Levels Varsity Sophomore FroshA FroshB

MUNDELEIN HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL

SCHEDULE • ROSTER • PHOTOS

June 7/8 Madison Tournament - Grades 5th - Varsity

June 21/22 Waukegan Tournament - Grades 5th - Varsity

June 27/28 Stevenson Tournament - Varsity only

**July 8/9 (Tues/Wed) Forest Larson Skills Camp - Lake Geneva - Grades 6 - 12

July 12/13 Belvidere Tournament - Grades 5th - Varsity

July 24 - 27 Belvidere USSSA Nationals - Grades 5th - Varsity

Lake Zurich League - Mondays + Wednesdays starting June 16 - Freshman + Soph only

Maine West League - Tuesday nights - 2 games per night - Varsity only

** This is a day camp only. No overnight housing available. It is an excellent, high intensity offensive skills camp for serious players only. Cost is $110. It goes from 9am to 8pm on July 8th, and 9am to 3pm on July 9th. There will be one hour for lunch each day. Brochures will be provided at the meeting.

*There may be another tournament added on the 19/20th of July or the 14/15th of June depending on when the Maine West Open tournament is.

Samantha Panitch Arizona Blog Day 6
Our last full day in Arizona was today. It started off with another shoot around, which went very well as usual. After our shoot around we went to MHS alum Shawn Harlan’s house for a pre-game meal. We hung out there for a little while and played knock out, because we are not allowed to play it in practice. We then headed back to our hotel and then had to drive all the way back to Boulder Creek High School. This was A LOT of driving and it pretty much took up a majority of our day. Then it was time for our game against Boulder Creek.

Once again, our second half was much better than the first and we were able to wear them down with our fast breaking offense and our full court pressure defense. The efforts of our fast tempo didn’t show until late in the third and the fourth quarter, but we were able to come away with a 69 to 52 victory. We then watched the boys’ team once again dominate and win their game.

While we were watching though, we became BEST friends with Mr. Harlan’s four year old daughter Peyton and Toni’s cousin Charlie. Payton actually even invited me and some of the other girls to have a sleepover and even to live with them. It was a tempting offer because their house is beautiful with a basketball court and pool in the backyard.

After the boys game we headed to McDonald’s for some dinner and ice cream and then just went back to the hotel and showered and packed because we are leaving early tomorrow to catch our flight back to freezing Illinois. We will - without a doubt - miss the warmth and sunshine of Arizona. This trip has been an amazing experience for every girl on the team; it has helped us learn a lot about ourselves and each other. I just wanted to say thanks on behalf of our team to everyone that has helped make this trip possible for our varsity girls’ basketball team. It was something that not many other high school basketball players can say they have done and we are very grateful for this opportunity.

Samantha Panitch Arizona Blog Day 4
Our second day of practice was held at Boulder Creek High School, this morning at eleven in the morning. The drive to practice was filled with singing songs like: 99 bottles of coke on the wall and the bazooka bubble gum song. We arrived at practice and worked on our man-to-man defense and our offense against a zone defense.

After practice we went over to Coach Knar’s parents and Toni’s grandparent’s house for lunch. They live in Arizona and their home was only a short distance away from both where we were practicing and our hotel. They graciously made us sloppy joes and pulled pork sandwiches, along with potato salad, chips, and gatorade for lunch. It was a beautiful day out, sunny, and over 70 degrees so we were all looking forward to swimming in grandma and grandpa Knar’s pool. The water was FREEZING though. Toni and Jess (Bjerning) still decided to jump in the water and Toni described the experience as “needles shooting through my body.” The rest of us just laid out on the porch and tanned and some girls played the game apples to apples.

Our favorite person at the Knar household was Toni’s four year old cousin Charlie. He was very entertaining as he yelled at Toni for breaking a screen door and then hid from us and said he could not speak to us when we tried to talk to him. We actually got some pretty good color for only laying out for about and hour and should be heading back to Mundelein with a very nice tan. We stayed at the Knars for a few hours and then we headed back to our hotel. On the way back, we stopped at an ice cream place called The Sugar Bowl, or as Coach Evans likes to call it, “Sugar Daddies.” While we were taking a picture outside of the restaurant a car pulled up beside us and it was our principal Dr. Ahlgrim, our athletic director Mr. Wilhelm and their wives! They are coming to watch our games this week and had just arrived in Arizona and were driving through town when we saw them. We went inside and Kelso and I played the basketball shooting game and Kelso kicked my butt. Then we enjoyed our ice cream and went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to Friday's for dinner, or as T (Toni) would say TGI Friday's. The rest of the night we spent relaxing in our rooms getting ready for our game tomorrow.

Samantha Panitch Arizona Blog Day 3
Today was a relaxing day in Arizona. We did not have a wakeup call, so we were able to sleep in as long as we wanted. As soon as everyone woke up and had breakfast we quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool. The beautiful palm trees were an obstacle to the objective of the day: to get tan. That didn’t stop us from soaking up the rays though, the sun finally went over the palm trees and we enjoyed our day of fun in the sun.

