I guess Candace Parker really can do everything.
The 6-foot-3-inch Naperville Central superstar not only led her team to the Class AA state title Saturday at Illinois State, but she also may have helped quell a rebellion.
Had Central not hung on for a 56-54 victory over Regina Dominican in the semifinals, the girls title game would have been an all-private-school affair for the first time in Class AA history. That probably would have sparked demands for a four-, or maybe even 40-, class system, especially after private schools grabbed five of the spots in this Elite Eight.
But when Parker sank a free throw with nine seconds left to give Central a 56-52 lead in the semifinals, she restored order on the court, giving almost everyone except opposing fans exactly what they wanted and expected.
That, of course, was the state’s two best teams, undefeated Naperville Central and Fenwick, and its two best players, Parker and 6-2 Erin Lawless, facing off for the title.
“Everyone assumed the best,” Lawless said after her team’s 80-54 semifinal victory over Belleville Althoff. “As soon as they heard the Elite Eight, they thought it would be Naperville Central and Fenwick.”
Saturday night everyone got the best, as in one of the best girls championship games ever. In the end the better team was Naperville Central, which won 63-59 in overtime behind Parker’s 32 points.
The debate about the best player will no doubt linger, even after the upcoming announcement of the voting for Ms. Basketball of Illinois.
Parker, the most gifted girls player this state has produced, won it last year as a sophomore. This year the award would best be split because choosing between Parker and Lawless is like picking steak over lobster or Kobe over Shaq.
The Purdue-bound Lawless, who matched her season average in the title game with 22 points, dominates games inside and outside.
“Her season has been just fantastic,” said Fenwick coach Dave Power, who won the state title with Lawless two years ago. “She took a team that graduated three starters from 2001 and kept us right there.”
Fenwick lists Lawless as a guard, forward and center, as if to emphasize her ample versatility, but in reality she relinquishes guard duties to the talented likes of Kristin Heidloff and Breanne Smilie. Parker, listed simply as a forward, really does play every position, sometimes on the same possession.
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If Lawless is dazzling in her efficiency, Parker, who played with Lawless on a club team last summer, makes jaw-dropping moments almost routine. During a 3 1/2-minute stretch straddling the third and fourth quarters against Regina, she produced the following:
– Blocked a layup attempt from behind and grabbed the ball, leading to a Central basket.
– Grabbed a rebound and went end to end, scoring on a finger roll and adding a free throw after being fouled on the play.
– Went end to end again, this time escaping a triple-team near the free-throw line and going behind her back with the ball to dodge another defender and lay the ball in to give her team a 47-41 lead.
In the title game, Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum put Parker on Lawless after Lawless scored 12 first-quarter points, and Parker held her to 10 points the rest of the way.
“She showed she can play defense too,” he said of his star, who averages 24 points and 14 rebounds a game.
And if that wasn’t enough, Parker hit the three-point shot that put the game into overtime at 53-53, and she hit a baby jumper to put her team ahead for good at 57-55. Needless to say, her teammates appreciate what they’ve got going for them.
“It’s kind of a honor that I out of all the players in Illinois, the country and the world get to play with the top player in the nation,” junior guard Rachel Crissy said.
Hey, what about the universe?
“Her ball might float away,” Crissy said.
For both Fenwick and Naperville Central and their stars, expectations were ready to float away when this season started. And they didn’t lessen when Naperville Central needed overtime to defeat Fenwick 55-48 in December.
“We’ve dealt with a lot of pressure,” said Heidloff, who could have been speaking for both teams.
Fenwick wanted its third Elite Eight in four years, having finished third in 2000. Central, which starts just one senior, wanted its first appearance after being upset on the road to Normal the last two years.
Fenwick seemed to have the edge in the finale Saturday. Besides more Elite Eight experience, it had the easier semifinal opponent and was more rested because it played the first semifinal game and has more depth than does Central.
Central had Parker, which usually is enough. The question this weekend was whether there was anyone in the universe who could stop her.
“I believe there is,” she said after the semifinals, “but hopefully no one can stop Naperville Central.”
Saturday night, no one could, even though Lawless gave it her best shot.
“She played a great game,” Parker said afterward. “It was so much fun.”
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