2000/2001 Game Results Last Updated: July 22, 2000

July 22, 2000  

Connell helps Huskies make their point

Junior guard leads North to tournament title

By Steve Beaudry
Leader-Telegram staff

MENOMONIE -- The first thing you notice about Anne Connell is her smile. It's hard to miss because it's always there.

Even during the 1999-2000 basketball season, when she was relegated to being the fourth point guard on Eau Claire North's varsity depth chart, Connell's smile remained intact.

Her smile didn't disappear last February even though her playing time completely vanished through the Huskies' final three regular-season games.

And, after absorbing a savage blow to the left eye socket from a Kingsland (Minn.) opponent's elbow Sunday late in the High School Varsity Gold division championship game of the 12th annual AAU Great Lakes Shootout, Connell was … well, at first she was groggy and ornery.

But, within moments, she was smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"She's really tough," North guard Lindsey Rongstad said, "and fast."

"And she's always positive and upbeat," North forward Kricket Whyte said.

"She's my idol," North center Larissa Parr said.

And she just might hold the key to the Huskies' hopes of winning the 2000-01 Big Rivers Conference title.

Though the season is four months away, the Huskies have kept their entire team intact through the summer, and Connell has been given the keys to their offense as the starting point guard.

It's a responsibility the 5-foot-6 junior-to-be relishes. But ask her to assess her value to the team, and she'd just as soon pass.

Just like she did with the ball Sunday -- regularly finding teammates for easy baskets -- in helping the Huskies whisk past Kingsland 47-39 at UW-Stout's Johnson Fieldhouse.

"I'm not good at questions, er, interviews," a red-faced Connell said, smiling. "I don't know. I don't know what to say."

"C'mon," Parr said, nudging Connell from behind. "You can handle it. You're my idol!"

"I don't know," Connell said. "I guess I'm like everyone else on the team. I just want to be intense and work hard and help us win."

"She's so unselfish," said Rongstad, who scored a game-high 14 points.

"Yeah," agreed Whyte, who scored seven points. "She needs to shoot more."

Though not a statistical wonder, scoring just four points, there was more to Connell's performance Sunday than what showed up in the scorebook. There was defensive pressure and tipped balls and energy and the willingness to spread skin along a wooden floor.

And, of course, the spunk to laugh off a violent jolt to the head.

"At first I thought my nose was broken," Connell said. "It shook me up. I was seeing stars for a second."

Connell saw three stars ahead of her on the Huskies' depth chart at point guard last season -- seniors Nicki Robinson, Emilee Planert and Scooter Aspen. Robinson was a three-year starter, and Aspen started as a sophomore and junior. Planert, who gained an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship to Kent (Ohio) University, started for North last season after being a three-year starter at Altoona.

"I liked my role last year because I learned a lot from them," said Connell, who saw limited action in 18 games last season and averaged 2.6 points per game. "They never took it easy on me in practice; it was a challenge to keep up with them.

"Robbie helped me with a lot of things. She told me I telegraphed my passes and taught me how to stop doing it."

Connell put her sharpened skills on display throughout the Great Lakes Shootout. Serving as North's offensive axis and backcourt defensive dynamo, she was as reliable as a fine Swiss watch. The Huskies sailed to an 8-0 record, knocking off four Big Rivers teams -- Menomonie, Hudson, River Falls and Chippewa Falls -- in the process.

"We'd like to do better than we did last year," said Parr, who averaged 13.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in 1999-2000 in helping North (17-5) advance to a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal for the second straight season. "The Big Rivers is going to be tough -- especially Hudson and (Eau Claire) Memorial."

Though Memorial didn't take part in this session of the Great Lakes Shootout, the Old Abes showed their wares in the event two weeks ago by breezing to a first-place finish in the High School Varsity Gold division. It was one of several tournaments Memorial has won this summer.

"We've got to keep getting better if we're going to be up there with them," Rongstad said.

With the cricket-quick Connell continuing to improve, the Huskies' prospects look solid.

Beaudry can be reached evenings at 833-9212 or (800) 236-7077 or at steve.beaudry@ecpc.com.