Morrissey, Michigan State set to visit Sears Centre

For former Buffalo Grove and current Stevenson girls basketball coach Tom Dineen, Michigan State saved the best part of it 60-50 upset win over No. 19 Rutgers on Feb. 22 for after the game.

That's when Dineen got to see his former standout guard Anna Morrissey honored along with four teammates for Senior Day in East Lansing.

"It was a really a cool atmosphere," Dineen said. "They do it after the game and there were still about 8,000 fans who stuck around for it and Suzy (Merchant, Spartans coach) did a great job talking about each senior. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to be there."

Dineen is also glad he had the opportunity to coach Morrissey for two seasons at Stevenson.

"As Suzy and I both would say, as hard a worker as Anna is, and as much success she has had in the game, the most important thing is that she is just a tremendous young lady. As a coach, I cannot say enough about her. I was very happy for her and proud of her."

Morrissey made the Spartans roster as a walk-on as a freshman, playing in three games. As a sophomore, she played in eight games. And she earned a full scholarship for her junior and senior years.

"In her four seasons at Michigan State, Anna did not miss a single practice or sit out of one drill," Dineen said of Morrissey, who was basically receiving only Division III offers in her final season at Stevenson.

Before this season, in which she is running the Spartans' offense as a point guard, Morrissey spent most of her time as a practice player, going back and forth on the scout team.

"I knew wherever she ended up she would be successful," Dineen said of the pre-nursing major. "Anna is an exceptionally hard worker and very team-orienteed. She was the best defensive player I've coached at Stevenson."

Fittingly enough, as a junior, Morrissey received the Kim Archer Character Award at the team banquet and she was also Academic All-Big Ten.

"Like Suzy said, she is a person you would want to be your daughter or granddaughter," Dineen said. "And that's as high a compliment you can give someone."

Area fans won't have to go far to see Morrissey this week.

The Big Ten Conference tournament gets underway Wednesday at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

Men's swimming

Denison University (Granville, Oh) senior Ben Snader (Libertyville) helped lead The Big Red to their eighth consecutive North Coast Atlantic Conference title and secured two NCAA "B cuts" in his 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

Ben was a state medalist in the 100 breaststroke in 2011,

Xavier freshman Bobby Snader, a key member of Libertyville's state-runnerup team last year, helped the Musketeers to their second consecutive Big East Conference title.

Bobby contributed to the scoring efforts by competing in finals in the 100 breaststroke (56.92 for fourth place), 50 freestyle (21.03 for seventh place) and he swam in consolation finals in the 100 freestyle (47.05).

• Lewis sophomore Bryan Wiener (Mundelein) was part of the Flyers' 400-free relay team that qualified with a school-record seed of 2:59.25 for the NCAA Division II national championships.

It is the first time in program history Lewis has qualified for the nationals in a men's relay event.

Wiener was also part of the 400 medley relay that used a school-record seed of 3:15.67 to qualify for nationals.

Baseball

Illinois State freshman Jeff Barton (Libertyville) threw four consecutive shutout innings in his first two appearances of the season.

The two-time Daily Herald All-Area and North Suburban All-Conference selection made his collegiate debut at Arkansas State, holding the Red Wolves to 1 hit in 2 innings.

His scoreless innings streak continued when he faced Vanderbilt, the No. 1 team in Collegiate Baseball's NCAA Division 1 preseason poll.

At Vanderbilt, Barton held the Commodores hitless in his first 2 innings of relief in the series' opener in Nashville.

Women's track and field

Concordia-Chicago freshman Chelsee Wilson (Grayslake North) continued to blaze her name in the school record book. Her time of 8.10 seconds in the 60-meter dash at the University of Chicago's Margaret Bradley Indoor Invitational marked the fourth school record she has set in the past three weeks.

Women's basketball

Concordia-Chicago junior Morgan Jahnke (Grant) led the Cougars to their first conference tournament win since 2008 as she scored 22 points and pulled down 7 rebounds in a 65-58 win over Concordia- Wisconsin.

The 5-foot-7 guard shot 5-of-8 from the field, making her only 3-point attempt, and 11-for-14 from the free throw line.

Jahnke triggered an 11-1 run at the beginning of the second half, scoring five points as the Cougars quickly erased a 10-point halftime deficit.

Baseball

Illinois State junior Paul DeJong (Antioch) was named the Missouri Valley Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week.

DeJong, a redshirt junior infielder/catcher, played a key role in Illinois State's three-game sweep of Southeast Missouri State in Lake Charles, La.

DeJong batted .385/.467/.846 over the three-game stretch while homering in two of the three contests.

He scored 4 runs and drove in four more in the series, helping the Redbirds improve to 4-2.

DeJong currently leads the Redbirds, hitting .423/.483/.962.

He currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference in slugging percentage (. 962), home runs (4) and total bases (25) through Illinois State's first six games this spring.

Equally strong in the classroom, DeJong owns a 3.79 grade-point average while majoring in biochemistry/pre-medicine.

Men's track

Lewis junior Isaac Jean-Paul (Warren) won the long jump at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field championships with an NCAA Provisional mark and personal-best jump of 7.10m (23 feet, 3½ inches).

Jean-Paul also advanced out of the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 7.06.

• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com