The Girls Catholic Athletic is one of the only girls basketball conferences in the Chicago area with a year-end tournament.
The changes planned for this year’s showdown excite at least one conference coach.
The GCAC has added new teams and will take on a new look and format for its conference tournament beginning this season. It is set to held in late January and early February, with the championship game scheduled for Feb. 6 at McAuley. The conference will seed the seven teams from the GCAC Red and the nine teams from the White, with each team playing four games.
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“Obviously it will be tough with Montini in the league as well,” Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker said about last year’s 3A third-place team and 2014 state champion.
Following the demise of the Suburban Christian Conference, the GCAC welcomed Montini, Rosary and St. Francis. Three members from the East Suburban Catholic — Fenwick, Providence and McNamara — joined the GCAC to better align with their school’s boys basketball teams who are members of the Catholic League.
“It will be an exciting conference as a whole, especially in the Red Division,” Schoenecker said. “There are not many nights you can take off now in the league. It’s not only exciting for the coaching staff, but for the players as well.”
Defending GCAC champion Trinity, which beat Loyola 49-33 in the conference tournament championship game last season, will host Montini in its Red opener Dec. 1. Now that Montini is in the GCAC Red, Trinity dropped out of the Montini tournament to play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in December in Phoenix.
“This will be the top conference in the state,” Trinity interim coach Mike Valente said. “Every night in the conference is a tough game. You can’t look past anybody.”
Fenwick and McNamara bring impressive resumes into the GCAC. The Friars won a record 16 consecutive ESCC championships from 1995-2010. McNamara defeated Breese Central 55-51 on March 7 to win the Class 2A state championship.
With an enrollment of 319, McNamara was assigned to the smaller-school GCAC White, but the Irish appear good enough to win the combined GCAC tournament in February.
The IHSA allows teams to participate in just three tournaments during the regular season, so Fenwick left the Sterling Holiday in mid-December, but will continue to play in the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic. Fenwick is scheduled to open at Providence on Nov. 17, then heads to the Niles North Thanksgiving tournament Nov. 20 to face Resurrection, a former member of the GCAC Red that was moved to the White.
After nearly 30 years away, Fenwick coach Dave Power returns to coach in the GCAC. He led Immaculate Heart of Mary to the 1987 Class AA state championship, the first time that a private school won the large-school division in girls basketball. He left to become Fenwick’s first girls basketball coach.
“When you look at Montini, Trinity, Loyola and McAuley, the conference is loaded,” Power said. “To have a returning defending state champion (McNamara) in the lower division speaks volumes about the competition in the league.”
THE NEW GCAC
Red Division: Fenwick, Loyola, Montini, McAuley, Providence, St. Ignatius, Trinity
White Division: McNamara, De La Salle, DePaul Prep, Queen of Peace, Regina, Resurrection, Rosary, St. Francis, St. Joseph
Blue Division: Holy Trinity, Josephinum, Notre Dame, St. Benedict, St. Francis de Sales, Seton
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