Herald-News Girls Basketball Notebook: Coal City’s Brad Schmitt notches 300th win; Minooka and Morris powering up

A milestone was reached last week in Coal City’s 53-21 Illinois Central Eight Conference win over Streator.

Not only did the Coalers move to 8-1 on the season and 3-1 in the ICE, but it also was coach Brad Schmitt’s 300th career victory.

A football and basketball standout during his playing days at Coal City, Schmitt currently is in his 20th season at the Coalers’ helm. Schmitt has not only had success as a basketball coach, he also posted 175 wins, a third-place finish and a state championship during an eight-year stretch as Coal City’s softball coach.

Coaching is in Schmitt’s blood. He took over as head basketball coach for his father, Bob, who won 157 games in 16 seasons. Bob Schmitt also won 87 games in six years as Coal City’s baseball coach.

Fast starts

Coal City is not the only area team to start quickly this season.

Bolingbrook, which finished third in Class 4A last season, won its first nine games of the season against in-state competition before traveling to Michigan over the weekend, where it beat Westfield Prep.

Peotone also is out to a 9-0 start and handed Coal City its only loss.

Lincoln-Way West won its first eight games before a loss to powerful Homewood-Flossmoor, while Plainfield North has started 8-1 – only losing to St. Ignatius - and Seneca owns an 8-2 mark heading into Monday’s game against Ottawa. Although it lost last season’s Herald-News Player of the Year Lisa Thompson to transfer, Joliet West has proven they are more than a one-woman show with a 6-3 start under their belts.

Up-and-comers

Minooka started the season slowly, going 0-4 in the WJOL Tournament. The Indians then won two straight and have shown improvement about every time out. A promising sign for Minooka is the sight of 6-foot-3 Bolingbrook transfer Tahj-Monet Bloom in uniform as she continues to rehab from an injury. As one of the top-rated junior power forwards in the state, Bloom making her appearance in the Minooka lineup could make the Indians a scary team to play in the second half of the season when she joins the likes of Kennedi Brass, Makenzie Brass, Kylie Loomis and 5-11 freshman Madelyn Kiper.

Morris finished last season with six wins and already has equaled that total. Continued improvement from returning players as well as the arrival of talented freshman Landrie Callahan has the future of Morris girls basketball trending upward.

Scoring machines

Earlier in the season, Providence Catholic’s Annalies Pietrzyk scored her 1,000th career point during a 27-point outburst against Minooka. This week, Pietrzyk scored 27 again, this time in a win over St. Laurence. For the season, the Hillsdale College commit is averaging just more than 20 points a game.

Lincoln-Way Central’s Azya Newson-Cole, an IUPUI commit, scored 25 in a win over Lockport and posted 16 in a thrilling overtime win over district rival Lincoln-Way East. The do-it-all guard averages just under 20 points a game.

Plainfield North’s Lexi Salazar, an American University commit, is heating up, having scored 24 and 25 points in her past two games.