Every game plan may be a bit different depending on the competition, but one strategy that won’t change for the Fenwick girls basketball team this season is taking shots, plenty of them.
The Friars, who finished 22-10 last season after winning the Niles North Thanksgiving Tournament, taking third at the Dundee Crown Holiday tourney, finishing runner-up at the Sweet 16 tourney and winning the program’s 19th-straight regional championship, are being coached to shoot 40 threes and 40 twos per game this season.
The mandate isn’t off the beaten path of last year’s plan that also featured the Grinnell College men’s basketball style of offense.
Who references Grinnell College when explaining the dynamics of your offense?
That’s legendary coach Dave Power, who has led the Friars to two state titles (2001, 2007), a second place finish and three third-place finishes at state in 20 years. With that record he can reference any obscure college hoops team he chooses.
Power will have a bevy of talent at his disposal this season. Jade Owens, who resides in River Forest and is considered one of the top point guards in the state, returns to take the reigns as floor leader. During the offseason, the junior played on the premiere AAU club team Midwest Elite Platinum.
Also back in the fold is Maggie Reilly, Maya Garland, Hannah Sophie, Eva Brundage, Sarah Pezza, Alanna Maloney and Kendall Boardman, the younger sister of Meredith Boardman, who went off to Yale after leading the team in points and rebounds last season. Reilly is expected to be gunning from downtown again. As a junior last year, she drained nine three-pointers in a single game.
Power said he’s expecting big things from newcomer Jenny Mackowiak, a sophomore who can pull up for a jumper or take it to the hoop. Power said he’ll also make use of talented youngsters Mackenzie Sewall, Kelly Canoy, Megan Hussey, and Selena Mullis, a 6-foot-1 junior post player.
The coach said he’s also expecting freshmen Deja Cage and Kiki Sheard to see plenty of playing time as well. “Cage can do it all, and Sheard is a strong inside threat. Both of these young ladies have to be at the top of the freshman class.”
The Friars opened their season by dismantling Wheeling 71-44 in the first round of the Niles North Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday. They followed up the rout with an 82-28 pasting of Taft on Saturday.
