By Bobby Narang
Geneva High School girls basketball team shared a similarity with Saturday’s opponent that few teams in the State can lay claim to, a fellow State champion.
Just four days into the new decade, the Vikings, a two-time State champion in Class 4A in both 2017 and 2018, met up with last season’s 4A State champion, Maine West, at the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Benet Academy in Lisle.
Taking part in a showcase event that featured Homewood-Flossmoor, Chicago Simeon, Aurora Christian, Benet, Nazareth Academy, and several other talented teams, including Dowling Catholic from Iowa, the Vikings and Maine West have laid claim to the last three big-class State championships in Illinois.
Maine West, led by University of Oregon-recruit Angela Dugalic, showed they have no intentions of losing their grip on matching the Vikings’ run of two straight State championships by recording a 60-45 victory Saturday night.
Maine West, 15-1, received a typical big-game production from the 6-4 Dugalic. She finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds, four blocked shots, and three steals to help knock off the Vikings, 11-4.
“I didn’t think we had a great start, but we got the momentum going and that was good,” Geneva guard Kate Palmer said. “(Dugalic) can block shots, so we had to hit outside shots. We were still aggressive and still tried to drive on her.”
The Vikings fell into an early 22-4 hole that proved too tough to overcome, especially with Dugalic altering shots all over the court with her athleticism and length and Dylan VanFleet giving Geneva’s guards fit with her aggressive and physical on-ball pressure.
“(Dugalic’s) a great player, but we wanted to make her work on both ends of the court,” Geneva head coach Sarah Meadows said.
Freshman guard Cassidy Arni was one of the Geneva bright spots in the defeat. She finished with 14 points and wasn’t afraid to attack the basket, even late in the game, and played solid defense on Dugalic late in the game.
“It was really fun and cool because it will make me and the team better,” Arni said. “Maine West won State last year, but we stuck with them and fought hard in the second half. I knew they were a good team and we had to bring it. It was really cool being a freshman with all these (talented) girls and getting that honor…. (Dugalic’s) a really good defender. It was hard to score. It was different, because she was so tall and they helped out. I just had to be strong.”
Earlier Saturday, Benet dropped a 69-58 decision to Dowling Catholic. Senior guard Caitlin Clark, one of the top players in the country, had a monster game with 36 points, 10 rebounds, nine steals, and eight assists.
Benet’s Kendall Holmes, a DePaul University recruit, tallied 24 points, including 20 in the second half, to nearly rally the Redwings from a big deficit.