Looking back at 50 years of Princeton High School girls basketball

All Theresa Romagnoli wanted to do was to play basketball in high school and she didn’t let any one, including boys, get in her way.

“I remember my first date, this young man asked me out on a date and he said, ‘Oh, let’s go play a game of H-O-R-S-E.’ Well, I whooped his butt,” she said. “The next day he canceled the date. Mom said, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t have done that.’ I said, “Well, I don’t like to lose.’”

Romagnoli, now Theresa Kostello, came up just in time to take part in the first season of girls basketball at Princeton High School.

Princeton was one of the first high schools in northern Illinois to institute girls basketball following the passing of Title IX on June 23, 1972.

Following the launch of volleyball in the fall of 1973, PHS fielded its first girls basketball team in 1973-74. Nine girls came out for the first team under the direction of coach Julie Nagle, who also was the first volleyball coach.

Team members of the first PHS girls hoops team were Cheryl Martin, Janice Storm, Diana Cathelyn, Anita Kelly, Diane Heaton, Rebecca Norton, Deb Lowdermilk, Joan Velon and Romagnoli.

“We were just elated when they finally got it rolling,” Kostello said. “We had a good coach. Julie Nagle. She was young, just out of college. But she knew her stuff. She put us through the paces, I’ll give her that. She made us practice every day. A lot of what you see going on now.”

The Tigresses went 6-3 in their first season on the hardwood, but slipped to 0-8 the next.

Even though the girls got to play, it didn’t mean everybody liked it, Kostello said.

“There was a still a lot of prejudice against girls athletes. You wouldn’t think it, oh but there was,” she said. “But that didn’t stop me playing basketball. I loved sports.”

Kostello’s senior prophecy said she would become the first female player for the New York Knicks. While she didn’t make that prophecy come true, her niece, Tiah Romagnoli, became the best player in program history and all-time leading scorer, girls or boys.

Over the years

Princeton has been known as a volleyball school and for good reason with one state championship, 19 regionals, 11 sectionals and four state qualifiers.

That success has not translated to girls basketball, however.

There have been a lot of lean years with just 14 winning seasons, including this year’s 20-9 campaign, one .500 season and 35 losing seasons.

The Princeton girls won their first regional under coach Dale Hanson in 1979-80, finishing 9-10, and had their first winning season in 1981-82 (11-9) for first-year coach Brian Church. They added their first win at the sectional level in 1985-86.

Over the years, the Princeton girls have won seven regionals and one sectional, advancing as far as the Sweet 16 (Class A supersectional) in 2006-07. Their last regional came that season.

All told, based on records available from BCR files and PHS yearbooks, the Princeton girls program stands 494-715 (.409), boosted by the recent upswing of 68-16 (.810) over the past three years.

Best teams

John Smith took over as head coach in 1984-85 on the heels of a 1-21 campaign and promptly guided the Tigresses to their first regional championship, going 11-13.

“To inherit the team that I had and do what we did was impressive,” Smith said. “I said to one parent, could you have ever imagined us winning the regional? I said, ‘No way.’”

The Tigresses liked it so much, they followed up with two more regional championships in a row, including a 20-6 campaign in 1986-87, and a fourth in 1990-91 (10-15).

“To win the three, have an off year or two, and come back in ‘91 and win it with that group, that was special,” Smith said.

The 2005-06 Tigresses of John Garvin won the first regional championship in 15 years on their home court, blasting Mendota 47-25. They lost to the Katie Carls-led St. Bede team in the sectional semifinals at Mendota 64-53, finishing 21-8.

Spencer Davis took over as head coach the next year after Garvin retired with much of the same cast intact and took it two steps farther. The Tigresses played their way to PHS’ first and only sectional championship and a berth in the Class A Sweet 16 in the two-class system behind BCR co-Players of the Years Brooke Jensen and Austyn Miller.

The Tigresses beat Mendota (38-23) and Indian Creek (61-39) for the regional championship at Earlville and beat Hall (38-32) and HBR (47-37) for the sectional championship at Seneca.

In the Class A Monmouth Supersectional, PHS ran into a red-hot Whitney Rumbold (27 points) of Stark County, who shot the Rebels to a 54-40 win over the Tigresses.

Davis said his team was driven for success.

“They played hard every game. Got better each week. They didn’t like to lose,” Davis said. “We got beat bad by a good IVC team in the (St. Bede) Christmas tourney and a week later we beat them bad. We didn’t take losing well. Had a bunch of great girls.”

The Tigresses finished 24-7, a single-season school record for wins which stood for 16 years. They are the last PHS team to land postseason hardware.

The 2022-23 team coached by Darcy Kepner won the most games in program history, finishing 27-5. Kepner’s 21-2 squad in 2021-22 has the best winning percentage at .913.

There have been six 20-win teams, including this year’s 20-9 edition. Others came in 1986-87 (20-6), 2005-06 (21-8), 2006-07 (24-7), 2021-22 (21-2) and 2022-23 (27-5).

Fun facts about PHS girls basketball

* Played Ottawa (38-29 loss) in its first game in 1973-74

* Beat LaSalle-Peru 34-26 for its first win in 1973-74

* Beat rival Hall 53-41 at the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls, on Jan. 13, 2007

* John Smith served the longest of any PHS girls coach with a 10-year tenure from 1984-1994. He’s also the winningest coach with 88 wins

* There have been no fewer than 17 head coaches for PHS girls basketball

* The 2022-23 team coached by Darcy Kepner set a single-season record with most wins (27-5)

* The PHS girls have won seven regionals and one sectional

* Tiah Romagnoli is the all-time leading scorer with 1,506 points

* The Tigresses will notch their 500th all-time win with their sixth win next season

Coming up: A look at the year by year records