Freshman guards Natalie McGhee and KaMariyah McClinton are a perfect fit for T.F. North.
Last season, McGhee led Lansing’s Heritage Middle School to success in games against McClinton and Dolton’s Lincoln Junior High. But they like being on the same team together.
“She’s my duo,” McGhee said of McClinton. “She’s our shooter. Whenever we need a three, we hand her the ball and it will go in. She gives us our energy.”
McClinton conceded the fact that, in grade school, McGhee got the better of her team, so she’s glad now to be on the same end of the court.
“It’s great,” McClinton said. “We have that chemistry. It’s really, really fun. Her finishes — whenever she goes to the basket, no one can block her and no one can guard her.”
The two first-year varsity regulars were tough to guard Monday night as the third-seeded host Meteors beat Tinley Park 80-22 in the Class 3A T.F. North Regional semifinals in Calumet City.
McGhee led T.F. North (22-8) with 20 points, six rebounds and five steals. McClinton added 19 points and four steals, followed by junior forward Lauryn Jackson with 16 points and eight rebounds. Daija Rogers came off the bench and scored 14 points.
Sarah Aggen paced 14th-seeded Tinley Park (3-21) with 10 points and five rebounds.
Last season, T.F. North finished with 17 wins and returned many of the team’s key players. But expectations gained a bigger boost when the two freshmen entered the picture for the Meteors.
“When we heard they were coming here, we said, ‘Yeah, this is going to be an undefeated team and a dominant team,” Jackson said. “We went 13-0 in conference and won our first game in the regional.
“It just took them a few days to get used to the team and how we roll and how we move around. But they got it quickly, and now they are showing how much they can help us out.”
In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Lemont (15-12) needed little help to beat Brooks 77-27 and advance to Thursday’s 6 p.m. regional final. Jessica Windstrup scored 23 points and Lexi Reyna had 17 for Lemont, which dropped a 63-30 South Suburban Red decision to T.F. North on Jan. 28.
Jackson, meanwhile, is one of the mentors for the dominant dynamic duo.
“I have to help them out because they are the youngest ones on the team,” she said. “They still have a lot of things to grow on, but they are making a big impact. We are very thankful for them.”
Centrese McGee is in his second year as T.F. North’s coach. Before he took over, the Meteors had a 28-137 record in the previous seven seasons. He guided the program’s turnaround last winter with a 17-15 record.
Still, McGee also was looking forward to the arrival of the two talented freshmen, even though he didn’t know what their roles would be and how much they would be able to contribute right away.
“It’s been a development process with them,” McGee said of the freshmen. “We knew that we were getting them when they said they were coming to us. We needed to get them acclimated to that varsity speed and to pick their shot selection.
“They were the only players on their teams in grade school, so they were taking a lot of bad shots early on. Once they got that taken care of, they have exceeded our expectations.”
McGhee said she didn’t have much trouble adapting to the varsity level after playing against strong AAU competition for Midwest Elite.
“AAU prepared me for varsity,” McGhee said. “This year has been great. It’s everything I thought it was going to be.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
