Jean Peronto was thrilled when, as a sophomore two years ago, she played on the York girls` basketball team that won the Class AA state championship. It is a memory she will not forget.
”It was probably the most exciting thing I`ve ever experienced, as far as basketball,” she says. ”It`s been the highlight of my career.”
The lowlight might have come last season, when York lost to Addison Trail in the regional final. It was the first time the Dukes had failed to win a regional title in the last six years.
Expectations after the state championship season had soared, perhaps unrealistically.
”It was very difficult because we felt like everyone expected us to win,” says Peronto, a 5-foot-7-inch senior. ”The year before, no one expected us to win. We were always the underdog and everyone rooted for us. Last year, we weren`t the underdog anymore. We were the defending state champion.”
”People thought we`d go all the way again, which was fine, because I felt that way, too,” says Lisa Rath, a 6-0 senior center.
”When you go into the regional, you expect to win, because we always have won regionals,” Peronto says. ”It was almost embarrassing for us to lose in the regional.”
The salvation for Peronto and Rath was they knew they had another shot to make amends. They and the rest of their teammates are making the most of it. York (17-3, 9-0 in the West Suburban Conference) defeated Glenbard West 47-42 Friday. The Dukes are ranked No. 8 by The Tribune.
Expectations are still high but tempered. Peronto speaks of a more relaxed atmosphere, of ”not having that hang over us.”
”We didn`t do too well under that pressure last year,” says Peronto, who missed the second half of the season with a broken right ankle. Her first game back was the regional final defeat. ”Last year, everyone would come up and say, `You`re going Downstate, right?` And you`d say, `Right.` This year, when they ask, you say, `You never know.`
”What they didn`t understand last year was the players who brought us Downstate were gone.”
The state championship team produced three players–Kathy Flanagan
(Bradley), Pam Fiene (Nebraska) and Laurie Hudgens (Kentucky)–who earned scholarships to Division I schools. Last year`s team was led by all-state forward Rae Ellen Real.
Hudgens is the daughter of York coach Don Hudgens, who took over for Val Cothern after she retired following the state championship season.
”Pressure is something you put on yourself,” Don Hudgens says. ”I`m sure some of them think about it (last season`s regional loss). We told them we can`t do anything about that. That`s behind us. It`s what we do tomorrow.
”We told the kids last year that we`re a different team, we`re not the same team as the year before. We tell them, `If it happened to them, it can happen to you. But you have to work to make it happen.` ”
This year`s team has only three seniors. The third is Liz Allison, a 5-5 guard who comes off the bench. The other starters are junior forwards Natalie Perrino (5-11) and Michele Cleeton (5-9) and 5-7 freshman guard Amy Stock.
”This is probably the best balanced York team I`ve been associated with,” Hudgens says. ”There have been some with better individual talent. Obviously, the state championship team did. We don`t have a Laurie or a Kathleen, but we do have talent inside. We may not have the speed of a Pam Fiene, but we have other things Jean does.”
