With talent and size, Carmel proving tough to defend

Girls basketball is on the rise at Carmel. Literally.

The Corsairs might boast the tallest inside duo in the suburbs in 6-foot-5 sophomore Jordan Wood and 6-4 junior Grace Sullivan.

Both are getting major Division I college scholarship offers and both have made Carmel a tough team to defend.

"The two of them are getting a lot of attention," Carmel coach Ben Berg said. "We do some high-low with them. They both run the floor really well. Their improvement from last year to this year has been tremendous."

Sullivan, a starter since her freshman year, has become more of a leader and has worked hard to increase her physical presence since then. She's drawn strong interest from Yale, Bradley, Dayton, Drake and Michigan State, among others.

"One of her strengths is catching and scoring on the move," Berg said of Sullivan. "And she's as good as you'll find at 6-foot-4 for running the floor. Transition is where she thrives. And she's getting a better feel for playing with her back to the basket."

Meanwhile, Wood has expanded her game to go beyond post play.

"She's a legit 6-foot-5, but she can handle the ball like a guard," Berg said of Wood. "She is so talented and is just scratching the surface of how good she'll be."

Wood has nearly 20 offers already, including nearly every Big Ten school, as well as DePaul, Marquette, North Carolina, Arizona, Pittsburgh and Florida as well as strong interest from Kentucky.

Tough sledding:

It might be a short basketball season, but the Carmel girls came out of the gates fast, refusing to shy away from tough challenges.

The Corsairs started with a 2-4 record in the first six games, but the combined record of their opponents, which includes powerhouses such as Libertyville, Loyola, Marist and Nazareth, was 26-2 as of this week.

"It's a tough schedule for a fairly young team," Carmel coach Ben Berg said. "We've got four freshmen (Anna Hartman, Ashley Schlabowske, Mariah Phelps, Abbey Sullivan) on varsity and three of them get significant minutes. And we've got three sophomores (Jordan Wood, Kyla Smith, Mia Gillis) playing a lot, too.

"But we wanted to set the bar high and show them where we have to get to. The challenge is to find little wins and progress in games even if that isn't always showing on the scoreboard."

Berg says that in all of his years of coaching, he's never had this many freshmen and sophomores (seven) on the varsity at one time.

"But they are full of energy and they play the game with a lot of joy, which is really fun," Berg said. "They are all attentive and coachable and they are willing to listen. Playing against all these good teams with older girls, they are going to get better."

Surprising start:

With only one returning starter from last year's sectional championship team, Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn wasn't sure what to expect this season.

"Especially because we didn't really have a summer camp," Ikenn said. "And we've had limited practice."

But the Rams got off to a 4-1 start.

"One thing that has helped is that we do have seven other returning players," Ikenn said. "Those players may not have started games, but they got minutes last year and they do have experience and that has made things a little easier on MK."

MK Drevline is Grayslake Central's lone returning starter from last year. She is averaging about 11 points per game and has taken over more of a leadership role.

"When things get bumpy, MK settles us down," Ikenn said. "She went from a really great outside shooter to a complete basketball player. She can pass the basketball, she can shoot, she can play 32 minutes. MK really leads us."

New role:

One of Grayslake Central's returners from last year who has moved into a starting role is Piper Gallaher, a 6-foot forward who averaged about 3 points per game coming off the bench last season.

Gallaher played more and more minutes as the season went on last year, and she seems to have picked up where she left off.

Gallaher is now averaging about 10 points per game.

"In the sectional championship game last year, Piper played just about every minute of the fourth quarter," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "She gained so much confidence and she was able to do so much for us. She can guard anyone, she can rebound and score inside. So many positive things happen when she's in the game."

Double-double:

Freshman Tahj Bloom has certainly blossomed quickly for Grayslake Central.

Already, the 6-foot-2 rookie is averaging a double-double, 10.5 points and 11 rebounds per game.

"I knew somewhat about Tahj (in middle school), but until you see these young kids come in and play with older kids, you never know how they will adjust to the speed of the game at the varsity level.

"Tahj has done really well. She defends well, she's a nice outside shooter. She's solid around the basket, sees the floor well and rebounds."

Ikenn had the fortune of coaching another post player who made the jump to varsity as a freshman. Kate Bullman, now playing at Illinois State, just graduated last year after being a three-year starter for the Rams.

"Tahj is more of an inside player who can play outside where Kate was more comfortable on the perimeter but she could go inside, too," Ikenn said. "Just like Kate, Tahj has the potential to be that centerpiece player for us, too."

Payoff time:

Four years ago, Wauconda was struggling with numbers in the girls basketball program.

So varsity coach Jaime Dennis brought up five freshmen to fill in the roster.

"We couldn't field a freshman team that year because we needed the players up on varsity," Dennis said. "We struggled that year, but it's turned out to be a huge advantage this year."

Three of those then-freshmen are now four-year varsity seniors, including leading scorers Kiley Szmajda and Ella Karg. Meanwhile, two juniors on the team have also been on the varsity since their freshman year, Mackenzie Arden and Jessie Pakaski.

Add in senior Lluvia Sanchez, who was on varsity as a freshman but missed the last two seasons only to return this year, and Dennis can turn to a starting lineup now that includes 16 years of varsity experience.

The Bulldogs have used that experience to get out to a 4-1 start this season.

"I had never pulled up five freshman at one time before but now we've got a lot of experience with those players," Dennis said. "Like most teams, we haven't had a lot of practices but we've been able to put things together.

Wauconda had a 20-win season last year and had been looking forward to building on that, and extending their run in the postseason. Of course, there is no postseason in this COVID-19-shortened season.

"It's disappointing because, having lost in the regional final last year, we definitely felt like we have unfinished business this year," Dennis said. "We wanted to prove to people that we were as good as we were last year."

Big gains:

It's been obvious to Wauconda girls coach Jaime Dennis that junior Jessie Pakaski kept working on her game during the COVID-19 quarantine.

A three-year varsity player, Pakaski has shown versatility both offensively and defensively.

"She's about 5-foot-10, but Jessie can play all five positions," Dennis said. "She's been the most eye-opening in terms of what she's added since last season. She's had an impact on every part of the game. She can guard guards and posts. She can pass and score. She's had games of 15 rebounds, 16 rebounds. Her confidence has really grown."