Girls Basketball notes: Kate Gross takes confidence from added responsibilities, leads 18-2 Downers Grove North

Kate Gross was asked by necessity to take on the challenge of added responsibilities last season for Downers Grove North.

It translated to a more confident player.

Gross, a senior guard, was first called up to varsity her freshman year. As a sophomore, alongside older sister Ellie, Gross was mostly counted on as a shooter and defender for a Trojans’ team that reached a Class 4A sectional final in 2020. With injuries last spring, Gross was pushed into a primary ball handling role.

“Which I think led her to be comfortable with the ball in her hands,” Trojans coach Stephan Bolt said. “She stepped up her game, and has added to it. Instead of just being a standstill shooter she can get to the basket, she can shoot a pull-up. She’s still a great standstill shooter but there are layers to her game.”

That expanded game has helped Downers Grove North continue to emerge as one of the area’s best teams.

Gross is part of a senior-laden Trojans’ team that is 18-2 and has lost just one game, by two points to Lyons, since the season’s first week. Downers Grove North was shut down for 10 days right after Christmas because of COVID protocols, but came right back last week with wins over Metea Valley, Glenbard West and York.

Gross scored 22 points in the win over Glenbard West, and had a career-high 27 in a 43-42 overtime win over York.

“I feel good, excited to keep it rolling, building on what we did before the break,” said Gross, who is averaging a team-best 13.1 points per game and has made 51 3-pointers at an impressive 42.5% clip. “It was a hard transition, hard to get back in the swing of things [after the pause], it takes a few practices to get that feeling back. Now we’re hitting the ground running.”

Gross said it was a big learning experience playing for the sectional final team as a sophomore. It was likewise a big transition going into junior year without her sister and getting in a groove during a COVID-shortened season – with new responsibilities.

“I was a little nervous at the start. My sophomore year my sister was our point guard, so when we were in situations with full court pressure we would just get the ball to Ellie and get out of the way,” Gross said. “Going into my junior year and senior year I was asked to do more ball handling. It was a daunting challenge, but it made me more confident, learning that role going from wing to guard. It has helped my game overall.”

It shouldn’t surprise that a girl who grew up around the game could make the transition.

Kate’s dad, Steve Gross, was head coach at Hinsdale Central from 1994-2008, and coached the Red Devils to the 2002 Class AA state title. He was also an assistant on Glenbard South’s state teams in 2018 and 2019.

Kate Gross recalled her dad taking Ellie and Kate to the YMCA on Sunday mornings when she was five or six years old.

“Those memories of being around the gym, going to his games, being around his players, it introduced me to the love of the sport and the team aspect of it,” Gross said. “That is my favorite thing about basketball.”

Bolt said that Gross possesses the high basketball IQ of a coach’s kid, which is contagious on a veteran group.

“She sees the ball well on both sides; you love when you have kids who can see the play ahead,” Bolt said. “She’s able to do that on both ends of the floor, and that trickles to other players. That senior group has been playing together for a long time. It helps to have all of them on the same page.”

The Trojans will get tested in the weeks ahead before the postseason. Downers Grove North has challenging non-conference games remaining with Sandburg, Stevenson, Batavia and Naperville North, and a rematch with Lyons Feb. 4.

“It was on purpose, to ramp up the schedule,” Bolt said. “I would much rather have it that way than dial it down and give you a false sense of security of where you are.”

Montini’s huge comeback at McAuley

Montini had a second-half comeback at Nazareth last week run out of gas.

The Lady Broncos finished two nights later.

Montini, trailing Mother McAuley by 11 points with four minutes left, scored the game’s final 16 minutes for a memorable 46-41 win. Victoria Matulevicius scored 17 points and Sawyer White 13 for Montini, which sealed the win with clutch free throw shooting late.

“So happy for the girls. They really came together in that last quarter,” Montini coach Shannon Spanos said. “You could just tell that they were not going to quit. That has been our philosophy all year. We just chipped away and chipped away and got that momentum. I just knew we weren’t going to lose. It was exciting. Mother McAuley is a good team and a good program.”

Montini kept the momentum going Monday. White, who earlier in the day announced her commitment to Illinois Wesleyan for basketball and soccer, had 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals in a 56-43 win over Providence.

“That was a breakout game for her and shows what a threat she can be,” Spanos said.

Montini hosts Fenwick Thursday, then plays Oak Forest at the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest on Saturday afternoon, also at Montini.

Montini Alumni Night

Montini will host its first annual ‘Alumni Night’ on Thursday, with a reception scheduled for 6 p.m. followed by the Lady Broncos’ game with Fenwick at 7 p.m.

Spanos said that with this being the 50th year of Title IX, it got her thinking about the “wonderful women that started the whole thing.” Her sister, Jennifer Herold Thompson, was part of Montini girls basketball’s first state team, back in 1989. Spanos herself is a 1999 Montini graduate and a former four-year varsity player.

“Those memories of the 1989 team are ingrained in me and started my love for the sport and the program,” Spanos said. “I wanted to recognize the women that have come before us.”

Spanos credited Montini’s new Alumni Relations Director Katie Hubeny for spearheading the effort to get alumni back to the school. Some 15 women are expected to return to Montini for the event, including twin sisters Tammy and Julie Kocher and Spanos’ sister from the 1989 team.

“It’s so nice to celebrate the people who have laid the groundwork and the opportunities we have now, women in coaching and leadership,” Spanos said. “It’s something we strive to see. I want to pay it forward.”

Joshua  Welge

Joshua Welge

I am the Sports Editor for Kendall County Newspapers, the Kane County Chronicle and Suburban Life Media, covering primarily sports in Kendall, Kane, DuPage and western Cook counties. I've been covering high school sports for 24 years. I also assist with our news coverage.