TriCounty Named the Most Valuable Player of the National Junior College Division II basketball tournament, Marlena Williams of champion Illinois Central College is a co-Tri County Female Athlete of the Year.
A former Manual High School athlete and sister of former Manual star Frank Williams, honored this year as Male Athlete of the Year, Marlena was also the top vote getter for the NJCAA all-regional team for Region XXIV and the Region XXIV all-tournament team.
She averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds in the national tournament, played in Hagerstown, Md.
Marlena dominated the national tournament. She scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds to pull out a first round win over Kirkwood, 70-69; had 18 points and seven rebounds against Calhoun College of Decatur in a 81-70 semi-final win and then scored 18 points with 12 rebounds to overpower Penn Valley of Kansas City, 72-65.
Averaging only 24 minutes per game in the regular season because many games were won by lopsided scores, Williams still averaged 14 points, shot 49 percent and played outstanding defense.
"Statistics do not tell the true story of Marlena," said coach Lorene Ramsey. "Marlena is a great clutch player capable of carrying an entire team, yet she is also an unselfish player."
1979 AOL-Spalding Girl's Golf Team
Continuing the superb performance of the school’s inaugural squad, the 1979 team, in just its 2nd season as a varsity sport, finished second in the IHSA state finals. Marking the completion of another impressive season on the links, the Lady Irish persevered through extremely windy conditions in the final round to maintain the runner-up position behind Homewood-Flossmoor. Pat Ehrhart shot 172 over the 2 days of the finals, good for 10th place in the individual competition. During the regular season, the girls were unbeaten in dual matches and won three of the four tournaments in which the team competed. They dominated the Galesburg Sectional by finishing ahead of Macomb and host Galesburg by 9 strokes and 12 strokes respectively. Ehrhart also led the way in the Sectional by shooting a solid 82. Despite Ehrhart’s low scoring, the team boasted exceptional depth. Coach Schallau noted that, “None of our girls would have qualified (for state) if they weren’t on a team.” |