Kuzmanic takes center stage in Wheeling's win

Bob and Teresa Kuzmanic have been visiting Gurnee at this time of the year for the last nine years.

That's because they've always had at least one daughter playing for Wheeling's girls basketball team in the Blue Devil Classic at Warren High School.

Youngest daughter Deanna is closing out the long run of Kuzmanics playing in the Christmas tourney.

The Alabama-Birmingham recruit and Wildcats started out this year's Classic with 31 points in the first quarter en route to a 63-41 victory over Phillips.

"I told the girls before the game I wanted them to come out with a lot of energy and set the tone right away," said Wildcats coach Matt Weber. "I thought we lacked some energy the night before (44-33 loss to Prospect) so I told them we can't play that type of basketball."

The Wildcats (8-4) took their first-year coach to heart, producing their best quarter of the season which led to a 31-10 lead.

Senior Haley Dammeier, who scored 2 baskets in the game's first 40 seconds, finished with a team-high 18 points and led with 12 rebounds.

Kuzmanic (15 points) and sophomore Melissa Claver (13 points, 7 rebounds) also reached double figures.

Nearly half of the Wildcats first-quarter points came from five 3-pointers. The Wildcats had six in the first half.

Kuzmanic hit three from long range in the game's first 6:20.

Her 15 points give her 1,376 for her career as she recently moved past Taylor Lawless (1,316) into second place on Wheeling's all-time list behind Ashley Wilson (1,916).

Kuzmanic's sisters Stephanie (now Leyden's head coach) and Kellie (at Cornell College) were on the same team (33-2) with Wilson which took third place in the Class AA 2009 state tourney under coach Shelly Wiegel.

"I grew up watching all those great Wheeling players and never thought I would be like them," Deanna said. "I always looked up to them so it's so cool to be on the same list with them."

Kuzmanic is on more than just scoring lists, too.

She also rebounds, assists and steals the basketball with the best of them.

Kuzmanic's big drive to the basket and then fade-away bank shot with 6:29 left in the second quarter was quite impressive and gave Wheeling a 33-12 lead.

"She's a great floor leader for them," said Phillips coach Larry Stokes, whose team (3-7) is playing in the tournament for the first time. "She has the ability to shoot right or left and she runs the team so well.

"Wheeling is a good offensive team. They move the ball like a team is supposed to move it to take quick shots. Every time we made a push at them, they made a better push."

"I thought we were really focused on making the extra pass this game," said Kuzmanic, who handed out 5 assists with 8 rebounds and 2 steals.

Junior Michaela Vasey collected 8 rebounds with 2 steals and 2 assists while senior Hannah Dobrowski had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Wildcats were led by junior guard Courtnee Williams' 19 points, 14 in the second half when Phillips was outscored the Wildcats 22-21.

"Credit to Phillips, they frustrated our girls in the second half," Weber said. "So we had to work though it and work as a team."

What Weber liked Saturday was that more players got into the scoring column than just the four on Friday night.

Senior Nicole Zlotnikova, Vasey, Dobrowski and sophomore Shannon Kennedy also put points on the board against Phillips.

"We need those girls to be consistent like that and they know it," Weber said. "They have the right mentality."

Weber's team was undersized in the middle.

"Michaela (Vasey) and Melissa (Craver) did a nice job defending people who were bigger than them," Weber added. "And we will need that to compete the rest of the tourney."