Hersey's turn in spotlight

NORMAL - How many six-team high school conferences have sent a different representative to the final four of the IHSA state girls basketball tournament in three consecutive years?

Well, the Mid-Suburban League East Division can be placed in that unique category.

Thanks to Hersey's hard-fought 60-54 victory over previously-undefeated Geneva in Monday's Class 4A Streamwood supersectional, the Huskies became the third straight MSL East team that will bring home a state trophy.

Buffalo Grove and coach Tom Dineen were third in the inaugural Class 4A tourney in 2008, while Wheeling and coach Shelly Wiegel took third in 4A last winter.

Now it's coach Mary Fendley, the dean of East coaches with a 249-125 record in 12 seasons, who will lead her team onto the floor for a state semifinal at 6:30 p.m. today at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena.

The Huskies (27-7) will face defending Class 4A champion Bolingbrook (27-1), ranked No. 1 in Illinois and No. 11 in USA Today's national poll.

The 8:15 semifinal matches Whitney Young (27-2) and Fenwick (31-3).

The championship is 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, following the third-place game at 6:30 p.m.

"It's an amazing statement for our conference," said Fendley, who is taking the first girls basketball team in school history to the state finals. "It's not like there's one big power from our conference. It's three different teams who are getting a trophy in three years."

Bolingbrook has brought home a trophy the last five years.

The Raiders are looking to reach the state title game for the fifth straight time, a feat never accomplished in boys or girls IHSA state tournament history.

Without a doubt, the Raiders are the Huskies' toughest test of the season.

Bolingbrook won the AA state crown in 2006 and was second the next two seasons.

The Raiders features a pair of all-staters in 5-foot-7 junior guard Ariel Massengale and 6-2 sophomore forward Morgan Tuck.

They are joined in the starting lineup by 6-foot senior guard Nicosia Henry, 6-foot junior guard Taylor Tuck and 5-9 senior guard Mercedes Griffin.

"We have faced a lot of good teams," Fendley said. "But I don't think any of them match the caliber of Bolingbrook. Not to slight anyone, but they've been tremendous and have the trophies to show for it. They have such skilled players and no one matches their play over the past six years."

Bolingbrook has six players on its roster 6-feet or taller.

"There have not been too many teams taller than us this season," Fendley said. "Even though I would consider us a tall team, we still don't match up with them. For five starters I can't imagine anyone much taller."

Morgan Tuck averages 18 ppg, while Massengale is at 13.1.

"We definitely have to focus on those two," Fendley said. "But they're all pretty talented kids on the floor for Bolingbrook. We'll try to stay in front of them and keep our hands up and try not to let them get a lot of high-percentage shots.

"We'll do our best to fight for rebounding position and make them fight for every shot on every possession."

The Huskies feature their own all-stater in 5-9 junior guard Megan Rogowski, the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,627 points. She averages 21.3 points with 173 rebounds and 80 assists.

"We're going to try to stop her from scoring 21 points," said Bolingbrook coach Tony Smith (245-26 in nine seasons). "We'll try to limit her touches.

"As a team we'll try to box out hard, rebound on the glass and play with them. We'd love for them to go up and down the court with us because that's how we play and that should add up to a great up-tempo game."

Senior 6-foot forwards Maddie Swan and Kathryn Korff, a pair of strong rebounders, often get the transition game going for the Huskies, whose offense is directed by senior point guard Julia Fredian.

Senior off-guard Andrea Perkins creates plenty of havoc with her hustling defense.

Off the bench, Fendley has often called on senior guard Kari Tunney, junior guard Brittany Pittas and junior forward Eileen Zydek.

"This is probably our biggest challenge in program history," Fendley said. "To play a two-time state champion is as great a challenge as you can get and there's not another group of girls I'd rather take that challenge with than these 12 girls."

Bolingbrook defeated Wheeling in the semifinals last year 53-40.

In 2006, the Raiders edged Buffalo Grove 55-54 in overtime.

Today, they meet their third MSL East team in five years.

"Hopefully, the third time is the charm," Smith said. "We are definitely a young team and hopefully our youth will serve us well down here. We'll just try to keep it simple, play hard and have fun."

Turning point: So when did the Hersey girls start believing this could be a history-making season?

"I'll speak for myself and say the turning was after our loss to Wheeling," said Mary Fendley, whose team has tied the school record with 27 wins. "That's what convinced me we were the best team in the area.

"Despite losing, we were winning the whole time. We had already beaten them once and then were up the whole second game until we made some bad decisions down the stretch."

Fendley told her players they could make a long postseason run.

"I told them my expectations went way up with that loss and I think they believed me," she said. "I never really talked much about winning a sectional, but I talked about it a lot since that Wheeling game. I'd say it a lot and I think they became convinced and once they knew how far they could go they worked really hard to get to this point."

The more they won, the more confident they got.

"We'd go one game at a time and just kept looking forward to the next level," Fendley said. "When you get a taste of the next level, it almost convinces you that you were able to get to the next level."

Fan-tastic: Former Hersey boys basketball coach Roger Steingraber has been a loyal supporter of the Huskies this season. Steingraber coached the Huskies from 1968 to 1977 and his 1974 team, including former Bulls' player Dave Corzine, was the first MSL boys team to reach the Elite Eight.

"And Roger always makes sure to pass on best wishes from Ken Arneson, who was my coach at Rolling Meadows," Fendley said.

"Roger is just one indication of the great fan support we've gotten. There have been all these people who have rallied behind the girls which has really been neat.

"After our supersectional game, a bunch of our girls went up to Roger and thanked him for coming, which I thought was cool."

Fendley's brother Tommy also played for Steingraber when he coached the Meadows sophomore team in the late 1980s.

Like Coach, like player: Having a roster full of multi-sport athletes is hardly anything unfamiliar for Huskies coach Mary Fendley.

She was a three-sport athlete as a swimmer, softball and basketball player at Meadows.

For the record, Fendley's roster consists of 12 multi-sport athletes, including six three-sporters - Maddie Swan (volleyball, soccer), Kathryn Korff (swimming, soccer), Domenica Giancola (track and cross country), Andrea Perkins (tennis, soccer), Maggie Hogen (volleyball and track) and Jen Hall (tennis and badminton).

Megan Rogowski (golf), Kari Tunney (softball), Brittany Pittas (tennis), Stefanie Mueller (soccer) and Julia Fredian (soccer) play two sports.

Road warriors: Hersey freshman coaches Molly Freeman and Robert Scarpino have traveled several miles during the state tourney run.

Their assignment has been to scout upcoming opponents through the tourney trail.

That meant they made trips to Fremd (regional) and Huntley (sectional) high schools and to Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington where Bolingbrook defeated Edwardsville in a supersectional.

"I've got a great coaching staff," said Fendley, who is also assisted by Julia Barthel and Troy Myers. "They have been nothing but helpful down the stretch."