Having a year off from competing in the state finals can may be considered a good thing for the Fenwick girls basketball team.
The Friars, who were thwarted from competing in the finals last season by eventual state runner-up Bolingbrook, also didn’t make the trip to Illinois State University’s Redbird Arena in 2006. How did the time off affect the program? Fenwick took home the championship trophy in 2007 with a 35-27 victory over Bolingbrook.
This season, the Friars (25-5) won’t have to face Bolingbrook before the finals. The Raiders, who as of last week were ranked as high as No. 2 with a 16-4 record, are in a different super-sectional. Fenwick’s main competition in the playoffs could be defending state champ Whitney Young (27-1), who is currently ranked No. 1. If all goes well for the Friars, they’ll see the Dolphins in the Mother McAuley Sectional title game on Feb. 26 (7:30 p.m.).
Other teams standing in Fenwick’s way may include Mother McAuley (20-7), Thornton-Fractional North (24-2) and Marian Catholic (24-4), who gave the Friars a battle on their home court on Feb. 7. Fenwick won 57-53 but not before the Spartans’ Kaila Turner tallied 23 points, including five three-pointers, to put a scare into the Friars.
“We’ve played a very tough schedule and hopefully it has prepared us for the postseason,” said head coach Dave Power of his team that closed out the regular season last week with a 64-36 win over Benet to mark its second-straight undefeated record in the East Suburban Catholic Conference – they also claimed the conference title for the 15th-consecutive year. “I like our chances, but my concern is to not look so far ahead, because there will certainly be some challenges.”
With star juniors Tricia Liston and Katlyn Payne leading the way, Fenwick is tough to defend. Payne stepped up against Marian, scoring 23 points. Liston, a 6-foot-1 forward, who has been somewhat slowed by a sore back, is averaging 22 points per game.
The Friars, the No. 2 seed in the sectional, were set to play the winner of the Simeon-Reavis game last night (Feb. 17, after deadline). They could face cross-town rival Oak Park in the regional championship at Queen of Peace on Thursday (Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m.).
“I think our team has been tested already this season,” added Power. “So, it’ll be that proverbial one-game-at-a-time mentality will be taking throughout the playoffs.”