East Suburban Catholic Conference: February 2009 Archives

After helping Benet to a third-place league finish, junior Nikki Bell and senior Annie Doyle were recently named to the all-East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Bell and Doyle led the Redwings in scoring as they finished 7-3 in conference, behind ESCC-champion Fenwick and Marian Catholic. Benet went on to win its first regional title since 2006 before falling to Bolingbrook in Monday's sectional semifinals.

There's no doubt Benet missed its 6-foot-8-inch center and one of its lead guards on Tuesday night at Wheaton North. Combined Joe Meyerhoff and Phil Hayes account for about 23 points per game. Benet's motion offense is predicated upon Meyerhoff's ability to pass out of the post to open 3-point shooters or cutters through the lane.

After a 72-64 loss that was still a one-possession game in the final minute, Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said Meyerhoff is day-to-day with an illness, but the hope is he will return for Friday's senior night game against Marian Catholic in Lisle.

Hayes meanwhile was in street clothes keeping stats and nursing what was called a foot fracture on Tuesday night. That must have been frustrating on two levels. The Redwings (10-13) saw its three-game winning streak snapped against a Wheaton North program (7-15) that's nearing the end of a down year. And it's another tough break for Hayes, who tore his ACL last year and missed half the season as well as summer ball.

"Phil - the earliest would be at the end of next week if everything went well and that's 50/50, (a) best-case scenario that he would be back this year," Heidkamp said. "If not, it's season-ending. (We're) disappointed because we were finally starting to play pretty well."

Joaquin Phoenix wowed us all with his Andy Kaufman act, hip-hop dreams and ability to mumble and chew gum at the same time while crushing it on "Late Show with David Letterman." That's a good run, but which one of these area teams had the Best Week Ever?

-Neuqua Valley (25-1) wins its 17th consecutive game, blows out Geneva and Lake Park by a combined 36 points, earns the No. 1 seed in the Oswego East Sectional and finds out East Aurora is unraveling. The Wildcats, who are ranked 10th by the Chicago Sun-Times, are now atop the Upstate Eight Conference alongside St. Charles North. Both teams have one loss, while East Aurora has two after weekend losses to Bartlett and Waubonsie Valley.

-Naperville Central (21-2, 11-0) clinched at least a share of its second-straight DuPage Valley Conference championship with a with a 69-55 victory over Glenbard North on Friday night in Carol Stream. The Redhawks also learned they will be a No. 2 seed in the Oswego East Sectional and moved up to No. 20 in the Sun-Times poll.

-Waubonsie Valley (12-11) may have turned its entire season around with weekend victories over Dundee-Crown and East Aurora. The Warriors climbed above the .500 mark and Beacon News hoops guru Rick Armstrong thinks a regional title is a possibility.

-Benet beats Nazareth - the program first-year Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp used to run - by 23 points on Friday night and then follows it up a day later with a 61-47 rivalry game win over St. Francis at Benedictine. Now the Redwings are 10-12 - 5-6 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference - with another winnable game coming up Tuesday night at Wheaton North (6-15).

Part of the challenge for Benet is trying to beat East Suburban Catholic Conference teams stocked with high-major Division I players. St. Joseph produces them on an annual basis, and that's why coach Gene Pingatore is at 820-plus career victories and counting.

Illinois travels to Northwestern Thursday night, and as Herb Gould explains in this Chicago Sun-Times feature, Bruce Weber is facing the same problem Pingatore did a few years ago. It's getting ex-Charger Demetri McCamey to play with maximum effort, as if he were a walk-on and not someone with NBA aspirations.

''When he was going to play against a name player or a top team, he was unbelievable,'' Pingatore told the Sun-Times. ''For run-of-the mill-type games, it was difficult. It's not just Demetri; it's human nature. And he is easygoing. He sometimes gets too casual. But when he turns it on, you'd like to bottle it.''

In this week's Focus we looked at Benet and competing in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. The Redwings hope their schedule will prepare them for the playoffs and perhaps position themselves for an upset victory.

"We're playing better," said first-year Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "January was a tough month from the standpoint we played very good competition." The schedule included Notre Dame, St. Joseph, Marist and Oswego, though the team isn't looking for moral victories, as Heidkamp pointed out: "Not that it matters, you got to beat these teams."

At 8-12, Benet now faces three games in five days beginning Friday at Nazareth. That's followed by a rivalry game against St. Francis on Saturday at Benedictine, and a Tuesday trip to Wheaton North. No matter what happens, his players will expect Heidkamp to remain steady.

"He gets mad when he should," Benet sophomore guard Dave Sobolewski said of his coach. "He's pretty laid-back, which all of us like. He's not that big of a yeller, but he is one when he has to be. ... He thinks (that) we're mature enough to get through it ourselves."

The stretch could push the Redwings close to .500 - or leave them very disappointed - but it won't impact their seeding. The online voting closed this morning, and the seeds will be released by the IHSA later today. Be sure to check back throughout the afternoon for the latest.