By Paul D. Bowker
MaxPreps.com
One North Lawndale star was on the bench with an injury last weekend.
Another was out due to academics.
A third just likes to sleep late.
And still, the Phoenix smashed through the Chicago Public Schools holiday tournament last weekend at DePaul, defeating Foreman 57-52 in the championship game to finish off a 3-0 sweep through the tournament. North Lawndale (12-2) has spiked to No. 2 in MaxPreps.com’s Illinois rankings, and has not lost to any Chicago-area team. The Phoenix’s only losses were by two points to Olympia, Fla., and by one point to 11th-ranked Manual of Peoria.
Jermaine Whitfield, the sleepy Phoenix player, scored 24 points and had 16 rebounds in the title game win over Foreman. Call him sleepy because Whitfield overslept Sunday and was late showing up at DePaul for North Lawndale’s semifinal-round game earlier in the day.
“I felt like I had to redeem myself to my teammates,” he told the Chicago Tribune.
No problem there. All Winfield did was lead the Phoenix to their biggest win of the season thus far and win the tournament’s MVP trophy. Winfield added another 17 points in a 97-64 rout over Farragut on Tuesday.
The Phoenix played in the tournament without John Taylor, who was out due to an elbow injury, and Paul Bunch, due to academics. Both are expected back soon and both are attracting attention among Division I schools. Bunch, a 6-foot-11 junior center, is being recruited by Illinois, among others.
While North Lawndale captured the big prize at DePaul, Foreman (8-4) got to the title game by overcoming an 18-point deficit in the third quarter of its semifinal-round game against Marshall. Tommy Woolridge led Foreman with 22 points, and hit the game-winning basket in a 70-67 victory.
In Foreman’s 74-55 win over Curie in the quarterfinals of the CPS holiday tournament, Willie Howard had 17 rebounds. Even bigger, the Hornets held Curie sophomore sensation Wayne Blackshear to six points.
No. 1 on the line
Thornton (11-1), which won the Big Dipper Tournament over the holidays at Rich South and hasn’t since played, will put its Illinois MaxPreps No. 1 ranking on the line Friday night when it plays at Thornton Fractional South in its SICA East opener.
The Wildcats’ impressive tournaments wins include victories over Simeon, Homewood-Flossmoor, and Rich East.
Notables
East Aurora won its 11th straight game Wednesday, defeating Waubonsie Valley, 67-62. The Tomcats lost their first two games of the season, and haven’t lost since. William Brown scored 22 points and had nine rebounds in the win over Waubonsie Valley...Schaumburg’s 63-50 win over Prospect on Tuesday was its 14th victory in 15 games. Cully Payne, an Alabama recruit, scored 24. Schaumburg has risen to No. 4 in MaxPreps’ Illinois rankings...Whitney Young sent its rollercoaster season back into an “up” mode with Tuesday’s 65-53 victory over No. 5-ranked Marshall (9-5, 3-1 Public Red West). The 6th-ranked Dolphins (11-5, 4-0) finished third in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament. Young forward Stanford Brown, a Lamar recruit, scored 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter as the Dolphins quickly took a 10-point lead, and Iowa State recruit Chris Colvin came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points...Matt Vogrich, a Michigan recruit, scored 35 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter of Lake Forest’s 73-62 win over Zion-Benton on Wednesday. By himself, Vogrich outscored Zion-Benton in the fourth quarter.
Girls Basketball: McDonald’s Shootout at Villa Park
MaxPreps’ top seven ranked girls basketball teams in Illinois and two top 10 teams from Indiana will be among the 28 teams that will play in the 19th annual McDonald’s Shootout Jan. 16, 17 and 19 at Villa Park in Chicago’s west suburbs.
The impressive lineup includes unbeaten South Bend Washington (15-0), runner-up in Indiana Class 4A last year and unbeaten Wheeling (19-0), ranked No. 3 in Illinois by MaxPreps. Washington’s lineup includes point guard Skylar Diggins, a Notre Dame signee.
The tournament will feature 16 games over three days, with the marquee game possibly being the final one at 7 p.m. Jan. 19, when Wheeling faces No. 2-ranked Whitney Young (16-1). Bolingbrook (8-3), ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps, will play Washington at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17. Another game not to miss: Defending Indiana 4A champ Carmel (9-2), ranked No. 7 by MaxPreps, will meet Fenwick (14-3), of Oak Park, at 7 p.m. Jan. 17.
All games will be played at Willowbrook High School, with tickets costing $7 for adults, $5 for students and $3 for seniors.
Young ends T.F. North’s streak
Thornton Fractional North, ranked No. 10 in Illinois by MaxPreps, was flying along with an 18-0 record. And then, the Meteors ran into powerful Whitney Young.
The second-ranked Dolphins destroyed T.F. North, 74-44, in the City vs. Suburbs Shootout on Jan. 3. Chanise Jenkins led Young (17-1), defending Class 4A champ, with 19 points. This is a game that was over early in the second quarter when the Dolphins took a 30-7 lead.
Notables
Ashley Wilson almost had a triple-double in Wheeling’s 19th straight win, 75-43 over Glenbrook South on Wednesday night. Wilson had 16 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists...Tricia Liston scored 32 points in Fenwick’s 63-50 victory over Providence Catholic...Cassandra Baker scored 23 points, and had nine rebounds and eight steals in North Lawndale’s 36-35 win over Crane Technical...Karisma Chapman, a junior, scored a game-high 24 points in Thornton Fractional North’s 68-59 win over Lincoln-Way East in the championship game of the Lincoln-Way East Medieval Classic on Tuesday.
Recruiting: Lombard commits to Notre Dame
Christian Lombard, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound junior offensive lineman from Fremd High School in Palatine, verbally committed to Notre Dame last week over a group of other schools that included Stanford, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming calls Lombard as one of the top linemen in the recruiting class of 2010. As many as 30 BCS schools were chasing after Lombard.
“It’s a great early catch for Notre Dame,” Lemming told the Chicago Tribune.
When Lombard gets to Notre Dame, he’ll notice another suburban Chicago lineman star. Chris Watt of Glenbard West, who played in the All-American Bowl on Jan. 3 at San Antonio, is a Class of 2009 verbal commit to the Irish.
Rules: IHSA approves swimming, badminton changes
Illinois High School Association members approved by referendum an expansion in the number of girls badminton dates and a change in the way girls and boys swimming is scheduled.
Since we can never really get enough of badminton, schools voted 332-56 to expand the number of girls badminton dates from a maximum of 16 to 18. In swimming, the maximum was changed to 14 dates instead of 14 meets, which will likely expand the number of meets at some schools. Individuals can compete on 17 dates.
Paul Bowker covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com