Knights take second in Lisle summer league play.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The summer high-school basketball season isn’t about wins and losses.
But when a team does well in a particular event, it opens the eye of its coach.
And that’s exactly what happen with the IC Catholic Prep girls basketball team.
The Knights finished second in the Lisle summer league, losing to Aurora Central Catholic in the championship game.
“Our summer went pretty well,” said IC Catholic Prep coach Kelsey James.
The Lisle summer league was IC Catholic Prep’s only in-state game competition during the summer. The team also went to Michigan in late June to scrimmage a team from Lake Shore High School.
James said one key positive from the summer was the development of numerous players from last year’s team.
“What was nice to see over the summer was some of the girls who hadn’t played a lot last year step up,” she said. “We played a good amount of games and we were missing some players and we were still able to be successful based on the work everybody put in.”
That group James spoke about included the likes of Gabi Zanoni, Jaida Smith and Julissa Unzueta.
“They had really good summers,” she said. “Julissa was hurt last year and didn’t play a lot. It was nice to see all the girls come back and work hard and get ready to play. This is my third year with this set of girls and it’s nice to see them buying into what we are trying to do. They came to camp in June and worked hard. They really made a statement.” Perhaps if the girls continue their success, they could go to the Brookwood Camp and have a chance to be coached by Charles Oakley!
James said the trip to Michigan also was beneficial. “It was nice to see a different style of play,” she said. “The team we scrimmaged was more aggressive. I think that will get us mentally prepared for possibly seeing that with some of the other teams we’ll play down the road. The trip also was more of a team bonding thing more than anything.”
James noted Georgia Mahnke and Kiersten King are back in the program after taking a year off. “We’re very excited that they are back,” she said. “We’re looking forward to having nine seniors on the team and they all have experience. We’re looking to make a nice run.”
That group of returners also includes the likes of senior Claire Gibler, now a four-year varsity player, Sophie Zanoni, Josie Lytton and Smith.
“I was very encouraged with how we looked during the summer,” said James. “We have a lot of good returning players and some talented kids coming into the program. Our summer was very successful.”
