Girls Basketball: Young showdown looms for Trinity

Updated: December 13, 2011 6:52PM

After playing at the Young Shootout Friday night, Trinity players and coaches stuck around to watch the next game in the doubleheader in Chicago.

The Blazers watched only one quarter, but likely saw enough of their next major opponent. Trinity (6-0) will host Young (7-0), the No. 1-ranked team by YourSeason.com, in a nonconference battle at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in River Forest.

“(What was impressive) was definitely their speed,” said Trinity leading scorer Megan Podkowa, a DePaul recruit. “(Young) has good personnel. We have to be able to handle their pressure. They have good scorers.”

Podkowa, a Glenview resident, is averaging 18 points per game and nearly had a career high in rebounds with 20 in Friday’s 59-22 victory over St. John the Baptist (N.Y.) at Young.

Young is coming off a 79-51 victory over West Suburban Gold defending champion Proviso East led by Kentucky-bound guard Janee Thompson’s 29 points. The Dolphins were led by Alexis Lloyd (18 points) and Linnae Harper (17 points).

“We have good team chemistry this year,” Podkowa said. “It’s a big game. We’ll have to bring everything in order to win. If we do what we have to do, defense has to be the best part of our game.”

Podkowa is familiar with many of Young’s players after competing against them over the summer in both AAU tournaments and at Trinity’s own high school summer league. The Dolphins played at Trinity during the summer. Podkowa played AAU last season with Illinois Elite.

After playing Young, Trinity’s schedule does not get easier. The Blazers play two ranked teams in their next four games starting with No. 11 Fremd (7-0) at home at 7 p.m. Dec. 19. and Trinity hosts No. 19 Loyola (7-1) Dec. 23 as part of the Holiday Showcase tournament.

Podkowa was the only recruit from the state’s Class of 2012 to sign with DePaul last month. She decided to attend the school in mid-July at around the same time her sister was married at a chapel at the university.

Podkowa knows opposing defenders are concentrating on her. She said she hasn’t been double-teamed yet on a man-to-man defense, but has already seen opponents try a box-and-one or a triangle-and-two against her.

“I’m trying to get stronger and my three (pointer) has bounced out lately,” Podkowa said. “I’m trying to get stronger depending on the (opposing) post player.”

Trinity 59, St. John the Baptist 22

You have to hope the sightseeing is going better for St. John the Baptist (West Islip, N.Y.) than the basketball.

No. 4 Trinity (6-0) scored the first 13 points of the game and got 15 points and 20 rebounds from Podkawa and 10 points and five rebounds from Taylor Nazon en route to a 59-22 rout of the visitors from the East Coast Friday at the Chitown Showdown hosted by Whitney Young.

St. John the Baptist (2-2) did not score until Brianna Thomas made the second of two free-throw attempts with 3:37 remaining n the first quarter. Trinity’s lead swelled to 27-3 with about six minutes left in the first half and 45-13 late in the third quarter.

“It sounds cheesy, it sounds cliché, but we have tremendous leaders,” Trinity coach Ed Stritzel said. “We know we have a great offense. But these kids are so focused. They have a goal. Their goal is to get downstate and to win it, and they know they have to work hard every day.

“They know they have be unified and they have to be unselfish,” the coach added. “It doesn’t matter who scores all the points. We need to defend and they bought into that. They’re doing a wonderful job pretty much making it hard on every team to get a shot up. It’s a special group to coach.”

Podkawa approached a career high in rebounds, although a few of those rebounds were her own missed layups.

“I was joking with her that if she could make a layup she would have scored 30 points,” Stritzel said. “But she was great tonight. I thought Taylor shot well tonight, and Lauren runs the show for us. We have a pure point guard. She has no fear.

“I’m biased, but I think she’s the best point guard out there,” he added. “She makes the whole team go.”

Prochaska, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, had five points, eight rebounds and five assists.

“Our chemistry, our bonding on and off the court is really good,” Prochaska said. “We’re always hanging out together and making sure during practice that we’re always learning what each other does so the chemistry is always there.”

Running the show for a team with such high expectations doesn’t seem to faze the young point guard.

“It is a lot of responsibility, but the girls make you feel real comfortable like they’ll always be there if I’m in trouble,” Prochaska said. “They make me feel comfortable bringing up the ball so I know I can do it. The coaches have so much confidence in me and we all have confidence in each other.”

Sophomore Lauren Williams scored nine points and Brianna Thomas added eight points and five rebounds for St. John the Baptist, which was without its top player, 6-foot senior forward Anastasia Williams (concussion).

Mike Clark contributed

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