “I'm feeling pretty confident about our team this year.”
Nolan is happy to have Yelle and Scofield around for another season.
“This is the fourth year I've been with Sammy and Kat,” said the coach. “I remember when Sammy came to our camp as a fourth-grader.”
They have a tradition to uphold as they try to leave their own legacy.
“Starting with Taylor (2,000-point scorer Whitley), each group has carried on and kind of left its own mark and has done some special things,” said Nolan.
Geneva, which has become accustomed to winning Western Sun Conference titles, will shoot for its first Upstate Eight Conference River Division crown this season.
“I think it'll be great to have the local rivalries,” Nolan said of joining St. Charles East and St. Charles North in the new UEC River Division. “And we'll have two (conference) crossover games against Bartlett and Lake Park.
“I'm excited about the proximity of most of the schools, especially with traveling in the dead of winter,” added Nolan.
In addition to their new conference alignment, the Vikings have made a few more tweaks to their 2010-11 schedule, including an appearance in the Springfield Prep Classic (vs. Class 3A power Springfield Dec. 11) and a late-January road game against defending 4A third-place finisher Fenwick.
They'll begin the season Nov. 20 with a 2:30 p.m. game against Antioch in the opening round of their own Thanksgiving tournament and again compete in the Benet/Naperville North Tournament in December, as well as participate in the McDonald's Classic at Willowbrook High School (opponent to be determined in early December). Montini also has been added to Geneva's Thanksgiving tourney.
“I'm really excited about our schedule this year,” said Nolan. “We want to play the best schedule possible.”
It has been an emotional and difficult off-season for Nolan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer.
“I was diagnosed one week after school got out in June,” she said. “I had surgery in July and I started chemo in August. I'll finish treatments right before the games start.”
Nolan credits Tim Pease, Katie Sheely and the rest of her coaching staff for helping conduct summer and fall sessions.
While she's admittedly fatigued at times, her coaching philosophy hasn't wavered.
“I'm doing OK,” said Nolan. “Like I told the kids even at the beginning of open gym it's taken my energy and it's taken my hair but I'm still the same coach and I have the same expectations as always.
“I'm blessed to have great assistant coaches throughout the program that have stepped in for me when need be,” she added. “There will be some times where I won't be around but they know if I can be here, I'll be here.”
She'll have one fan in her corner.