Oak Park looks for fast start to new season

Updated: November 15, 2011 6:05PM

Oak Park-River Forest coach Bob Biggins has learned a lesson after scheduling both Trinity and Fenwick to start last season.

The Huskies lost both games against their area private school rivals and predictably got off to a slow start. How slow? OPRF lost seven of its first nine games and didn’t recover until the second half of the season.

A nine-game win streak following that helped mitigate the damage. That streak ended with a 61-56 loss Jan. 22 to Hersey in the championship game of Fenton’s Seasons’ End tournament. The Huskies (18-13 last season) kept on winning and eventually clinched a share of the West Suburban Silver Conference in the final game of the regular season.

Both OPRF and York won on the road Feb. 11 to tie for the conference title with 9-3 records. The Huskies won the conference for the first time since 2003. York’s last conference title came in 1994.

The first rematch between conference co-champs will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 in Oak Park.

With Illinois State-bound Stekara Hall and junior Caroline Kelty returning, the Huskies will be one of the favorites to defend their conference championship. Hall and Kelty are coming off AAU seasons with Lake Forest-based Full Package. Hall scored 30 points in three different games last season, twice against York and once against Hersey. The Huskies won two of the three meetings against York last season, including a win at the Montini Holiday tournament.

Hall’s career high was 35 points in an 82-67 victory over St. Joseph Dec. 30 at Montini.

“(Kelty) and Stekara had extensive AAU play this summer as well as a heavy program with us and we expect great things from both,” Biggins said.

Hall is the only returning starter for OPRF. The 5-foot-8 Kelty provided a spark off the bench, both as a rebounder and scorer. Senior Biz Mullins, one of last year’s top reserves, also returns. Seniors Kayla Nelson and Diamond Hearn also return from last year’s varsity roster.

With the rest of last year’s senior-dominated lineup gone, the Huskies will relay on plenty of newcomers starting with center Cuyla Hall, a junior transfer from Walther Lutheran. She is not related to Stekara Hall. One other addition in the post is 6-1 junior Emily Vachon, who has grown two inches since last year when she was the tallest player on the sophomore team.

Two newcomers could start in the backcourt with freshman Hailey Hoye and probable point guard Maeve Connelly, a junior.

New additions also include juniors Ana Spinuzza, Liana Gissendanner, Laney Dossey and Jessi Dixon.

“We’ll be young, small and aggressive,” Biggins said. “We’re not sure what to expect. We know we’ll feel some growing pains and tough knocks, but we’re anticipating a fun, fast paced exciting brand of basketball.”

Both OPRF and York went on furious finishes to end last year’s regular season, but both suffered similar endings. OPRF lost 53-46 at Hoffman Estates in its Class 4A state playoff opener. York won eight of nine games to end its regular season and was defeated by West Chicago 50-46 in the first round of the playoffs.

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