Magrum, LWE and four more

By the time Lincoln-Way East High School senior Kersten Magrum completes her basketball career at the University of Illinois, the MVP award of the Medieval Classic might be renamed in her honor, and rightfully so.

In Tuesday night's tournament championship game, the 6-foot-1 forward capped off her third consecutive MVP with 18 points in a 68-59 loss to undefeated T.F. North -- which is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland area by the Sun-Times.

While Magrum put together back-to-back-to-back efforts of 21, 28 and 22 points for Lincoln-Way East (11-2) in becoming the tourney's leading scorer with 89, T.F North improved to 18-0 with the 1-2 punch of Centreese McGee and Karisma Chapman.

McGee, a 5-9 junior, totaled 20 points against the Griffins to finish the tourney with 70. Chapman, a 5-10 junior, scored a game-high 25 in the finale and ended up next with 64.

However, senior point guard Autum Korosic also managed 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Meteors, and those numbers underscored a factor Magrum mentioned during a pregame interview session.

This is her best East team.

"Oh, without a doubt -- no doubt in my mind, by far," Magrum said. "We're just trying to peak at the right time and we're going to get even better here as the year goes on."

In her fourth year on the varsity, Magrum is the reigning Herald News co-Player of the Year, having averaged 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals as a junior. She is a three-time all-conference choice of the Southwest Suburban.

So, I already knew how excellent Magrum was. As Joliet Catholic Academy coach Ed Schodrof explained, "she's the best big girl out in the South Suburbs east of I-57, without question." Over four tournament days, a handful of tangible developments were on display.

Five things I learned:

Before T.F. North, the lone loss on Lincoln-Way East's ledger was to perennial state power Marian Catholic, ranked No. 7 in the Chicagoland area by the Sun-Times. I agree with Magrum, this is the finest Griffins group in her four years.

You have to go back to Jenna Rubino, Lauren "Pee Wee" Johnston and the Schiefelbein sisters, Courtney and Kristina, for the depth of Magrum, Korosic, senior guard Nellie Kosola, junior guard Theresa Tynski, sophomore guard Kelly McGovern and sophomore center Amanda West.

For more on Kosola, see my story that begins on Page C1. But in speaking about her, East coach Jim Martin pointed to the nod of experience that typically pays off in the playoffs.

"We want to keep it going," Martin said. "She's happy, she's relaxed, and we'll see what happens. Nellie's a senior now and a senior is a senior. Senior leadership is something you can't take for granted, and we have seniors who have followed in the footsteps. They're working with the younger kids to keep this thing going forward."

Congratulations go out to Lincoln-Way North coach Jim Nair on a 56-37 victory over Plainfield South in the Medieval Classic's fifth-place game, the Phoenix's first win after 12 losses in their first varsity season.

Junior guard Sam Nekola -- think about that Ricola commercial when you say her last name -- scored a game-high 28 points and notched 79 for the tourney, second behind only Magrum. Obviously, Nekola is a very nice scorer.

But I also liked what I saw from 6-0 junior forward Mary McNeil, 5-8 sophomore forward Erynn Schuh and freshman guard Stephanie Pearson.

"I think if we can get that first win, things will fall into place for us," Nair said after a 58-45 setback to Lincoln-Way Central. "We need to get over that hump and we'll be better."

Reminder, don't forget about Lincoln-Way Central. Despite a major graduation gash, the Knights carved out a third-place trophy with a 56-46 win over JCA. Senior guard/forward Amanda Boyd and sophomore guard Kaitlyn Ray were all-tourney, and Boyd was MVP caliber.

Although Ray continued to recover from a season-long ankle injury, scoring 18 against T.F. North and 19 against JCA, she dished credit to her teammates like a pass by the Bulls' Derrick Rose.

"A lot of people didn't think we could get third because of everyone leaving from last year," Ray said. "But this week was definitely a positive for us. We got some hardware out of it, and we're playing pretty good."

Sarah Johnson, a Division I soccer recruit, tore her ACL in the offseason. Senior guard Alexis Alvarez and senior forward Angela Confiliano tore their ACLs. And the Williams sisters, Morgan and Brittany, transferred to Neuqua Valley.

Plainfield South coach Tor Erickson does not want a pity party, but the Cougars (1-13) did gain their first win in the tourney. Junior guard Paige Stankus, senior guard Kendall Weber and junior forward Kalyn Hutchinson, whose buzzer-beat topped Nazareth 45-43, have picked up the slack.

"They're a very coachable group," Erickson said. "I know I can trust them to do what I ask and they battle to the end."

Senior guard Katie Condon and junior guard Kate Ponce were all-tournament for Joliet Catholic, scoring 46 and 48 points, respectively. Ponce led the tourney in 3-pointers with 14. Senior forward/center Lindsay Shankland had 36 points as the Angels placed fourth.

"They're much improved," Martin said. "Ed is doing a nice job with them and they've come a long way in a short time."

"I was worried about them," Lincoln-Way Central coach Loren Hess said. "We played them over the summer and you can tell they're getting better."

e-mail: bscheibe@scn1.com