Girls basketball: Marian Central enjoying every moment of historic turnaround

Marian Central struggled to a 5-20 record two years ago, with many games ending in a lopsided score.

Fast forward to today, and the Hurricanes are having a grand time.

Marian leads the Northwest Herald area with 25 wins and won the first Chicagoland Christian Conference Tournament title Saturday with a 47-39 comeback win over Bishop McNamara, the tournament’s No. 1 seed and CCC regular-season champion.

With the win, the Hurricanes (25-4) tied the program record for wins in a season, set last year.

Compared to two years ago, practices are much more enjoyable, with music blaring between drills, and the senior-heavy Hurricanes are taking advantage of every day.

“It’s been super fun,” said senior guard Madison Kenyon, who recently became the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. “Our coaches tell us every day to soak it all in because we don’t have much time left. Every day we come to practice with a smile on our faces.”

Marian’s turnaround started before the 2022-23 season. Lee Brown, a 1995 Dundee-Crown graduate who played at George Mason, took over as head coach of the Hurricanes and noticed something special about the team right away.

Lee saw a talented and hardworking group of players who showed plenty of promise, especially on the defensive end.

“My vision with this team was that they had a lot of potential, and I saw them finding success,” Brown said. “It was always a great group defensively. With younger players, defense tends to come first, and it was a just a matter of honing their offensive skills. It’s a great group, great character, they work hard, and usually when you have those things, you find success.

“We have high expectations at Marian. The players have high expectations for themselves, and the coaches have high expectations for the team. We’re happy taking it day by day and see if we can make a solid run at this thing.”

“Our coaches tell us every day to soak it all in because we don’t have much time left. Every day we come to practice with a smile on our faces.”

—  Madison Kenyon, Marian Central senior guard

Marian left the East Suburban Catholic Conference last season and played an independent schedule, going from five wins in 2022 to setting the team record at 25-8 in 2023. The Hurricanes also secured their second Class 2A regional championship since 2020.

Marian ended its record-breaking year with a 59-49 loss to Stillman Valley in the Class 2A Winnebago Sectional semifinals. Tears were shed, but players mostly felt proud of the team’s vast turnaround. Marian returned all five starters from that team and graduated only three.

This year, Marian has played against schools closer to their enrollment size as part of first year of the CCC, while also challenging itself with a tough nonconference schedule. The Hurricanes are ranked as the No. 12 Class 2A team in Illinois, according to MaxPreps.com.

“It’s been a rollercoaster, that’s for sure,” senior forward Lucy Iden said. “Ever since the new coaching staff came in and coach Brown stepped up, and [assistant] coach [Ben] Bordeaux came in, it has been amazing honestly. We want to show up to work every day, and that helps us stay motivated.

“[Coach Brown] definitely flipped the whole mentality of the team.”

Marian is averaging more than 52 points a game this season and looks to push the pace in every game it plays. The team is led in scoring by Kenyon (14 points a game), junior guard Juliette Huff (11.9) and senior guard Ella Notaro (10.4).

Junior point guard Abbey Miner (6.8 points a game) leads the Hurricanes at 2.5 assists a game, Notaro is the team leader in steals at 2.8 a game, and Kenyon has a team-best 10.5 rebounds a game and 13 double-doubles in 25 games. Huff is the team’s most dangerous outside shooter with 33 3-pointers.

Kenyon, Huff, Notaro, Iden, Miner, Michaela Johnson, Adriana Wrzos and Kiara Kelly were all on the team in 2022 that finished with five wins.

Notaro said the new coaching staff has helped bring out the best in each player.

“Coach Brown is the best coach I’ve ever had,” Notaro said. " I think everyone on the team would say that, as well. We also have two of the greatest assistant coaches in coach Bordeaux and coach [Nick] Wake. They just know so much about basketball and have brought so many amazing things to the program.

“We know how it feels to lose, and we know how it feels to win. You learn from your losses, and I think that has helped us become a great team.”

The Hurricanes are a No. 3 seed in the Class 2A Rockford Christian Regional and open the postseason Feb. 13 against either No. 7 Winnebago or No. 12 Richmond-Burton. They’ll carry a 10-game winning streak into the postseason.

“As long as we stick together as a team and play our hardest, that’s all that really matters,” Kenyon said.