Steeleville girls look to build on last year's success

Posted November 15, 2015 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

With a new coach in John Antonacci and new expectations, the Steeleville High School girls basketball team will open its season tonight with the round-robin Du Quoin Lady Indian Tip-Off Classic.

Steeleville had a magical season in practically every way last season, advancing to the Class 1A Elite Eight in only the program's sixth year of existence.

The Lady Warriors finished 1-4 at the Tip-Off Classic last year and were 5-9 at the midseason Christmas break.

"I feel like there's a little bit of expectation with this and that's good," Antonacci said. "I'd rather have expectations than not and the girls know they did something special last year."

Antonacci replaces Brad Copelin, who left to teach at O'Fallon Township High School - his alma mater - after a season in which the Lady Warriors won their first regional and sectional titles in program history.

Copelin was later named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Class 1A Coach of the Year.

"I think these girls have the ability to do what they did last year and better as long as they stay motivated and work hard," Antonacci said. "We'll keep them motivated and hopefully, the ball falls our way each night."

Steeleville graduated just two seniors in Allanah Renner and Lindsay Hammel from a 14-16 season. The loss of the 6-foot Renner, who was the team's leading rebounder in her only season with the Warriors, will be hard to replace.

"We're looking to do it by committee a little bit," Antonacci said of rebounding. "If we find a good fit, we'll stick with that, other than that, it will be by committee."

Mackenzie Pim came into her own in the postseason as a freshman last season, scoring 22 points in Steeleville's 61-58 win over Cairo in the Gallatin County Sectional championship.

Now a sophomore, Steeleville is hoping Pim can extend that kind of performance to a full season.

"If I ask her to do something, in the context of the game, it will be done to the best of her ability," Antonacci said of Pim. "She'll go out and do whatever it takes to win."

Defensively, Antonacci said he expects the Lady Warriors to be disciplined.

"There's still a couple of things we need to work on, but overall, I feel pretty positive with where we're at right now," he said.

As the new coach, Antonacci - who taught mathematics and coached girls soccer at Hillsboro High School before he was hired at Steeleville - was asked if he felt he needed to put his stamp on the program right away or transition toward the vision he has for the Lady Warriors.

"They had a lot of success with what they did last year, so we're going to look for what works and whatever works, we'll stick with this year," he said.

At Du Quoin, Steeleville faces the host Indians at 8 p.m. tonight and will take on Murphysboro at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Steeleville will take on Johnston City at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The Lady Warriors will wrap up the Classic with two games on Saturday - at 11:30 a.m. against Woodlawn and 4 p.m. against Elverado.

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