Gardner hits high gear with Mack

Junior paced Panthers to 1st regional title since '95

GARDNER -- In her first full varsity season, Gardner-South Wilmington High School's Rachel Mack made fastbreak baskets like a runaway truck of the same name, with the Panthers mining her zeal for their first regional title since 1995.

As a sophomore, Mack averaged 18.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.7 steals as GSW grooved to a 55-51 win over Gilman Iroquois West and a 50-33 victory over Donovan for a Class 1A regional championship. The Panthers then lost 34-32 to Flanagan in the sectional semifinals.

Midway through her freshman year, however, Mack experienced the equivalent of a panic attack. Panthers coach Angie Tjelle, who prepped at GSW before playing for Kankakee Community College and the University of Southern Indiana, informed Mack of a promotion.

Instead of going on a tear?

Tears.

"I remember that I cried when they told me at practice I had to play varsity," Mack said. "I was pretty nervous about it then, but I'm excited about it now. I'm more prepared for everything."

Everything but the kitchen sink could not even stop Mack last winter, with accolades piling up such as being an all-conference choice and voted MVP by the River Valley, an all-tournament pick in the RVC and at Iroquois West and a Herald News second team all-area selection.

Meanwhile, Mack also earned 39 assists and 33 3-pointers en route to breaking the school's single-game scoring record with 38 points against Manteno. Now a 5-foot-8 junior guard/forward, Mack enters the 2008-2009 girls basketball season with a different vibe welling up in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, she's definitely playing more confident in practice already this year," Tjelle said. "We're looking for her to fill more of that role as a leader, I guess, but she's just a good all-around athlete. We're excited to have her be a part of this, be a part of us."

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Basketball teams blessed with height can pound home points via the philosophy of the closer the shot, the better. Sans that size, speed becomes the best option, and Gardner-South Wilmington went all-out pressure in that direction last winter with the big-play Mack behind the wheel.

Although Mack returns as the Panthers' lone starter, Tjelle pointed to senior point guard Ashley Sorensen, senior forward Michelle Ruffatti and senior center/forward Julie Pfeifer as letterwinners from last year. A trio of juniors in guard Missy Gretz, center/forward Amber Eisha and guard/forward Kelsey Lutz also will contribute to Mack's mix.

Only Pfeifer approaches the level of tall at 5-10. The 5-9 Eisha and the 5-8 Ruffatti operate in the similar realm of Mack, and with the 5-1 Sorensen and the 5-3 Gretz getting GSW going from the point, expect the Panthers to put fuel in Mack's truck to run.

If it works, it works.

"It's awesome," Sorensen said. "Rachel's an awesome ballplayer, she has a great attitude, and it's awesome to be a part of her team because she's so good. I'm a senior this year and she's a junior, but I have a feeling she's going to be a leader of this team, just by the way she has been playing."

"Part of it is being a solid all-around player," Tjelle said. "But the way that Rachel scores a lot of times isn't necessarily traditional. She might get it off the steal, she might get it off transition, and last year we did a nice job of finding ways to get the ball to her when she's off and running."

After pausing to watch Mack score off dribble penetration, Tjelle continued the conversation, noting "and in that situation, I think she's very tough to stop."

Stitches in her arm stopped Mack from participating in the first week and a half of preseason practice, but the mindset of her final two games from a year ago -- scoring 19 points for the regional title against Donovan and 15 points in the sectional loss to Flanagan -- remained vivid.

"I like the offense, and I like everything about being on offense," Mack said. "I like the intensity that we bring as a team on offense, and my defense is the one thing I think needs to improve."

Improvement on the press with Mack could qualify as scary as the "Saw" movie series. Quite simply, the Panthers slice and dice on the press, cashing in turnovers like chips at Empress.

"I think the majority of Rachel's points last year were off steals, off being aggressive up front," Tjelle said. "Out at the top of the key, she's capable of denying the pass and that makes it easy to get baskets at the other end. It's a pretty high percentage shot if you're shooting layups."

"I like pressing because we get a lot of steals off of it and everybody knows where they are supposed to be at," Mack said. "For me, it's about reading the inbounders and knowing where the basketball is going to go."

The numbers bear out Mack's ability to decide on the whereabouts better than Judge Judy. Rounding up, her high-water marks of 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals give GSW the gusto for another go-around in the River Valley Conference and perhaps deep into the 1A playoffs.

If it happens, it happens.

"Every part," Sorensen said. "There's no bad part to Rachel's game. She's on top of everything for us, on offense and defense."

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Then known as Angie Cacello, Tjelle belongs on the list of GSW's greatest all-time girls basketball players. She agreed with the question, nodding in the affirmative when asked about Mack emerging over the next two winters as the eventual best from a Panther program that enjoyed eight straight 20-win seasons and six regional titles from 1980-1988.

"I think so," Tjelle said. "It's amazing to me how much Rachel has improved from last year to this year, and she still has another year left to go. I'm definitely glad to have her here on our team and not have to worry about how I would try to handle defending her as the opposing coach."

For one, Sorensen is not opposed to passing up a shot in deference to Mack, especially when GSW is gunning the fastbreak.

"It's her momentum and her aggressiveness," Sorensen said. "She never shuts down. She's always going, and I have a feeling that she will be able to average a lot more points this year because she's had almost two years of playing varsity now. She knows exactly how it goes and she finally has got a hold of everything."

Holding it down in school can be a dilemma for the Mack pack as well. Sorensen described it as "pretty scary. Even a lot of the guys are intimidated by her when we're playing basketball in P.E. (physical education) class."

While the class of GSW girls basketball was Chuck McClain's 27-1 finisher in 1982, last year's Panther edition was the first to inch within 20 wins since McClain's 19-8 finisher in '95. Tjelle, 75-70 in her six years, played for McClain and the experience resonated with Mack.

"It was the best time I've ever had playing basketball," Mack said about last season. "I think it's going to be a lot harder this year because we lost a lot of good people. I think we're going to miss those girls, but we do have a some girls who can step up. If we try hard, we should be almost as good as we were last year."

Assuredly, the junior Mack qualifies as light years ahead of the freshman Mack. It is like comparing a hamburger to a Big Mac, her development ranging from the shy, teary-eyed player in the shadows to a dominant force in small-school basketball.

Instead of a mite?

Mighty.

"Even though she's a junior, I think she certainly feels that this is more her team," Tjelle said. "Coming back as the lone returning starter and definitely playing a big part in what we did last year without a doubt has given Rachel the confidence to be the leader we're looking at."

"I haven't set any personal goals," said Mack, who mentioned last year's 19 wins and regional title. "I just want to win, and hopefully, we can get far."