McLegends: The Law can’t win this one

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Rachel Gromala celebrates with the Alan Macey MVP Award at the McLegends X basketball game at Thornton High School in Harvey Saturday, April 16, 2011. | Brett Roseman ~ Sun-Times Media

Updated: June 16, 2011 12:16AM

Suiting up for Marian Catholic’s varsity the last four years, Simone Law felt safe saying she’d never been through a loss like this one.

Playing for the 2011 High School Girls All-Stars, Law and her teammates were blown out 105-68 by the Lady McLegends on Saturday at Thornton High School.

What was going on? Even Law was looking for some kind of answer.

“I don’t even know what happened,” Law said with a smile. “The McLegends were a really good team and our team chemistry wasn’t as good as it could have been. It was something new, and we went out trying to have fun.”

Law finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Her Marian teammate, Jasmine Matthews, led the All-Stars with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Also contributing were Lockport’s Amber Surdokaite and Hillcrest’s Yolanda De La Torre with 12 points apiece.

Trailing 21-18 after a Law fast-break basket on a pass from Matthews, the All-Stars were run out of the gym. The Lady McLegends went on a 35-10 run to close the first half.

“They came out to play because they didn’t come out here to have fun,” De La Torre said. “We had fun anyway, but my coach (McLegends player and game MVP Rachel Gromala) was talking stuff.”

An assistant coach for Hillcrest, Gromala appeared to enjoy poking and prodding De La Torre each time up the court in the first half.

As for the competitive nature, Surdokaite couldn’t help but wonder if there was a bias toward the McLegends.

“We all wanted to win and were trying to be aggressive,” Surdokaite said. “We weren’t trying to foul, but the ones they did call were very weak fouls. (The McLegends) got whatever they wanted and our side, we had to work for our calls. You want to have fun, but they were out for war.”

Surdokaite hit three long jumpers early before being sent to the bench with three quick fouls.

The All-Stars showed signs of life in the second half as Law and Matthews led the attack, but the 28-point halftime deficit proved too much to overcome.

As for the physical nature of the game, Law hopes it pays off next season at Loyola University.

“It was really competitive, really physical,” Law said. “You have to get used to it. I guess that’s what college will be like, so you’ve got to learn to play with physicality.”