Bugle Newspapers 12-3-20

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spoRts

locals show up all over d-i basketball rosters

By MaRK gRegoRy editorial director

@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com With the high school sports seasons still suspended in Illinois and the poor play from the Bulls and Bears and abbreviated college football seasons, there has not been much for local fans to cheer about.

Welcome college basketball.

Locally, Joliet Jr. College, the University of St. Francis and Lewis University all have area athletes on the men’s and women’s basketball rosters.

There are also a plethora of local talents playing across the nation at the Division-I level.

Patrolling the sidelines at the University of Illinois-Chicago is former Joliet West head coach Luke Yaklich.

In just seven seasons since he left the Tigers bench, Yaklich spent four years as an assistant at his alma mater Illinois State University, a pair of seasons at the University of Michigan under John Beilein, where he helped the Wolverines to a pair of 30-win seasons, two Sweet 16 appearances and the 2018 National Championship Game.

Last season, Yaklich coached under Shaka Smart at the University of Texas where the Longhorns finished third in the Big XII finish and an appearance in the NCAA tournament, prior to its cancellation due to COVID-19.

“Those seven years have gone by fast and the high school experiences at Joliet, LaSalle-Peru and Sterling really helped me adjust and be comfortable on the sideline with who I am as a coach,” Yaklich said.

“Then the seven years I had to learn from three great coaches was very rewarding.”

Yaklich led the Flames to a pair of wins over Mid American Conference teams to open the season, defeating Northern Illinois University 65-61 after trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half for Yaklich’s first collegiate win. The Flames then defeated Central Michigan 74-72.

“We have a lot of moving parts that are trying to fit well together and a coach that is trying to make it all fit,” Yaklich said. “This is an unprecedented time and these kids are in an unprecedented situation and we are together for the first time. So the more we have situations in close games that we can learn from, it will pay dividends down the road.”

While there are several new players to the UIC team along with a new head coach, not all of the faces

are new to Yaklich.

The most familiar face is his son, Griffin, who Joliet West fans may remember in the layup line or handing out water at time outs.

Griffin is now a 6-foot, 5-inch freshman guard for the Flames after choosing to play for his dad among other D-I and D-II offers.

At Saline High School in Michigan, he averaged 15 points, nine rebounds and led the Ann Arbor area with seven assists per game to help Saline finish the season at 13-9.

“To walk through the doors and see your son is a blessing. I never take that for granted. We had to spend his senior year away from each other because I was at Texas, he was in Michigan and there are days that I get emotional walking through the door and seeing him because that doesn’t happen all the time and I am thankful for this opportunity,” Luke Yaklich said.

Griffin is not the only player on the Flames to call Joliet home.

Teyvion Kirk transferred to UIC from Colorado State University, where he actually never played a game.

Kirk spent his first two college seasons at Ohio University before sitting out a year in the transfer portal.

In his two seasons at Ohio, Kirk started in all 62 games for the Bobcats, averaging 14.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

The 6-4 point guard scored in double figures in 27-of-31 games as a sophomore, including three games of 20 or more points.

As a freshman, Kirk was named to the All-MAC Freshman Team after leading the team and ranking 12th in the conference in scoring at 15.3 points per contest.

“I looked at my options and it was honestly perfect timing, almost destiny, when I was in the process, I saw Coach Yak got the job and we knew each other previously and I knew how great of a coach and person he was and it was an off I just couldn’t pass up,” Kirk said.

While he never played for Yaklich at Joliet West, he was familiar with him from his days in Joliet.

“My seventh and eighth grade year I went to Dirksen Jr. High and we had a big tournament at Joliet West and I had some older guys that mentored me growing that went to West, so I would go watch them play, so I had a relationship with coach Yak in junior high,” Kirk said.

“College basketball can be a tricky game and there can be a lot of poli-

phOTO COuRTEsY Of uIC AThLETICs

Former Joliet West standout teyvion Kirk is in his first season at uiC after starting his career at ohio university. tics and business and coming into a situation and knowing him personally and being comfortable with him made me comfortable and I knew I could trust coach.”

