Girls Basketball: Hawks savor sixth regional title in seven years

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Skokie-Regan Carmichael Maine South drives the lane. the Girls basketball regional final: Maine South vs. Niles North. | Joe Cyganowski ~ For Sun Times Media

Updated: March 24, 2012 8:32AM

Mark Smith does not teach history at Maine South.

But the Hawks coach knows to learn from the past, which is why Smith told his players to enjoy all the steps they take this season.

From the in-season tournament titles to last week’s regional championship, Smith wants the Hawks to appreciate all the successes.

After all, nothing is guaranteed.

“We are enjoying the moment,” Smith said.

Jacqui Grant is one player who is on board with it.

“Not everybody gets to win a regional,” said the 6-foot-3 junior, who’s captured regional titles in all three of her seasons, after the Hawks (25-6) beat Niles North 64-44 in Skokie. “It’s one more step, one more chapter in our story of two amazing years.

“Hopefully, we can go even farther than last year. Hopefully, we can grow because we have a year more experience. We want to put in our all and do what we did last year.”

Last year is when the Hawks surprised a lot of people by taking third place in the state after beating Young.

Despite returning all five starters and the two best bench players, Smith cautioned the Hawks against looking too far ahead.

The coach points to the 2006-07 club. Four starters were back from a team that finished fourth in the state, but the Hawks didn’t win so much as a sectional title the following season.

“It could have been really dangerous at the start of the season to create one team goal,” Smith said. “Then, if you fall short, you look at the entire season as a failure. We don’t fear high expectations, but it is really special and rare to take a team Downstate. There’s so much that goes into it.”

One of those factors is remaining healthy, and Maine South got a scare when Grant went down late in the fourth quarter of the regional final with an ankle injury.

Grant, one of the top juniors in the state, was on crutches as the Hawks cut down the nets at Niles North. She scored a team-best 23 points in the win despite sitting out the final three minutes.

Smith, who was at Evanston on Friday watching Loyola beat the Wildkits, said Grant still couldn’t do much Friday.

“There’s been no bearing weight on it,” the coach said.

But Smith said the Hawks are bigger than one player. He looked back to the 2008 state playoffs when the team lost Michelle Tourtillott to an injury. The Hawks still found a way to capture a sectional championship by beating second-seeded Von Steuben.

“Our system is strong enough to play without any one person,” said Smith, who’s looking for his fourth sectional title since 2006.

Maine South grabbed the early advantage against Niles North and never let go.

The Hawks led by 10 at the half and by as many as 17 in the third quarter. They then went 9-for-13 on free throws in the fourth to prevent the Vikings from rallying. Maine South only turned over the ball seven times in the game.

“We knew it would be a tough game,” said Michelle Maher, who scored 12 points. “But as long as we played our game and focused on the details we would be fine.”