Brutal schedule making Ramblers stronger

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Park Ridge, 01/11/12 Loyola's Colleen McShane tries to drive around Main South's Regan Carmichael during their game at Maine South Jan. 11. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 8:41AM

Not many teams will be better prepared for the state playoffs than Loyola.

The No. 17-ranked Ramblers play one of the toughest schedules around, and it continues this week. They were scheduled to play No. 14 Fremd on Monday, Mother McAuley on Thursday and Niles North on Saturday.

Last week, Loyola lost to No. 8-ranked Maine South 44-37 to drop to 15-6 overall.

“I think it’s making us better,” Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker insisted of the season-long gauntlet. “The Maine South game was another back-to-back game. The kids were up for it, but we didn’t shoot the ball well. When the ball wasn’t going in, we seemed to lose a lot of energy.”

Defensive standout Lauren Kriz stepped up again on offense, scoring eight of her team-best 10 points in the fourth quarter. Ever since Anna Schueler missed two games with a strained calf, Schoenecker said the senior has been picking up some scoring slack.

“She’s really starting to knocking down some three-pointers to complement her going to the basket,” the coach said. “We’ve been trying for the past two years to get her to shoot the ball more. Now she is, and it’s giving her more confidence.”

With Kriz more in the mix, the Ramblers have four who can score with frequency. Michelle Ricolcol, K.C. Stralka and Schueler are the others.

“We really needed Lauren to be another scorer,” Schoenecker said. “Now, we have four who connect on shots.”

Schoenecker also likes how his bench has developed over the course of the season. He feels he can trust Sarah Elston and Maggie Nick to play significant minutes without losing any ground.

“They really stabilized us there,” he said. “We are happy with where we are.”

The Ramblers’ showdown with Mother McAuley most likely is for second place in the GCAC Red. Both teams have one loss in league play, while Trinity sits alone in first.

“They are similar to us,” Schoenecker said of McAuley. “They are not big, but they play good defense and can shoot the ball. It’s almost a mirror image of us.”