It is not only Yaklich that is helping Kirk grow his game as a top tier point guard as Yaklich retained for-

mer University of Illinois star and ex-NBA player Dee Brown from the previous regime.

“Coach Dee Brown is a Hall of Famer but he never acts like it,” Kirk said. “He is one of the most humble guys that I have ever met that played in the NBA. He has such a great leg-

acy. Having someone that has been where you want to go and someone with the knowledge is amazing. He is hard on me and he is brutally honest with me. He is not going to tell

see ‘d-i’ page 11

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state

lawmakers seek additional hearings into lasalle Veterans’ home outbreak By saRah MansuR Capital news illinois

Republican lawmakers on Monday renewed calls for a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing into the cause of a coronavirus outbreak at the state-run veterans home in LaSalle where about 20 percent of the residents have died of COVID-19 related illnesses.

Reps. Randy Frese, R-Paloma, David Welter, R-Morris, and Dan Swanson, R-Alpha, held a virtual news conference Monday morning during which they demanded House members be included in a future hearing about the LaSalle Veterans’ Home outbreak.

The Illinois House Republicans’ news conference comes about a

week after the state Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing into the outbreak that began on Nov. 1, and resulted in the deaths of at least 28 residents. There are 100 residents currently at the home.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, the veterans home has reported a total of 106 residents and 96 employees testing positive with COVID-19. As of Friday, 38 residents and 76 staff had recovered from the virus.

Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, a member of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, and Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, whose district includes the LaSalle home, also called for the next hearing into the LaSalle facility to be scheduled soon.

On Monday, Schimpf and Rezin sent a letter to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Tom Cullerton, DVilla Park, requesting he “set the next hearing date within the next few weeks.”

Cullerton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Linda Chapa LaVia announced the acting inspector general from the Illinois Department of Human Services would conduct an independent investigation into the LaSalle outbreak.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he supported the independent investigation during his daily news conference Monday.

“If there’s any failure of procedure or wrongdoing, then that should be brought to the forefront and people should be held accountable,” Pritzker said.

The IDVA also released two reports last week from two separate on-site visits at the LaSalle home — the first conducted by an official from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Nov. 12, and the other by an official from the Illinois Department of Public Health on Nov. 17.

The visit reports found issues that required immediate change, including replacing all non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers with alcohol-based sanitizers, performing COVID-19 tests for residents and staff twice weekly rather than once per week, and requiring staff to follow strict personal protective equipment guidelines.

The U.S. VA official’s report found specific examples of staff violating PPE protocols, such as staff wearing masks below their chins. That report also noted that staff who eventually tested positive had attended a Halloween party.

When Chapa LaVia was asked about the staff attending a Halloween party during last week’s hearing, she said that could not be substantiated and the information was based on “word of mouth.”

During last week’s hearing, IDVA Chief of Staff Anthony Kolbeck revealed that five employees at LaSalle continued to work at the home after being notified they tested positive, although they worked with resi-

dents who also already had tested positive.

Members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, including Frese and Swanson, initially requested a hearing into the COVID-19 outbreak at LaSalle on Nov. 10, through a letter sent to Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, who chairs the committee.

According to Frese, members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee should have been allowed to participate in the Senate committee’s hearing last week but were not invited.

“We ask, at the very least, that we be part of the Senate hearing that may be coming up to follow up the one that was held last Monday,” Frese said.

While the Senate has approved procedures for conducting virtual hearings, the House has not. This means any House committee meeting must take place in-person at the Capitol, which the General Assembly has avoided due to the ongoing pandemic.

Welter, whose district includes the LaSalle Veterans Home, said members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee need a hearing “to find out what protocols were missed, what were dropped, and if there was additional help that they asked from the state that may not have been received.”

