By Andrew Lovdahl
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, The OG, girls basketball & sports

ST. JOSEPH — The Uni girls varsity basketball season came to an end Wednesday night with a 64-41 loss to the Oakwood Lady Comets in a St. Joseph Class A regional semifinal game.

It was the opening playoff match for both squads. Oakwood, seeded No. 7 in the Watseka sectional, will play No. 1-seed St. Joseph-Ogden for the regional title tonight.

SJ-O defeated Hoopeston 79-18 in the other semifinal contest. Both games were played at St. Joseph-Ogden High School.

Aran Yoo tries to disrupt Oakwood's Chelsie
Bartlett in playoff action Wednesday night.
(Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

Uni went into Wednesday's game seeded 17th out of the sectional's 22 teams. The Lady Comets were no strangers to the Illineks. The teams had played once in the regular season, when Oakwood defeated Uni 72-39 on Nov. 21.

With Wednesday's loss, Uni finishes the season 12-13 overall and 8-4 in the East Central Illinois Conference, in sole possession of third place in the ECIC. The Illineks improved on all counts over last season, when the team finished 8-16, 5-5, and tied for third in the conference with Judah Christian.

But the defeat ends Uni's four-year streak of winning its opening-round playoff game. It also closes the book on a hard-luck year for the Illineks, who lost two star players, point guard Samantha Nguyen and forward-center Rachel Skoza, to injuries during the regular season.

Uni never held the lead in Wednesday's contest. The story of the game was Oakwood's quick-strike offense. Amy Martin, a 5-foot-9 freshman forward, scored 20 of her 26 points before intermission. Megan Knoblauch, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, nailed four 3-pointers on the night.

“Oakwood is a really good team; they're really athletic,” said sophomore forward Jessi Sullivan. “They're really strong. They're really good at the fundamental things.”

The Lady Comets, who play in the challenging Vermillion Valley Conference, entered the game 19-9 overall and 8-6 in the VVC. They jumped off to an 11-0 lead, including a 3-pointer by Knoblauch and a basket by Martin.

Although the Illineks had some early chances, they didn't get on the board until junior guard Aran Yoo scored with 5:12 left in the first period, cutting Oakwood's lead to 11-2.

At the 2:30 mark, Uni again drew within 9 points, 17-8. But Knoblauch responded with her second trey of the night to put Oakwood ahead by 12.

From that point on the Lady Comets pulled away, leading 24-10 at the end of the first period and 45-15 at halftime.

“Their run-and-gun game in the first half really got us,” said assistant coach Becca Nitzsche. “They had such quick release.”

The third quarter was Uni's most productive, as the team outscored Oakwood 15-13. The Illineks doubled their point total over the course of this period, capped by junior guard Ruthie Welch's field goal with 8 seconds left in the quarter.

“One of our goals was to decrease turnovers,” said head coach Rebecca Murphy. “We actually cut our turnovers in half in the second half.”

In the final quarter of Uni's season, the team was more or less resigned to its fate, but kept on playing hard until the final buzzer. The Illineks scored 11 unopposed points in the final 3 minutes.

“Another one of our goals was to be more aggressive offensively,” Murphy added. “Some of our kids stepped up and did that as well.”

Welch led Uni scorers with 11 points, followed by fellow junior guards Aran Yoo with 9 and Sarah Pfander with 7.

In her final Uni basketball game, senior forward Mandy Grill scored 6 points. Junior post player Karen Woodley, who has seen more game time since leading scorer and rebounder Skoza was injured on Jan. 22, netted 6 points as well, all of them in the first half.

Welch was also at the top of the list in rebounds with 7. Sullivan and sophomore forward Kaylie Dastrup each grabbed 4 boards.

Yoo led the team in both steals and assists, with 7 of each. Bianca Zaharescu, the only other senior on the roster, contributed 3 steals and 1 assist.

Looking ahead, Uni will return a deep, veteran lineup next season with 10 upperclassmen who have varsity experience: Yoo, Pfander, Welch, Nguyen, Skoza, Sullivan, Woodley, senior-to-be Marika Iyer, and juniors-to-be Kaylie Dastrup and Sheri Grill.

With Nguyen and Skoza back in the lineup, the Illineks could be in a good position to challenge three-time ECIC champ Decatur Lutheran.

“This season was great,” said Yoo, “but since there aren't a lot of seniors leaving, next season can only get better.”

