Red Devil basketball teams and girls gymnastic team planning to give it their all
At this point in December, the winter sports season is underway for all Hinsdale Central teams.
In this, the third of three season previews, readers learn from coaches about the boys and girls basketball team and girls gymnastics team.
Boys basketball
First game: Nov. 25 @ Hoops 4 Healing (V beat Naperville Central (65-55)
Last year: 15-16
Head coach: Nick Latorre
Seasons as head coach: 15th at Central, 23rd overall
No. varsity team members: 21
Strengths: We have good experience back from last year, and I think we have a nice mix of position guys. We match well. We have a couple of perimeter guys, a good point guard and some bigs.
Challenges: It's kind of figuring out what everyone's role will be in terms of scoring, in terms of defending, in terms of sharing the ball. So right now we're kind of feeling our way out. It's going to be a different guy every night because we do have a lot of depth, we do have a lot of talent. One of the challenges is that guys need to understand our unselfish play will be the difference between our success and not. I think the guys put a lot of pressure on themselves, too. I hope we settle in and start playing freely, just playing the game and having fun doing it.
Who to watch: Vincas Buzelis, he's got a scholarship to South Dakota. He's been our leading scorer, and he's a tremendous athlete, great defender, very versatile. We've got five, six other guys that are all capable. Tyler Thick is coming back for his third year on varsity. Dillon Orozco played significant minutes last year. Eric Kozys played a significant role and played big minutes last year. Michael Howell in the second half of last season really played a lot of minutes and ended up starting in our regional games.
Outlook: I'm hoping that we improve as the season goes on and play at our highest level. That's always the goal. We're going to take one possession at a time.
Furthermore: We're really looking forward to the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. We had our bracket meeting on Sunday and it's truly a cool group of coaches. We've got 15 teams from 16 different conferences. Joe Spagnolo is the driving force behind the holiday classic. It's really grown into one of the premier events in Chicagoland and it's because of him.
Girls basketball
First game: Nov. 19 vs. Glenbard East (V won 54-32)
Last year: 11-20
Head coach: Brett Moore
Seasons as head coach: first at Central, assistant boys varsity coach at Central last year, seven years as head boys varsity coach at Hinsdale South
No. team members: 13
Strengths: I would say they're willing to learn a brand-new style of basketball. We have a system that defensively is way different than anything they've ever done. We play a defense called the ball thrust. It's not really a zone, it's not really a man. From day one of us putting it in this summer, you can see the light bulbs going off. The girls love it. There's a brand new energy to our program. It fits our multi-sport athletes. It's brand new to me. It's brand new to them. The girls have really bought into it at every level and it's been a great way to start the program.
Challenges: I think the No. 1 challenge is we're going to lose some basketball games here and there. We've already played the top two teams in the state and competed for a couple of quarters. The challenge is not letting mistakes snowball. We've gotten better and better at that since the summer. The mentality of 'We can get back in any game, we can play with anybody' - that's the mentality we're trying to build up. Luckily we have a lot of great leaders on the team who say we need a change, we need a new attitude. They want to have a good program. It's player-led, which is going to be a huge plus for us.
Who to watch: Grace Dolan, she is a four-year varsity player that has been phenomenal for us this season in offense and defense. She's been averaging 13 points a game and has been invaluable to us. Her leadership and aggressiveness is helping set the tone for our entire team. Katherine Skinner is a third-year varsity starter. She had a devastating injury in the fall where she really tore up her ankle really bad. I don't think anybody could put as much into rehab to get on the court as soon as possible. She's played in five of our six games. She knows the level you have to compete at to win these basketball games. Julia Sherpitis is kind of our do-everything player right now. She plays the hardest position on defense, is playing our point guard position on offense. She is averaging one turnover a game, which is almost impossible to do in girls basketball. Julia has really allowed us to have a great start to the season.
Outlook: I think we have a chance to kind of flip the seasons that they've had the last couple of years. We've gotten off to a great start. We're 4-2. The two team we've lost to are two of the top teams in the state of Illinois. I think we're just going to keep getting better and better throughout the season. We're playing in a 16-team holiday tournament. We just got the 4 seed. Some people have definitely noticed this is a new Hinsdale Central basketball team. This is my first year coaching varsity girls basketball. I'm figuring out things we need to do to be competitive at different levels and the girls are doing the same. If they keep buying in, which I know they will, we have the chance to have a special season.
Girls gymnastics
First meet: Nov. 27 @ Hinsdale South Invite (V placed 5th)
Last year: 0-4 conference meets
Head coach: Kim Estoque
Seasons as head coach: 20
No. team members: 9
Strengths: They're just all really nice girls and they like to work hard.
Challenges: We lost a couple of our better kids from varsity last year from graduation. This year we had to move kids up from JV.
Who to watch: I would say Erica Driscoll. She does all-around. She's a senior. I think she's our best kids on two to three events right now. Lane Inabnit, she does beam and floor. The last couple of meets she has been our top person on beam and floor.
Outlook: I think we're going to have a tough year. I want to have a good time. If we can increase our score each meet and do better each meet, that's all I'm asking.