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dupage County

dupage County approves Fiscal year 2021 Budget The DuPage County Board on Tuesday approved its Fiscal Year 2021 budget, which includes a balanced, $483.3 million spending plan.

The FY 2021 spending plan increased funding for public safety.

The State’s Attorney’s Office received additional allocations to support for three special prosecution units and increased resources for investigations and trial preparation.

The Sheriff’s Office will receive funding for ongoing training programs focusing on de-escalation techniques and policing in a diverse society.

The County will also continue the fight against COVID-19 using federal funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The County has set aside $16.8 million to support public health initiatives including DuPage County Health

Department COVID testing sites, contact tracing, purchases of personal protective equipment, and preparations for a mass vaccination program.

“From the outset, public safety and public health have been my highest priority for this budget, and we are focused on our commitment to keep our residents safe,” said Chairman Dan Cronin.

The total budget for DuPage County is $483.3 million, with a

General Revenue Fund of $179.4 million and a $69 million property tax levy, which represents a slight increase to capture new construction in the county being added to the property tax rolls.

The property tax rate remains flat and the average DuPage County homeowner will not see an increase in their property tax bill.

“Since the pandemic began, we worked to keep our costs low and trim expenses to put the County

in a financially advantageous position. This was not an easy budget to create, but thanks to our conservative fiscal approach, we’re able to balance the budget without further burdening our residents,” Cronin said.

The 2021 Fiscal Year begins on Dec. 1, 2020. DuPage County is AAA bond rated. The County’s latest reported unemployment rate was 8.2 percent for the month of September.

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Will County

troy Cronin adds two large preschool classrooms A remodeling project at Troy Cronin Elementary School recently opened up two new classrooms for the district’s preschool students.

Troy needed more space for its youngest students, with a growing student population, and Troy Shorewood Elementary School saw the need for more elementaryage classroom space. Preschool students formerly housed at Troy Shorewood were moved to the Troy Cronin rooms.

The classrooms opened October 19. Pamela Maxey, Troy’s Director of Early Childhood Education, said they are functioning wonderfully.

“These two classrooms offered us the opportunity to centralize students at Troy Cronin,” Maxey said, “and it’s given our staff accessibility to collaborate as a preschool team.”

The new space also will allow more students with specialized educational needs to attend as the school year progresses. Each classroom will house 20 students during a normal school year, although fewer during this period of

Covid-19 regulations.

The larger of the two classrooms implements Troy’s state grantfunded full-day preschool program. The teacher is Laura Flynn, who set up the room in pods, allowing each child to have a 6 x 6-foot area of their own. Siblings share a larger space. Each pod includes a table, chair, shelving, and bins for students’ materials and personal items.

Kelly Forney teaches the students in the smaller classroom, which allows for more students with specialized educational needs to have the option of in-person learning.

Each classroom additionally has two bathrooms, a workstation sink, a drinking fountain and water bottle station, and large windows for natural light.

The large square footage of each room provides ample space for social distancing.

There is also a separate room in the remodeled space that is designed to be used by the preschool EL (English language) teacher and

instructional coach, for preschool assessment, and for parent meetings and other uses The space used for the classrooms previously housed Troy’s Technology Department and gym

storage. Cabinets and sinks were saved and used in the newly remodeled space.

Maxey said she and her staff are grateful for the support of the Troy 30-C Board of Education for pro-

viding the new learning space for Troy’s youngest learners.

The district also has preschool classrooms located at Troy Heritage Trail and Troy Craughwell Elementary Schools.

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Legal Notices

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W e d n es day, DEC E M B E R 2 , 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 11 ‘D-I’ from page 2 me what I want to hear but what OI need to hear and that goes a long way with me.”

In the win over NIU in his first game with the Flames, Kirk faced off against a pair of former high school foes in Huskie guards Tyler Cochran and Kaleb Thornton — both from Bolingbrook.

