Loyola contained in 4A championship, collects third straight state trophy

Loyola Academy isn’t new to the big stage, but neither is Nazareth.

And since something had to give on Saturday when the state powerhouses clashed in the IHSA Class 4A championship, the Roadrunners stepped into the spotlight.

Nazareth topped Loyola 55-23 in a dominant performance that denied the Ramblers their second state title in three years and also got revenge on the Ramblers, who outshined the Roadrunners on the same stage two years ago.

“It snowballed, and all the sudden we were down 20,” Ramblers coach Jeremy Schoenecker said. “We tried to get it into the post area and try to be effective from there and make good reads, which we were but we couldn’t hit a shot. It was a bad moment not to have a good shooting night.”

Going into the state-title bout, neither the Ramblers nor the Roadrunners had lost a game in 2026, each riding 20-plus-game winning streaks.

Loyola’s Maddie Locke is cut off on a drive toward the basket.

The powerhouse matchup was a rematch of the 2024 4A championship, won 44-40 by an unbeaten Loyola Academy. Nazareth won the Class 3A crown in 2023 and was 3A runnerup in 2022.

The Roadrunners’ aggressive 2-3 zone was on full display Saturday, and Loyola could not convert its open looks to make the Roadrunners pay. The Ramblers shot just 23% (8 of 35) from the floor, including 1 of 16 from the three-point arc.

Schoenecker said the Ramblers wanted to get the ball to the middle of the zone, in the paint area, but could not do so enough, and the coach said it can be difficult to prepare for a new team, especially one of Nazareth’s caliber, in a short period of time.

“To try to prep for someone so quickly, and their 2-3 zone, we don’t see that much all season long,” he said. “We tried some newer things; it just didn’t work in our favor. And in order to beat a zone, you have to outshoot it sometimes.”

Loyola and Nazareth played a close first quarter, which ended with the Ramblers trailing 15-11.

The Ramblers struggles set in during the second quarter. They scored just two points on 1-of-7 shooting and turned the ball over five times as Nazareth seized control at 26-13.

It was more of the same in the third quarter, as the Roadrunners extended their lead to an insurmountable margin.

Emily Naraky, a junior, led Loyola with 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Maddie Locke, another junior, chipped in 7 and 6.

The Roadrunners got 17 points from junior Sophia Towne, who drained four three-pointers, and another 11 points from freshman Mia Gage.

The result gave Loyola a state runnerup trophy, the third straight trophy (top-four finish) for the Ramblers — a first for the program. Loyola Academy was an all-boys school until 1994. Just a couple of years later, Ramblers girls basketball won back-to-back state championships (1997, 1998) under coach Tanya Johnson.

The season marked Schoenecker’s fourth overall trip to the state finals. He and the Ramblers picked up a fourth-place finish in 2012.

Following a fourth-place finish a season ago, Loyola continued its elite-level play this year, losing only to Washington, the IHSA Class 3A champion, and Whitefish Bay (Wisconsin) in the regular season. The Ramblers won the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference (regular season and tournament) and the Jesuit Cup (rivalry against St. Ignatius), along with regional, sectional and supersectional plaques.

They bested Rolling Meadows in the 4A semifinal on Friday, March 6, to make the championship game on Saturday.

Saturday was the final game for standout four-year Loyola talents Marycait Mackie and Clare Weasler, who hold the program record for most wins (134, or 33.5 per season, in four varsity seasons) and helped carry a feisty Ramblers defense during their tenures.

“I’d take that career, hands down,” Schoenecker said, highlighting the Ramblers three-peat at the state finals.

Starter Kaitlyn McGovern and key reserves Michaela Burm and Alison Banaszek also finished up their Ramblers careers.

While plenty of Ramblers talent will graduate, the cupboard is far from empty.

Leading scorers Naraky, an All-State selection, and Locke are set to return, and Loyola carried two other juniors, a sophomore and four freshmen on its state roster.

“We can’t complain. We have enough talent in our own building to get the job done and get back here next year,” Schoenecker said.

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