Laura Becker could only sit and watch as the Buffalo Grove girls basketball season came to an exciting, yet disappointing, end in Monday’s Hersey Class AA supersectional.
Becker’s Bison career ended Feb. 15 with two minutes left in the regional final against Schaumburg when she dislocated her left knee. Most girls basketball observers were surprised that Buffalo Grove had advanced to the supersectional against Lake Zurich. That didn’t make watching the 47-39 double-overtime loss any easier.
“It was pretty tough for me to watch,” said Becker, who was on the 2000 Buffalo Grove state championship team. “But at the same time I wanted to be really supportive of my team and try to keep them going. I knew that we could play well without me. I wasn’t doubting that. I wanted to stay positive.
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“We basically had the same team as we had last year. We worked real hard over the summer, and by the start of the season we were playing really well. From the beginning of the year, coach [Tom] Dineen had said we could make it Downstate. I was just taking it game by game, but I knew we could play really well together.
“I definitely think they are going to be really, really good next year. They have all the same people. It was really a good experience this season. Hopefully, next year they will get Downstate. They will still have to work hard.”
The year after the state championship, the Bison went 14-19 but came on at the end of the season to win a regional title. Dineen could see the potential of this team with virtually everyone returning, including all-conference guard Ashley Sandstead.
Dineen, who would win his 500th game Jan. 25 against Hersey, made up a schedule that would prepare his team for the state series. In addition to Mid-Suburban League rivals like Barrington and Fremd, the schedule included New Trier, Stevenson, St. Viator, Resurrection, Andrew and Fenwick. The Bison record suffered a bit, but when tough games in the regional and sectional came up, the team was ready.
“We built our schedule during the season for the state tournament,” said Dineen, who is 507-190 after this year’s team finished 24-11. “We’ve been pretty successful throughout the state series, and this year was no exception. All in all, we didn’t play like we were young. We made a few mistakes the other night, but I know we’re going to learn from those. The other night can do nothing but help us. I felt by the end of the year we’d be a pretty good ball club, and we were there.”
When Becker, a 5-foot-5 guard, got hurt, there wasn’t much time to adjust. Freshman Melissa Gorski took her spot and was the leading scorer with 15 points in the sectional championship victory over St. Viator that ended the Lions’ 18-game winning streak. Freshman Jana Lucas was another unexpected surprise for Dineen.
“We didn’t have time to adjust,” said Dineen, whose team lost to Fremd in the MSL championship game. “Those kids had to grow up real fast. Laura took the ball out of bounds for us in every situation, all year long. The kids responded well. We didn’t have much time to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Molly Wendell and Sandstead were not surprises, being named to the all-conference team. Wendell made the team go and was a standout defender, and Sandstead was the team’s leading scorer. Katie Willing and Jennifer Guth, both 5-10, gave the Bison an inside presence despite often being outsized. They held their own against Lake Zurich’s 6-3 Johanna Solverson and 6-foot Patti Hornung.
Seniors Jackie Wentink and Tracy Sula made contributions, as did sophomore Kelly McIntrye.
“We’re not real big, but boy, these kids play hard and play very well together,” Dineen said. “They are great kids. They never complain and are always happy. They come to practice every day with a smile on their face. They do the same when the games come on.”
It could have easily been Buffalo Grove advancing to Normal and Lake Zurich thinking about next year. At the end of the first overtime, a Guth layup spun around the rim and out as time ran out.
“It was tough, but obviously, we’ll have all of our starters back from the end of the year,” said Guth, whose sister Allison was on the 2000 championship team. “We all got to work with each other at the end of the year and we’ll have the whole summer together and regroup and grow. Mr. Dineen said even though we have all five starters back, that doesn’t guarantee anything. We’re going to start right away and work hard.
“It will do us a lot of good, having played an undefeated team in a supersectional. I think we learned it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks of us, just go out and play.”