Young talent buoys WW South, Neuqua Valley

Both Mike Williams and Rob Kroehnke were coy in not talking up their young players before basketball season tipped off.

But there is no hiding the kids' impact.

Neuqua Valley and Wheaton Warrenville South are both off to fast starts, and a big reason is the play of their freshmen and sophomores.

Neuqua Valley, playing six freshmen and a sophomore, went 4-0 to win the Hinsdale South Tournament.

Freshman guard Malia Smith scored 13 points against York and 12 in a win over Hinsdale South. Sophomore Allison Hendrick had 11 points against Hinsdale Central and 9 against Wheaton North. Freshmen Najee Smith (Malia's twin sister), Nikki Lazar, Brenna Dunckel, Courtney Keefer and Lauren Deveikis also saw significant court time at Hinsdale South.

The glue to hold it together is veterans like Megan Doody with good character and leadership skills.

“You need to have that to take some of the pressure off the younger kids,” Williams said, “and for them to have someone to look up to. That's the difference, is we have that kind of leadership.”

Williams has looked forward to this freshman class for some time. A Sunday league program implements at the lower levels what Neuqua runs in high school. Skills are taught a few nights a week.

Williams gave a big assist to Gordon Smith, Malia and Najee's dad who also is a former referee and played high school ball in Rockford, for keeping the group together.

“Him and I saw eye-to-eye from the very beginning,” Williams said. “That takes a lot of pressure off me as a coach. He did a lot of the groundwork for us.”

Williams admitted that he has a couple more freshmen at the lower levels that could have made varsity.

“But you gotta be careful when you bring up freshmen and sophomores,” Williams said. “That's the most difficult part, is piecing it all together, making sure they get valuable time and get their feet wet.”

WW South went 4-1 in winning the Schaumburg Tournament for the first time in 10 years.

Sophomore Allie Zappia came off the bench to score 17 points in a win over St. Charles East, then had 16 against Schaumburg and 10 in the clinching win over Proviso West. Fellow sophomore Kelly Langlas and freshman Maggie Dansdill each scored 10 points against Schaumburg.

“They've brought a lot of energy so far,” Kroehnke said. “It's been fun to watch.”

Kroehnke has four sophomores and two freshmen up with the varsity this year. One sophomore, Sierra Bisso, tore her ACL before the season, but freshman Megan Waldron can start practicing after sitting with a stress fracture in her back. Sophomore Dana Miller has also played the first five games.

Combined with upperclassmen like Annie Shain, Hannah Credille and Kasey Gassensmith, it's allowing Kroehnke to extend his defense and play a little faster than recent memory.

“We're 10 deep now,” Kroehnke said. “Annie's got to love that these kids have picked up the slack. There's not one person on our team you can key on.”

Even top-ranked Montini is leaning on young kids to contribute off the bench.

The Broncos' top six reserves are 6-foot-4 sophomores Malayna Johnson (Michala's sister) and Diamond Thompson, sophomore guard Nikia Edom and freshmen Sara Ross, Kelly Karlis and Kateri Stone.

Those kids did get smaller bites of playing time in Montini's win over Geneva Saturday, than in three previous blowouts.

“You don't want to throw bluegills right to the sharks,” Montini coach Jason Nichols said. “But our younger kids are going to be good.”

Eye on the Tigers: Montini has already picked off one elite Class 4A team, beating Geneva last Saturday.

This Saturday could present an even bigger challenge.

The Broncos (4-0) will meet Edwardsville (3-0), ranked No. 3 in the 4A preseason poll, at the Blue Star Country Classic Showcase at 1:30 p.m. at Kankakee Community College.

Edwardsville has advanced to the 4A supersectionals the last three years, losing by 9 to Bolingbrook last season. Edwardsville and Montini coincidentally were Bolingbrook's closest in-state wins last year. Three years ago Edwardsville beat Montini at a shootout in Springfield.

This year's Tigers team is led by rugged 6-foot senior center Mary O'Keefe, committed to Southern Indiana. Cierra Gaines, a 5-8 senior forward, and Emmonnie Henderson, a 6-2 sophomore, are other players to watch.

“They're good. Very good,” Nichols said. “They're also very big. I'm excited about being tested. You always want to win, but whatever happens will make us better in the long run.”

Unbeatens put to the test: A pair of early unbeatens in Waubonsie Valley and West Chicago will get their stiffest challenges to date this week.

No. 9 Waubonsie (6-0) is at No. 2 Bartlett tonight in a meeting between the teams expected to vie for the Upstate Eight Valley conference title.

West Chicago (5-0), meanwhile, travels to defending DuPage Valley Conference co-champion and eighth-ranked Wheaton North (3-1) on Thursday. The Wildcats then turn around to host Geneva on Tuesday.

“I do understand the next two games the basketball talent moves up a little bit,” said West Chicago coach Kim Wallner, whose team split two games with Wheaton North last year. “All we can do is prepare. We know it's a challenge and we look forward to it.”

West Chicago comes off a championship run at the Lyons Township Tournament. Rallying from 8 down to beat then No. 14 Prospect in the opening game was a confidence boost.

Wallner had high praise for her kids' defense and rebounding. They should get a shot in the arm this week with the return of seniors Jordan Nickelson and Meagan Radloff.

“The difference to me is we're playing defense and rebounding more consistently,” Wallner said. “We weren't a good rebounding team last year and it hurt us a lot. We are attacking the glass at both ends. We're harping a lot about defense and rebounding.”