Also, Coach Evans decided to jump into the hot tub with all of his clothes on, which was very amusing because the jets made his shirt puff out and he looked like a sumo wrestler. After spending a couple of hours at the pool we headed up to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. Before dinner though we decided to try and drive up one of the mountains. On the way up we stopped to take A LOT of pictures by cacti, the mountains, and mustang statues. We were so close to getting all the way to the top of the mountain, but couldn’t go any further because we could not get through the gated communities. We were all thankful Coach Harding did not get us lost on the way back down the mountain and we headed over to Olive Garden for dinner. Coach Evans treated us all to dinner so that made it taste even better! After that we went out to enjoy some ice cream. The singing during all of the car rides definitely makes them some of the most fun times we have had on our trip so far. These car rides are also good for bringing our team closer together. One of the main ideas for us coming to Arizona was to help our team becoming closer and to help with our team bonding. All of us have been getting along great and I think the time we are spending together during our six days here will help us a ton during the second half of our season. Tomorrow looks to be a much busier day starting off with practice early in the morning.

Samantha Panitch Arizona Blog Day 2
The second day has been phenomenal! It was another sunny day in Arizona , you really couldn't ask for more perfect weather! We had our first practice of the trip. We would have left the hotel at 9 AM but Coach Knar and the boys’ team left without us, so we had to wait for them to come back so we could follow them.

When we finally arrived at Boulder Creek High School , we were met by MHS alum Shawn Harlan. He graciously brought us fruit and Gatorade and we were lucky enough to have his talented sixth grade daughter, Morgan, practice with us. Practice was tough as usual. Coach Evans worked us hard and did not let us slack off at practice just because we are in Arizona.

On the way back from practice Coach Harding got us lost. Everyone was really worried in the van because we didn't think that we were gonna have enough time to shower and get ready for the Insight Bowl that we were attending later that night. And I think most of the girls would agree, they got ready as fast as they ever have. It also helped that our mom chaperones bought us Subway, so we didn't have to stop anywhere for lunch. We went to the Insight Bowl at Arizona State's stadium where we watched Oklahoma State play Indiana. Oklahoma State dominated from the start and we ended up leaving the game early to go to a block party at Tempe Town Lake to celebrate New Years. Everyone had a great time bringing in the New Year where we hung out and listened to different bands like the Barenaked Ladies perform. We all were exhausted from our busy day and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Tomorrow is looking to be another eventful day. We are planning on going to the Grand Canyon, but if the weather isn't good, we are planning on having a relaxing day spent by the pool!

GREETINGS FROM ARIZONA
The first day of our trip to Arizona has been a whirlwind. We were literally up before the sun rose as we had to meet at Mundelein High School by 4 in the morning to catch our flight. On the bus ride over to the airport, Coach Evans lectured to us about the rules for our trip, most of which we had heard countless times from previous trips we have taken as a team. Also on the bus ride we were lucky enough to be able to listen to the wonderful singing of Kelso (Kelsey O’Connor) and JJ (Sawchuk). Even though it was early, you could tell everyone was excited when we arrived at the airport, especially Kelsey (Weyers) because it was her first time flying. We went through all of the normal things you do at the airport: checked in our luggage, went through security, and then went to our terminal to wait. At security, Ally (Hanas) was caught trying to be sneaky by bringing in a water bottle, so she had to be searched which was amusing to everyone. Our plane was on schedule so we took off for Arizona at 7:30 AM. It felt like an extremely long flight even though it was only three hours long. Most of the plane trip was spent sleeping and listening to ipods, but some girls spent the flight taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. When we finally arrived in Arizona , we drove the biggest van I have ever seen (it fits 15 people!) to our hotel. The first thing everyone commented on when we stepped off the plane was the palm trees. We were all starving and wanted to do nothing but eat so we went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. Later tonight, we’re going to the mall and a movie. We are all looking forward to the rest of the week. It is sunny and 64 degrees here and the sunshine just makes you smile and puts you in a good mood. This should be the perfect way to end our winter break.

From Wednesday, November 21:
CARMEL 42 - LADY MUSTANGS 36
The Lady Mustangs waited until the 4th quarter to start playing the kind of basketball that they are capable of playing. Unfortunately, they started that quarter down 37-20 to the Corsairs from Carmel. They got the score back to 39-36 with 50 seconds to play but three straight missed free throws and a possession that ended in a blocked shot did not allow them to get any closer as they fell to Carmel 42-36 in the Championship game of the Lady Mustangs' Thanksgiving Shootout.

The missed free throws down the stretch were just three in a long line of misses as the Lady Mustangs were a woeful 6-19 from the free throw line while Carmel hit 10-13. Carmel also got plenty of second chance points during the game. Two things that no team can afford if they hope to have success.

The Lady Mustangs were led by JJ Sawchuk as she posted her season high with 17 points. Toni Knar added 10. Kelsey Weyers led the team with 5 rebounds while Olivia Dunigan added 4 boards, 3 steals, and took a thunderous charge in the second half. In addition to the team's success during the tournament, three players were also honored by the opposing coaches and were selected to the All-Tournament team. They were JJ Sawchuk, Samantha Panitch, and Kelsey O'Connor. Congratulations girls.