Cochran is a sophomore for NIU and last season as a freshman, he appeared in all 31 games, making one start. He averaged 5.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while recording 21 steals, 20 assists and eight blocks.

“My role this year will be whatever coach wants of me,” Cochran said. “Coming off the bench, starting, playing defense or scoring — everybody feeds off each other.”

Thornton also comes to NIU as a sophomore, playing last season Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa where he averaged 10.8 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

Thornton said despite the outcome, he was happy to have his first D-I game under his belt.

“It was a great experience. It is something that as a kid playing basketball and someone who work as hard as I do, you dream of doing.

It was a dream come true despite not having the outcome I was looking for. All I want to do is help this team win, coming off the bench or not playing and bringing energy,” Thornton said. “Tyler has made the transition easier. Having someone I played with for two years in high school, a great person, great teammate and someone I consider a brother made the transition easier and helped in my decision to come here.”

Yaklich, Kirk, Cochran and Thornton are only a few of the many local players on Division-I rosters this season.

BENET ACADEMY

Kendall Holmes is a 5-11 guard for DePaul University.

Ashley Konkle is a sophomore at Western Michigan University.

Last season, she played in 13 games for a total of 110 minutes. She averaged 3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Jason Malonga is a senior on the DePaul University roster. The Bolingbrook native joined the program as a non-scholarship player in September 2017.

He is a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and two-time NABC Honors Court honoree.

Last season he played in five games and scored two points with two rebounds against Chicago.

Tsimba Malonga is starting her junior season at the University of Denver. As a sophomore, she appeared in 28 games and averaged 2.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

She scored a season-high 10 points against North Dakota State.

Lindsey Rogers is a 6-0 freshman guard on the UIC women’s team.

Brooke Schramek is a 6-0 freshman guard at the University of Wisconsin.

Lauren Stack is a sophomore at American University. Last season she played in 26 and averaged 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

She tallied a season-high 10 points against Loyola Maryland.

BOLINBGBROOK

Nana Akenten is a redshirt junior at Southeast Missouri.

Akenten redshirted last season after sitting out the season due to NCAA Division I transfer regulations.

As a sophomore, he played in 28 games for Nebraska, averaging 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while being one of the Huskers’ first subs off the bench. He ranked sixth on the team with 24 three-pointers and shot 30 percent from long range.

Darius Burford is a freshman guard at Elon.

Jayden Marable is a 5-6 freshman guard at Northern Illinois University.

Danyel Middleton is a 5-10 freshman at Marquette.

Jahari Smith is a junior at Central Michigan University. Last season she started all 30 games for the Chippewas averaging 4.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game to go along with a team-best 54.1 field goal percentage.

see ‘D-I’ page 12

photo courtesy of UIC ATHLETICS

Only seven years after he left Joliet West, Luke Yaklich is in his first season as coach at University of IllinoisChicago.

pag e 1 2 | Wednes day, DECEM BER 2, 20 20 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om ‘D-I’ from page 5 Smith was second on the team with 22 blocks. As a freshman, she also started all 33 games for CMU. Treasure Thompson is a freshman forward at Louisiana State University.

Joseph Yesufu is entering his second season at Drake University.

As a freshman, he missed the first nine games of league play with a knee injury, then re-injured the knee and missed every game after Feb. 1.

In the 13 games he played, he averaged 3.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists. He set career-highs 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals against Simpson.

DOWNERS GROVE NORTH

Semaj Henderson is a freshman at Jacksonville State University.

The 6-2 guard signed with the Gamecocks after prepping at Washington Academy in Greenville, N.C. following his high school career.

DOWNERS GROVE SOUTH

Holly Lueken is a 6-1 sophomore forward at Colgate University.

As a freshman, she saw action in 23 games and averaged 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game helping the Raiders finish 19-11 for secondmost wins in program history — just second winning season in program annals covering 33 seasons of Division I play.

