New season to bring new players, new coach together

WAUKEGAN -- New Grant Bulldogs girls hoops coach John Eiduke is well aware of the tradition of winning he's now bound to uphold.

"(Former coach) Tom Oeffling did a heck of a job and built a hell of a program," said Eiduke. "We're going to do our best to keep that going."

Oeffling stepped down after six consecutive 20-win seasons. He also left after all five starters, including the guts of last year's team -- Jamie Swanson, Bailey Wagner and Tori Ziegler -- graduated, leaving Eiduke with one returning player who saw extended action last season.

" C.J. Hill (a senior) is going to play every position for us," said Eiduke, and, in fact, she appeared to be doing just that in a recent Grant summer-league game against Grayslake Central at Zion-Benton.

"We're pretty much starting over with a new group," Eiduke observed. "And whenever you have a new group, it's easier to implement a defensive scheme. Everything we do is going to be based on defense this year."

Eiduke has been the Grant sophomore boys coach for the past eight seasons. He's been at Grant since the 1999-2000 school year as coach and social-science instructor.

The defensive structure will be augmented by a motion offense, which is not a stretch for the new coach, considering that he ran a similar scheme with the sophomore boys. But that doesn't necessarily mean wrinkles will not be added.

"We're going to let the girls play a little bit, too. When you're a sophomore coach," said Eiduke, "the offense you run does not necessarily reflect what you want to run. You run what you're told (by the varsity coach)."

In addition to Hill, Eiduke singled out junior Heather Chapman as being the other team mainstay. Chapman, a tall, square-shouldered player, will man the power-forward or center positions.

Against Grayslake Central, which lacked a player of equal height, Chapman scored almost half of Grant's points in a 29-16 victory, as the team broke open a 10-10 game in the second half.

The Bulldogs used good ball movement to get the ball repeatedly inside to Chapman, and tightened the screws defensively in the second-half surge.

The new coach cited three others who will figure prominently in how Grant fares this coming year -- senior forward Brittani Schisler and senior guards Amber Potts and Gina Cellucci.

The team will be playing a lot of summer ball in the next few weeks, with games scheduled at Zion-Benton, Stevenson and Antioch.