By Dominic Scianna
Lane Tech College Prep girls head basketball coach Tom Kane starts a freshman, two sophomores and two seniors in his lineup, and the team has battled through adversity to stand at 12-9 and 6-1 (third in the tough Red Shield Division) with three-quarters of the season gone this year.
All this after a Dec. 7 knee injury to senior starter Melanie Blanco that curtailed Lane’s offensive attack leaving Kane to rely on his underclassmen who have played admirably in Blanco’s absence.
On National Girls & Women in Sports Day on Saturday, January 18 at the Lane Tech Shootout, the hosts welcomed defending state 4A champion Loyola to their home. The Ramblers pulled away after a close first quarter (21-13) to defeat Lane 71-49, but all was not lost as the effort and experience Kane feels will bode well for his team moving forward.
“We have high expectations at Lane Tech and we know if we want to be the best we have to play the best,” said Kane about playing Loyola on Lane’s home court. “To go out there and fight as hard as we did says a lot. We started two sophomores (Lucy Mehlis and Amalia Rojas) and a freshman (Vega Random-Marks) against Loyola and it shows our potential growth.
“The ceiling is really high for us.”
Rojas and Mehlis paced the Champions with 9 points each, while senior Sophie Bush and Random-Marks pitched in with 7 points respectively in addition to sophomore Ella Bush netting 6 points in the loss.
The Ramblers (20-2) are certainly the high water mark that city and state girls basketball teams look to emulate after last season’s 38-0 undefeated campaign, and just two losses in the 2024-25 season picking up where they left off a year ago.
The talented Loyola guard tandem of senior Aubrey Galvan (Vanderbilt University commit), who poured in 16 points in the win to go with junior Clare Weasler (20 points with five three-pointers) were catalysts for coach Jeremy Schoenecker’s squad against Lane and look just as formidable to make another late-season run to the state finals.
“We are everyone’s Super Bowl, I tell that to my team all the time,” said Schoenecker, who recently notched his 400th career win.
“Teams (like Lane) measure themselves against us and we have to be ready to play every single night.”
Kane is not one too shy away for challenges for his team and the youth movement he’s developing relishes the opportunities on the big stage when these opportunities arise.
“It excites me to have the ability to play a team as good as Loyola,” Mehlis said. “They have won state championships and have such a good reputation. No matter the outcome, I just want to play hard. I love the competition.”
Blanco made her return late in the game versus Loyola sporting a large knee brace, and signs point to her eminent return to garner more minutes giving Kane a bonafide senior leader and scorer back in the lineup.
“We’ve had our struggle with injuries this year and getting people back for this game was a start,” Rojas said. “Everyone just keeps fighting back and we’ve worked really hard in practice to prepare for this (stretch of games as the season winds down).”
Up next for Lane are two big home games on January 22 versus Perspectives Leadership High School (11-6) and on January 24 against Whitney Young (13-7, 6-0) one of the Chicago Public League and state’s top-rated girls teams.
“The move up (to the Red Shield Division this year) has really benefited us. We like where we’re at and have maintained a good conference record but there is more tough competition ahead,” admitted Kane.
Simeon vs. St. Ignatius
Photos by Sydney Gaietto, Amundsen senior (IG: snapshots.bysid)
