The western Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook may never be the same.
A 71-42 title-game win over Zion-Benton on Saturday at Illinois State University‘s Redbird Arena, sparked by Connecticut recruit Morgan Tuck's 36 points, gave the Bolingbrook girls basketball team its third consecutive Class 4A state championship.
The village's mayor, Roger Claar, responded this week by declaring the village is now "Titletown," and signs would be put up alongside highways leading into Bolingbrook. Tuesday, the team was honored at the Village Board meeting.
During Friday's 50-49 overtime win over Chicago Whitney Young in the semifinals, University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt sat at Redbird Arena with the parents of senior guard Ariel Massengale, a Tennessee signee and 2010 member of the Team USA U-17 national women‘s team. Massengale had 11 assists in the title game.
The title game not only marked a historic three-peat win for the Raiders, but also the final high school game in which Massengale, Morgan Tuck and her sister Taylor Tuck, a University of Illinois recruit, would play together. Taylor injured her ankle in the game against Young, a game won by her free throw, but she still managed to hobble onto the court for a few minutes in the title game. Over three years, their combined record was 83-5. Morgan Tuck, a junior, will be the only one of that trio back with the Raiders for an attempted four-peat in 2011-12.
The Raiders, ranked No. 3 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 girls basketball rankings presented by the Army National Guard, did not lose in-state this season. Their only losses came to No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 Brea Olinda, both Caliofornia teams, in the Nike Tournament of Champions.
3A GIRLS: MONTINI WINS BACK-TO-BACK TITLES
Second year, same result for the Whitneys.
Notre Dame recruit Whitney Holloway of Montini (Lombard) scored 19 points in the 3A championship game, leading the Lady Broncos to a 67-45 win over Country Club Hillcrest. North Carolina recruit Whitney Adams scored 16 points and had nine rebounds. Last year Montini topped Hillcrest 64-53 for the title. In Holloway's and Adams' four-year prep careers, the Lady Broncos had a record of 125-14, won two state championships and finished third in 2008. Holloway, a guard, averaged 14.1 points per game and had 167 assists.
2A BOYS FINAL: CHICAGO HALES MEETS ROCKFORD CHRISTIAN IN SEMIFINALS
A pair of brothers and a transfer student from New York have catapulted Hales Franciscan (Chicago) back into the final four of the Class 2A boys basketball tournament. Eddie Alcantra, the former New Yorker, scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds in Monday's 67-35 Supersectional win over Aurora Christian. Brothers Aaron Armstead and Aaric Armstead are averaging more than 31 points per game for the 27-4 Spartans, who have won 19 of their last 20 games.
Hales is back in the state tournament at the Peoria Civic Center after losing to Robinson in the semifinals last year. Hales will meet unbeaten Rockford Christian (31-0) in Friday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal, with the winner meeting Murphysboro (34-0) or Pittsfield (28-5) in Saturday's 8:15 p.m. title game.
RECRUITING: ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN PURSUE BIELFELDT
Max Bielfeldt, a 6-foot-6 senior forward at Peoria Notre Dame who remains uncommitted on his college choice, has received offers from two Big Ten schools. Among his six scholarship offers are Illinois and Michigan. Bielfeldt, who averaged more than 22 points per game this season, visited the University of Illinois' Champaign campus in late February. His family has strong ties to Illinois; an endowment by his grandparents helped pay for the construction of an athletics administration building that carries the Bielfeldt name. Michigan offered just last week. Notre Dame won a regional championship last week, but had its season ended in a Class 3A sectional this week by Peoria High School.
5 BIG PERFORMANCES …
* Connecticut recruit Ryan Boatright of East (Aurora) is delivering a powerful finishing act for the Tomcats. Four days after he led East Aurora to an overtime victory over Naperville Neuque Valley in a Class 4A regional championship game, he scored 29 points and had six assists in a stunning 60-52 sectional victory over previously unbeaten Benet Academy. Boatright also had four steals against Benet, which just two weeks ago had knocked defending Class 4A state champion Chicago Simeon and risen to No. 8 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 boys basketball rankings presented by the Army National Guard with a 29-0 record. "I refuse to lose," Boatright told the Chicago Sun-Times.
* Jabari Parker, a sophomore at Chicago Simeon, scored a game-high 23 points and had seven rebounds in the Wolverines‘ 74-45 win over Hinsdale South in a Class 4A regional championship game. Parker scored another 18 points in a 64-48 sectional win Tuesday over Mount Carmel and Illinois recruit Tracy Abrams. Simeon (Chicago) (26-2), ranked No. 15 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, will play Friday night for a 4A sectional championship.
* University of Illinois men's basketball recruit Nnanna Egwu scored a double-double in his final high school game. Egwu, of St. Ignatius, scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds in a Class 4A regional championship game against Whitney Young, but St. Ignatius lost, 50-46. Ohio State recruit Samuel Thompson scored 12 points for Young.
* Lansing Illiana Christian's Erinn Behn hit 11 of 15 3-point shots to win the state tournament's Queen of the Hill title. The competition matched up girls from all four enrollment classes in a 3-point shooting contest.
* Aaliyah Brown, a sophomore at Lincoln-Way East (Frankfort), won the 55-meter run in a time of 7.04 seconds and anchored the team's win in the 1,600 relay at the season-opening Argo Invitational.
STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* Vito Andriola, who was defensive coordinator the last six years at Glenbrook South, is the new head football coach at Dundee-Crown (Carpentersville). The Chargers were winless last season for the first time in school history and have lost 21 consecutive Fox Valley Conference games. "We're going to try at Dundee-Crown to be the hardest-working team in the state of Illinois," Androla told stmedianetwork.com.
* Minooka wrestling coach Bernie Ruettiger, who coached the Indians to a runner-up finish in the Class 3A team tournament this year and a state title in 2010, has resigned his coaching position after 25 years in the sport. He will remain as Minooka High School's dean of students, citing a wish to spend more time with his eight children as his reason for leaving coaching. "We built this into more than a team at Minooka, it‘s a program. … There are lots of troubled kids out there looking for someone to put an arm around them; that‘s what we did," Ruettiger told stmedianetwork.com.
Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at Bowkerpaul1@aol.com.