PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. – The realization of Sunday’s showdown reached Ralph Gesualdo long before Saturday’s sundown.
Gesualdo, coach of the Midwest Elite 17 Platinum, guided his team to two impressive wins in the eighth annual Windy City Classic in the Chicagoland area. Meantime, his fellow Pool A participant from Nebraska, the Cornhusker Shooting Stars Bison, polished off three foes in sparkling fashion.
So when the sun rises Sunday, the Bison and Elite will clash in a 9:15 a.m. game that should determine which team will play later in the day for the top title at the Windy City Classic.
“Bison is the big game,” Gesualdo said. “We knew that going in.”
It will take center stage at an event that has blossomed into one of the premier tournaments in the Midwest. A whopping 344 teams competed at seven sites – most ever for the event — and over 300 college coaches were represented just in the first two days alone.
Rest assured the coaches in attendance Sunday will be eager to get a look at the Bison-Elite game at the Waukegan Fieldhouse.
“They’re good,” Gesualdo said. “We’ll have to keep a little pressure on their guards, don’t let them make those easy entry passes. We’ve had battles with them over the years. (Dan Lesoing) is a great coach. The advantage he has is he’s had those kids together for three years.”
The Bison has a 13-player roster that’s deep in talent and experience. Two players – junior guard Brooke Kissinger and sophomore post Jessica Shepard – have committed to Big Ten programs. Kissinger is headed to Illinois, Shepard to Nebraska.
Gesualdo can counter with two players who are ranked by Blue Star Basketball as being in the top 50 of their respective classes. Sophomore guard Kalabrya Gondrezick is rated No. 7, while junior guard Gabrielle Ortiz is No. 41.
Gondrezeck and her sister, freshman Kysre Gondrezick, joined the Midwest Elite this season after playing for Michigan Crossover a year ago.
“We’re not as sharp as I’d like us,” Gesualdo said. “I’ve got a lot of new kids, some kids who haven’t been in practice a lot because it’s early in the season. We’re a team that’s pretty disciplined and we’re a long way away from where we need to be. That being said, I’ve got some kids who made plays and hit shots down the stretch.”
The Gondrezick sisters, who play scholastically for Benton Harbor (Mich.), joined Ortiz (Mount Pleasant, Wis.) to form a dynamic backcourt. It is so prolific that sophomore Gabrielle Rush (Hinsdale, Ill.), ranked 61st by Blue Star, was moved to the Elite’s Black team to foster her development.
“I’ve got so many good guards that I thought Rush would get lost a little bit so I put her on the Black team so she can get a lot more touches,” Gesualdo said.
Mathias gets back on track
Erin Mathias of the Western Pennsylvania Bruins has had a somewhat unique career path.
The 6-foot-3 junior post from Pittsburgh received a scholarship offer from Duke two years ago and accepted immediately. Unfortunately, a year later Mathias was sidelined for her entire sophomore season when undergoing surgery to relieve patella tendonitis. She returned to the court for the 2012 summer season but wasn’t back in full action until the winter.
“The knee feels great,” Mathias said. “I feel probably the healthiest I’ve ever felt, honestly.”
The immediate goal for Mathias, rated 31st by Blue Star in the Class of 2014, is to develop her game away from the basket. She runs the court well and can score effectively near the rim, but Mathias wants to make herself a consistent threat while facing the basket.
“She’s got to play like a stud,” Bruins coach Ron Mumbray said. “She has to realize that as a five, she doesn’t get all the calls. She’s trying to take the ball stronger (to the basket). It’s my job to make her understand that. I think it has started to sink in.”
For Mathias, the early commitment to Duke has served to alleviate some of the angst that might otherwise accompany a significant knee ailment. It also has allowed her to grow her game at her own pace, unburdened by the pressure of impressing college coaches along the way.
“I think it’s been good for me,” said Mathias, who verballed in March 2011. “Obviously I didn’t have to go through the whole recruiting process, and just talking to the (Duke) coaches and having their input about what I can work on has been a big help for my game.”
Cincinnati Angels begin retooling
The Cincinnati Angels’ 17 Blue squad has three players back from last season, mixed in with seven newcomers.
Don’t feel bad for coach Dante Harlan, though. His roster is as talented as they come, featuring one player who is committed to Louisville and four others rated in the top 50 of their respective classes.
So, while Harlan searches for the right mix and most effective chemistry among all of those moving parts, he has a nice trump card that any coach would envy: playing time.
Harlan has the luxury of switching out one talented player for another if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing.
“I always preach that we’re going to defend, we’re going to rebound and we’re going to take care of the ball,” he said. “You don’t have to be the most athletic kid or the fastest kid to do those things. That’s what I base (playing time) on. It’s the little things that make the difference in winning games. That’s what separates the playing time and they know that.”
A good example was evident in Saturday’s final game, a dandy encounter between the Angels and Wisconsin Playground Elite 16. The Playground Elite won 71-70 in overtime as Harlan stuck with primarily a seven-player rotation through the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime.
On his bench at the time were three highly rated players.
“They know that basketball changes based on matchups,” Harlan said. “If there’s a five I find (that) I’m comfortable with and they’re doing the things we need to do, that five is going to stay in. And that five changes from game to game.”
The Angels finished 1-2 Saturday, but don’t look for them to suffer many losing tournaments hereafter. The roster includes sophomore Tierra Floyd (Toledo, Ohio), No. 5 in the Class of 2015; junior Alyssa Rice (Reynoldsburg, Ohio), No. 22 in the Class of 2014; along with Naomi Davenport (Cincinnati, No. 26 sophomore) and Emily Thomas (Pickerington, Ohio, No. 48 junior). Junior Sydney Brackemyre has committed to Louisville.
Blue Star family gets bigger
The newest Blue Star travel team bears the company’s name. Blue Star Arizona brought three teams to the Windy City Classic, headed by its 17U team coached by Dana Hawkins.
Hawkins coached with the Arizona Elite program for seven years before meeting Blue Star national evaluator Chris Mennig when the latter was an assistant coach at Arizona State in the 2011-12 season.
Hawkins’ daughter, Arnecia, plays for the Sun Devils.
“After last year I reached out to Chris and said, ‘I want to try this thing (on my own). Can you help me out?’” Dana Hawkins said. “He said, ‘If you can put together a pretty good group, let me know.’ I put out feelers that I was going to start a club and we went from there.”
The players on Hawkins’ 17U team, he said, have known him for years. He has previously coached, or informally worked with, all of them. But two have stood out: His daughter, Armani, a 5-11 junior rated 31st by Blue Star, and junior guard Sabina Haines (No. 45). Both are capable of playing either guard position.
“It’s a pretty good thing we’ve got going,” Hawkins said.