GAME AT A GLANCE

• Score: Oakwood 64, Uni 41
• Uni stat leaders: Ruthie Welch, 11 pts, 7 rebounds; Aran Yoo, 7 assists, 7 steals; Jessi Sullivan, 2 blocks
• Season summary: 12-13 overall, 8-4 ECIC (3rd place)
• Previous season: 8-16 overall, 5-5 ECIC (tie, 3rd place)
• Outlook for 2007-08: The Illineks will lose seniors Mandy Grill and Bianca Zaharescu, but the team will be deep (10 strong) in veteran upperclassmen.

SEASON AT A GLANCE

VARSITY RECORD: 12-13 overall, 8-4 East Central Illinois Conference (3rd place)
(Games at Kenney Gym in bold)

Season Preview: Illineks ready for season opener tonight

Nov. 16: Atwood-Hammond, W 37-35
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 14 pts
— story: Illineks triumph in season opener

Nov. 18: Hoopeston (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), W 45-23
— leading scorer: Ruthie Welch, 13 pts
— story: Illineks win one, lose one in Oakwood

Nov. 18: Chrisman (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), L 50-48
— leading scorers: Rachel Skoza & Jessi Sullivan, 15 pts each
— story: Illineks win one, lose one in Oakwood

Nov. 20: Blue Ridge (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), W 52-47
— leading scorer: Sarah Pfander, 13 pts
— story: Illineks down Blue Ridge in tournament action

Nov. 21: Oakwood (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), L 72-39
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 16 pts
— story: Shorthanded Uni loses to undefeated Oakwood

Nov. 24: Milford (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), L 44-24
— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 10 pts
— story: Uni finishes sixth in Thanksgiving Classic

Nov. 28: Shiloh, L 45-25
— leading scorer: Ruthie Welch, 5 pts
— story: Uni drops third straight

Nov. 30: Villa Grove, game postponed because of bad weather

Dec. 5: Paxton-Buckley-Loda, L 34-23
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 9 pts
— story: Slump continues as Uni falls to PBL

Dec. 8: Decatur Lutheran, L 57-38 *
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 14 pts
— story: Uni begins conference play with loss to defending champ

Dec. 9: Villa Grove, L 38-27
— leading scorer: Kaylie Dastrup, 9 pts
— story: Villa Grove hands Illineks fourth home defeat of season

Dec. 11: Judah Christian, W 44-29 *
— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 13 pts
— story: Illineks end six-game losing streak

Dec. 14: at DeLand-Weldon, W 64-26 *
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 16 pts
— story: Illineks win by 38

Dec. 16: LeRoy, W 43-33
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 18 pts
— story: Girls basketball: Skoza, Yoo lead Uni to third straight win

Jan. 2: at Buckley Christ Lutheran, W 57-19 *
— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 12 pts
— story: Four players score in double figures as Uni gets back to .500

Jan. 4: at Decatur Christian, W 53-26 *
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 15 pts
— story: Uni wins fifth straight game, record improves to 8-7

Jan. 6: Fisher, L 52-41
— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 15 pts
— story: Fisher ends Uni winning streak

Jan. 8: Normal Calvary Baptist, L 48-36 *
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 12 pts
— story: Uni loses showdown for second place in conference

Jan. 11: DeLand-Weldon, W 58-14 *

— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 13 pts
— story: Uni completes sweep of DeLand-Weldon

Jan. 19: at Decatur Lutheran, L 79-41 *

— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 16 pts

— story: Conference leader Decatur Lutheran tops Uni

Jan. 22: at Judah Christian, W 49-47 *

— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 14 pts

— story: Illineks win close call against Judah, lose Skoza

Jan. 25: at Donovan, L 84-41

— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 12 pts

— story: Minus three players, Illineks lose big to Donovan

Jan. 26: Buckley Christ Lutheran, W 66-18 *

— leading scorer: Sarah Pfander, 19 pts

— story: see Illineks return to .500, improve ECIC record

Jan. 29: Decatur Christian, W 47-40 *

— leading scorer: Aran Yoo, 21 pts

— story: Grill, Zaharescu go out winners on Senior Night

Feb. 1: at Normal Calvary Baptist, L 54-36 *

— leading scorer: Mandy Grill, 10 pts

— story: Illineks end regular season 12-12, 8-4

Feb. 7: Oakwood (at the St. Joseph Class A regional), L 64-41

— leading scorer: Ruthie Welch, 11 pts

— story: see above

Remaining games: Uni's season is over.

*East Central Illinois Conference opponent