Illinois: Duke recruit Liston a shooting star at states

Junior point guard Ariel Massengale scored 18 points and had a game-high four assists. Sophomore forward Morgan Tuck scored 10 and fell just two rebounds short of a double-double. Afterward, they jumped around the Redbird Arena court in celebration, holding the state trophy aloft.

But let’s not forget about the pre-show, because she is about to head off to the land of the basketball-rich Atlantic Coast Conference. Oak Park Fenwick’s Tricia Liston, a Duke signee, scored a state tournament-record 40 points in a 55-51 consolation-game win over Hersey. In two games (a semifinal loss to Young and the consolation game), Liston scored a tournament-record 65 points.

In a state final four that featured two nationally ranked teams (Bolingbrook is No. 7 in MaxPrep’s Xcellent 25) and a handful of Division I recruits who may be playing for NCAA championships and perhaps even for Olympic gold one day, Liston, a 6-foot senior guard, was the dominant shooting star. No surprise there, considering she averaged 28.8 points a game in a 33-3 season for the Friars.

"Tricia is poetry in motion out on the court," said Fenwick coach Dave Power. "She scores so much for us, but she isn’t a selfish player who has an outrageous number of shots each game. She plays within the system and is a great teammate."

Since helping Fenwick knock off Bolingbrook for a state title in her freshman year, Liston has been the "go-to" player at Fenwick.

"It can be hard to have the pressure of scoring on you, but I kind of like it," Liston said.

In the win over Hersey, she hit 11-of-24 shots and 16-of-19 free throws.

A 70-55 supersectional win over Timothy Christian on Monday sent Hales Franciscan to the Class 2A semifinals against Illinois recruit Meyers Leonard of Robinson. Hales, a Chicago private school which lost a 2005 state title and unbeaten record due to forfeitures handed down by the Illinois High School Association, has won 28 of 30 games. Their only losses were to St. Joseph and Class 4A sectional semifinalist Chicago De La Salle. Senior guard Jamie Adams scored 21 points in the supersectional win.

Hales will play Robinson (25-5) at 8:15 p.m. Friday at the Peoria Civic Center. In the other 3A semifinal, Peoria Manual (23-7) will meet Breese Central (30-3) at 6:30. The title game is Saturday at 8:15.

In Class 1A, Catlin Salt Fork (31-1) will put a 25-game win streak on the line Friday, when it meets Lanark Eastland (28-4) at 12:15 p.m. Madison (23-7) will play Sesser-Valier (25-9) at 2 p.m. The title game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.

* In defeating Young for the 4A girls basketball championship, Bolingbrook set a state record for being the first basketball team, boys or girls, to play in a state-title game five consecutive seasons. The Raiders have not lost a game in Illinois in more than two years, having last dropped an in-state game in the 2008 title game to Young. "This run was fun, but it is also a huge relief," Bolingbrook coach Anthony Smith said. "There was definitely more pressure the second time around." Pressure? Wait until next year, coach.

* Montini is becoming quite the state champion. A 64-53 win over Hillcrest in the girls basketball 3A title game last weekend was the school’s third state championship this school year. The Broncos also won in football and wrestling, but this was a first in girls basketball, and they did so without the injured Michala Johnson, a UConn recruit. Alison Seberger hit six of Montini’s state-record 12 3-pointers in the title game.

* Matt Irvin is returning to his St. Louis roots after spending two years as head football coach at New Trier in Chicago’s northern suburbs. Irvin was named head coach at Kirkwood (Mo.), where he began as an assistant coach 15 years ago following a playing career at St. Charles West High School and Missouri State University. "It was a great place to have my first job out of college. It’s gonna be a great place to be a head coach," Irvin told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was 11-10 in two years at New Trier, including 5-5 and a Class 8A playoff appearance this past season.

* Sue Ellett, who won six conference championships, two sectional titles and had a state runner-up finish in seven years as girls basketball coach at Hampshire, resigned following a 29-2 season that ended with a loss in a Class 3A sectional championship game. Ellett cited family reasons for stepping down, and will continue as golf coach and math teacher. "I think Hampshire is one of the great places to coach," she told the Sun-Times News Group.

* The magical boys basketball season at Lyons (LaGrange) came to a halt Tuesday in a Class 4A sectional semifinal against Chicago power Simeon. Playing in a front of a sellout crowd at their home court in LaGrange, the Lions fell 65-35 to the Wolverines. Lyons had won 26 of 27 games before the loss. "We watched five or six of their (Simeon’s) games, and never saw them shoot like that," Lyons coach Tom Sloan told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Ryan Boatright of East Aurora had a monster game in a Class 4A regional title game against Neuqua Valley. Boatwright, a junior, scored 45 points, and had seven steals and six assists in a 76-68 overtime win.

* Morris Dunnigan, a freshman guard at Joliet High School, hit a game-winning 3-pointer with four seconds left in overtime, sending the Steelmen to a 58-55 win over Lockport and into a Class 4A sectional final Friday night against Homewood-Flossmoor. Dunnigan scored 19 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter.

* Louisville recruit Wayne Blackshear of Morgan Park scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds in a Class 4A regional title game against Chicago Bogan, but the Mustangs lost, 59-55, and finished their season with a 21-6 record. Blackshear, a sophomore, also had four blocks and three steals.

* Whitney Young (20-6) vs. Chicago Foreman (26-3) at Maywood Proviso East, 7:30 p.m. Friday: This Class 4A regional final matches up defending state champion Young against Foreman, a rematch of the Proviso West Tournament title game won by Young, 79-64. At stake is a spot in Monday’s supersectional game at the University of Chicago-Illinois.

* Eight supersectional games Monday will decide the final four boys basketball fields in Classes 3A and 4A. Keep an eye on the Elgin supersectional, which could include 2009 4A runner-up Waukegan and Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond. A win Friday over Schaumburg on Waukegan’s home court would send the Bulldogs to the supersectional.