The Week That Was January 18-25, 2016

Photo  by Art Jessen'70

After the last week of 23 games, it might seem like an easier week with only 19 games. But since we had no games Monday -- Martin Luther King Day -- and no games Wednesday because of a Chorus program, the 19 games were compressed onto four days! This was also the week of the 2016 Dunk Alzheimer Basketball Bash and our Thursday Pep Rally to prepare. In many ways the pinnacle week of the basketball season.

The game week started on Tuesday January 19th at home with our JV and Varsity Girls playing Willows Academy. Our games vs. Willows are always excellent tests for our girls teams. The Willows teams like most small schools can vary a bit in talent but they are always filled with girls who never give up and compete to the very end of each game. And that's exactly what happened on Tuesday. In the JV game our Raiders carried a double digit lead into the 2nd half, but Willows came storming back in the 4th quarter for a narrow win. In the Varsity game, the Raiders and the Eagles went back and forth and it was one of the most enjoyable games I have watched our girls play this year -- especially because the Raiders won in the end. This was the first Varsity win over the Willows Academy in Varsity Basketball in a couple of years. Coming off of a poor shooting performance on the weekend, our team bounced back well with many key shots. The Middle School girls had traveled to Willows Tuesday as well and dropped two games and our JV and Fresh/Soph boys had traveled to LFA also and won both. So we ended up 3-3 on the day.

No games Wednesday led to three home games Thursday. On Thursday morning there was a fun pep rally including a faculty / coaching staff vs. student basketball game. The students pulled out a win in this always contentious game, but the coaching staff was missing some players due to schedule conflicts and a long traffic jam on the Edens. So we had our excuses ready. The traffic problems in the morning just seemed to lead to some other issues in the afternoon. The Purple and White Middle School Boys were supposed to play Francis Parker at 4:15 and 5:15 but the Parker bus was an hour late. We did not tip the first game until close to 5:00 pm. Which led to a hurry up schedule as we had a girls Varsity contest scheduled for 6:15. The Parker Middle School games did not end until almost 6:30. We dropped both games although they were both close. The extenuating circumstances seem distracting to play. But it's a good lesson to learn that things like schedules in sports sometimes get messed up. Disruptions are part of life. We tipped the Varsity girls game vs. Roycemore at 6:45 pm. Roycemore Girls Varsity is one of my favorite opponents mainly because of their coach Jessi Wunder. Jessi has been coaching at Roycemore for over 30 years and though they can be out manned (or womanned in this case -- two of their players were sick) she never makes excuses. She always has a positive spirit on the sideline but she is tough minded about competing. I love watching her teams play and they initially gave us some fits. The Raiders, though, gradually pulled away late in the game for a 20 point win. We were 1-2 on the day and 4-5 on the week after Thursday.

Friday was a big day. In part it was the day before basketball bash, but it was also a conference show down for our boys JV and Varsity vs. Francis Parker. The JV game was a strong showing from our Raiders who steadily pulled away from the always competitive Parker squad. The final score was North Shore 42-Parker 31. Then the Varsity game began. Parker had defeated the Raiders earlier in the season at Francis Parker. Their team is focused around the play of Marc Taylor who is a 6'5" junior. Despite our efforts to stop Taylor, we were not successful. Parker defeated the Raiders 68-54 with Taylor scoring 41 of the Colonels points -- 30 points from the field and 11 from the free throw line. After Friday we were 5-6 on the week.

Jacskon Gray, Me, Jonathan Segal, Ben Potter -- Photo by Art Jessen'70

That got us to our final game day of the week and the biggest game day of the winter on Saturday January 23rd when we played our Dunk Alzheimer Basketball Bash. Basketball Bash now has gone on for over 25 years in January. I used to be the primary way the Junior class raised funds for the Prom. Three years ago after Jonathan Segal '15 approached me about making the day a fund raiser fro Alzheimers. That has taken the event to a new level of student participation. Saturday Jonathan returned and partnered with current student leaders Jackson Gray, Ben Potter, and Camille Scheyer to make the day another success. This was also the longest basketball bash day in school history as we hosted 8 games  -- the most ever -- starting at 9 AM and going until 7:30 pm. Our student leaders raised over $8000 and now our three year total is $28,000 for this event. And there was basketball.

JV Girls battling with Willows -- Photo by Art Jessen '70

In the morning, we had four Middle School games for our boys and girls Purple and White teams. The boys played Sacred Heart and split 1-1. The girls Purple and White swept the Willows Academy. The Girls Varsity defeated Chicago Academy and then the girls JV played the most exciting game of the day vs. Willows Academy JV winning in Overtime. The Boys JV and Varsity played Intrinsic Schools which was a new opponent. Intrinsic is a charter school on Belmont Avenue and is only in its third year of existence. However, they fielded two strong teams of mostly underclassmen who gave both our Varsity and JV teams tough games. The Raiders won both but Intrinsic will be a school to watch in the future. Overall we were 7-1 for the day and that led us to a week of 12-7.

Despite the fact there have been some long days, these weeks have been full and fast moving. This current week will be a bit lighter in games -- only 12 -- as the Middle School play will cut down on the sports schedule a bit. We are also now less than 40 days from spring sports starting. So even though there is a lot to look forward to this winter season, spring sports are right around the corner and final planning has begun.