|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sports
Wolves now become the hunted : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWolves now become the hunted
| After chasing SPC title hopes, Oswego East girls' basketball team brings home first championship
| by Kristin Sharp
| 3/8/2012
|
In a season that brought a new head coach to the Oswego East girls' basketball program and a host of first-year varsity players, one thing remained the same.
Senior and four-year veteran Arneasa Blair returned to the court for her final season in a Wolves uniform and helped lead Oswego East to the program's first-ever Southwest Prairie Conference title before leaving as the all-time leading scorer.
Blair scored 273 points as a senior to give her a total of 850 career points and her 287 career assists and 72 blocked shots also puts her atop the Oswego East record books. She played in 107 varsity games, the most of any player in the Wolves' history.
"If she didn't have Venita (Parsons) and Aysia (Bugg) there, she would have had to average 15 points a game, but with those other players she didn't have to worry about scoring and she was able to dish the ball out," Carretto said. "She's a senior, four-year starter, but she was able to see other players could score."
Oswego East finished with a 19-9 overall record, bowing out in the Class 4A regional championship game after winning a share of the SPC crown with Romeoville with a 10-2 record.
"Overall, the hard work they put in paid off," Carretto said. "We did some things together in the summer and once the season came around, they made sure every day in practice they didn't let up. With the exception of maybe one or two games we were unable to come back, even though we were undersized, we were in every game."
Oswego East opened the 2011-12 season making its first and only appearance in the Glenbard West Rachel Bach Tournament where the Wolves posted a 2-2 mark after losses to Glenbard West And Glenbard North. Oswego East will replace the season-opening tournament with Naperville Central's tournament for the 2012-13 season.
"It was a good tournament to get us ready," Carretto said. "It gave us an opportunity to get our feet wet. It was nice to come out 2-2 and gave us an idea what we had to do the rest of the season."
Oswego East opened SPC play with a 5-0 record through mid-December and played a total of 11 games on the road before returning to its own gym to host the Holiday Classic.
Oswego East finished 3-1 in tournament play to place fifth overall after suffering a 63-51 loss to Aurora Central Catholic. The Chargers went on to place fourth in the Class 2A state tournament. The Wolves rebounded with a 57-51 win over Downers Grove South in tournament play.
"Overall, I thought it went well with all the games being on the road. I was pleased with the overall outcome," Carretto said. "In the tournament, losing a tough one to Aurora Central, they're obviously a good team. They're one of the top four teams in the state for 2A. Downers Grove South was a big win for us. I thought a lot of people stepped up in that game."
Oswego East entered January winning three straight games before a loss to Springfield Lanphier in the MLK Dream Classic, but the Wolves continued to excel in SPC play and led the league standings with a 10-0 record.
On Jan. 31, the Wolves suffered their first conference loss as Oswego defeated Oswego East 55-48 and three days later, Romeoville topped the Wolves 51-41 to put the Spartans in first place in the SPC race.
Oswego East closed out the season with a win over Plainfield South, but Romeoville lost its regular season finale to Plainfield East to leave the Wolves and Spartans as co-champions.
"That was definitely a tough week," Carretto said. "That last week with Oswego, Minooka and Romeoville, it would have been nice to get one of those two losses back, but we were playing tough teams. It still felt pretty good, but we needed some luck on our side and we were able to get some with Plainfield East.
"It was an exciting and nervous week knowing we had it in our hands. We haven't been in that position before. We've always been the one doing the chasing and this year we were the one everyone was chasing."
Oswego East's player personnel included a strong supporting staff around Blair. Bugg, a sophomore entered the varsity spotlight and finished as the Wolves' leading scorer, averaging 11.79 points per game in addition to 82 steals, which shatters the previous single-season record of 67.
"She was our leading scorer as a freshman on the sophomore team, so we knew she could score," Carretto said. "She continued to play well and with having so many other good players around her, you couldn't just key on Aysia. She's a good player to have on your team. Offensively, when she is open she can hit that shot. ... I think she will have a chance to break the scoring record and possibly surpass Blair for the most points in school history.
"She helped our defense out a ton. I don't think people realize she had so many steals. That's pretty impressive on her end."
Senior Kylee Jackson finished with 5.96 rebounds per game, grabbing a second-best 149 boards this season while senior Nisede Thomas also saw significant time on the court and shot a team-best 72 percent from the free-throw line.
"Kylee, for her size, with the exception of a couple players she kept the players around the 10-point mark or lower," Carretto said.
"Nisede contributed a lot. She had big games where she came in and shot free throws and won games. It seemed like when we needed a key rebound, she would get it and put it back in. She's a great six, seven player coming off the bench. She had a great attitude and took her role well."
Sophomore Venita Parsons returned for her second varsity season and averaged 9.38 points per game, scoring 244 points this year. She also had 67 assists.
Junior LeRoyia Campbell averaged 6.48 points per game while junior Brittany McWaine was the team's leading rebounder, averaging 6.4 per game after hauling in 173 rebounds.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