Lueken was awarded the Colgate Team Most Coachable Award and was named to the Colgate Raider Academic Honor Roll and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

LEMONT

photo by Scott Walstrom/NIU Athletics

Former Bolingbrook star Tyler Cochran is in his second season at Northern Illinois University.

Woodridge native P.J. Pipes is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. As a junior last season, he appeared in 31 games, starting in 11.

He ranked fourth on the team in

scoring with 288 points — a 9.3 points per game average.

He was second on the team in 3-pointers made with 55, shooting 44.7 percent from deep and hit three or more 3s in 10 games — including career-high 6 makes against IUPUI.

LOCKPORT

Jenna Cotter is a freshman at Indiana University Purdue UniversityIndianapolis.

MAINE SOUTH

Tommy Gardiner is a 6-7 junior on the Marquette roster. He was awarded a prior to the start of last season, where he appeared in five games and scored first-career basket against Central Arkansas Dec. 28.

MONTINI CATHOLIC

Plainfield native Kaylee Bambule is a redshirt junior at Ohio University.

Last season she appeared in 11 games for the Bobcats, averaging .05 points per game.

Downers Grove Native Sam Mitchell is a 5-6 sophomore guard at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. As a freshman, she played in all 31 games, the only nonstarter to appear in every game. She scored a career high 14 points against McNeese State Nov. 24 where she went 5-for5 from the field, 1-for-1 from three and 3-for-3 from the free throw line while dishing out three assists.

NILES WEST

Sam Galanopoulos is a 5-8 sophomore guard at Loyola Chicago.

The former Voyager Media Player of the Year and Prep Shootout MVP, she was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team last season.

She came off the bench to appear

see ‘D-I’ page XX

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Former Bolingbrook standout Kaleb Thornton is in his first season at NIU. ‘D-I’ from page 5 in all 29 games her freshman year, averaging 4.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Her 57 assists on the year ranked third on the Loyola roster.

NOTRE DAME

Anthony D’Avanzo is a graduate student at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale.

He played three seasons as an undergrad at Lewis University where he tallied 927 points. He averaged 15.8 points and 8.4 rebounds as a senior, shooting 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.

Dusan Mahorcic is a sophomore at Illinois State University.

He played last season at Lewis University where he saw action in 18 games with one start. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds to go with eight blocked shots and eight assists for the Flyers.

Jeameril Wilson is a 6-7 junior guard at Lehigh University.

The winningest player in Notre Dame history (101 wins), Wilson posted a breakout sophomore season a year ago, averaging 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest – good for third and second on the Mountain Hawks, respectively.

Those numbers were good for 24th and 10th in the Patriot League. He played in all 32 games, starting 29 and reached double-figure points on 21 occasions.

PLAINFIELD EAST Elyjah Goss is a senior at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis.

The 6-7 Bolingbrook native is a team captain this season.

A year ago he was chosen to the Horizon League’s five-man AllDefensive Team. He played all 32 games, making 29 starts and averaged 9.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor and leading the team with 33 blocked shots. Goss grabbed a school record 369 rebounds for the year, including 22 games with 10 boards or more and tied the IUPUI Division I record with 12 double-doubles, including one where he set the school record for 21 rebounds in a game to go along with 17 points in a win over IU South Bend on Dec. 10.

ROMEOVILLE

Eddie Creal is a junior at St. Bonaventure.

Last season at Moberly Community College in Moberly, Missouri where he averaged 15.1 points, six rebounds and two assists per game while shooting better than 58 percent from the floor.

Deandre Heckard is a junior at Stephen F. Austin. He played the last two seasons at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Tx. Robert Johnson is a junior at Grambling State University. The 6-5 forward played at Kishwaukee College where he averaged 14.4 points

photo by Scott Walstrom/NIU Athletics

for the Kougars.

ST. FRANCIS

Lisle native Antwainette Walker is a 5-11 redshirt-sophomore at Marquette.

Walker missed last season due to NCAA transfer rules as she played her freshman season at ArkansasLittle Rock where she averaged 2.2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

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