Another signature moment at Rolling Meadows
Last season, the Rolling Meadows girls basketball team had a signature season.
On Wednesday night, four key members of the 2013 Class AA state runner-up team were writing their signatures on collegiate letters of intent.
Seniors Alexis Glasgow (Northwestern), Jackie Kemph (St. Louis), Jenny Vliet (St. Louis) and Ashley Montanez (University of Indianapolis) made their verbal commitments official in a ceremony in the faculty lounge at the high school.
Not too many Mid-Suburban League girls basketball teams, if any, can say they’ve held a media conference to host four starters sign letter of intents one week prior to the first game of their senior careers.
“I’ve been here 15 years and we’ve had plenty of athletes get scholarships for different sports,” said Rolling Meadows girls athletic director Jim Voyles. “But obviously it is rare to have four seniors on the same team sign letters of intent. It’s rare air. It’s a nice honor for everyone involved.”
Wednesday’s gathering got everyone involved.
Grandparents, AAU coaches, parents, sisters, brothers and volunteers were all hand and treated to pizza and cake. Cameras snapped photos of the four basketball standouts and their teammates, who are hoping for a repeat trip to the state finals at Illinois State.
“It takes a full wagon of people to get this done,” Voyles said of the girls who achieved their college basketball scholarships. “And many of them are here.”
Also on hand was second-year head coach Ryan Kirkorsky and his assistant Nick Nichols.
“It’s pretty remarkable to have a senior class with this much talent at a community high school,” Kirkorsky said.
The senior group also includes Sami Kay, Allie Kemph, Katie Shewmon and Elizabeth Vasilogambros.
“It’s good playing with them,” said Kay, a senior off-guard who plans to study at Loyola. “It makes you feel confident because they know what they are doing.”
What they’ve done has been quite impressive, leading the Mustangs to a 30-4 record last year and to a Mid-Suburban League championship as sophomores under coach Todd Hatfield.
Last season, the 5-foot-6 Jackie Kemph was the Illinois Gatorade ‘Player of the Year’ averaging 18.9 ppg.
Glasgow, a 5-11 guard averaged 17.1 points while Vliet, a 6-2 forward who was recently named the Mid-Suburban East Player of the Year in girls volleyball, averaged 10.3 ppg with 8.2 rebounds.
The trio has been playing together since sixth grader feeder basketball and won the Northern Illinois state title as eighth graders.
Montanez joined them at Meadows as a sophomore after playing for Leyden as a freshman.
“I love playing with them,” she said. “They’ve just made me a better player. They’re very easy going and fun to play with.”
“The nice thing about the four girls is that they are very strong students, too,” Voyles said. “They’re awesome people.”
The first game of the girls basketball season are Monday. The first game on Rolling Meadows’ schedule is at 7 p.m. next Thursday, when the Mustangs will host Cary-Grove as part of Lake Zurich’s Turkey Tourney.