Girls Basketball: Young’s Janee Thompson looking to snag her ‘big fish’

Updated: February 9, 2012 6:30PM

Young’s Janee Thompson has been part of four city-championship teams. She has won regional, sectional and supersectional titles. She has earned a scholarship to Kentucky, where she plans to major in broadcast journalism.

There is one prize that has eluded Thompson during her basketball career.

“I haven’t caught the big fish yet,” she said.

The 5-7 senior guard and her Young teammates have been frustrated each of the last four years by eventual state champion Bolingbrook — twice in the state championship game. Thompson and fellow senior Alexis Lloyd will get their final shot at a state championship beginning next week.

They cannot overlook powerful Trinity in the sectional, but Thompson can’t help but wonder what might have been if a few bounces had gone their way. They might be the team playing for a second, third or even fourth consecutive state title.

“I played a little bit as a freshman and a little more as a sophomore, then last year it really seemed like we were going to win [the state title],” Thompson said. “But a couple of things didn’t go our way and before you knew it, the game was over.

“This year were a little more determined than last year,” she added. “We want to go out with a bang.”

Thompson provides a lot of bang for Young, which is 26-0 heading into its regular-season finale Thursday against Milwaukee Vincent. Averaging almost 19 points and nine assists, Thompson is the team’s unquestioned leader on both ends of the floor.

During last Saturday’s Windy City Championship game at Chicago State, Thompson ignited a 10-0 run in the third quarter with six points to give the Dolphins some breathing room after Morgan Park had cut their lead to a single digit.

The Mustangs can blame Thompson’s older brother, Najee, for helping her become the player she is today.

“When I was younger, I wanted to do everything like him,” Thompson said. “He got me started. He was the one who saw I had a serious interest in basketball. He would let me play with him and his friends. He always said I was good at picking things up.”

A pickup game in the summer before her junior year was her undoing when she tore an ACL and spent most of the season rehabbing. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since she got to spend a lot of time doing the thing she likes best other than basketball.

“I like sitting around with friends, eating ice cream and junk food and watching movies,” she said.

There will be time for watching movies between the end of the season and when she departs for college. Meanwhile, Thompson has gone fishing.

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