Girls Basketball: Sophomore Bosco living dream playing for New Trier

Updated: December 12, 2011 8:56PM

Isabella Bosco remembers walking over to New Trier as a young girl to watch the Trevians play basketball.

Since first seeing her heroes play — including former superstar Dierdre Naughton, now an assistant coach at New Trier — all Bosco wanted to do when she got to high school was suit up for the Trevians.

Even if that meant forgoing golf, a sport her father Joe makes a living teaching and coaching. Joe Bosco coached the North Shore Country Day boys golf team to its first-ever state championship in the fall, and he is a teaching professional out of the Glen Club in Glenview.

“When I was younger, I went to my dad’s summer camps,” Isabella said. “I liked it, but basketball took over. I then started to love that more and more.”

Now a sophomore at New Trier, Bosco is in her first season as a starting guard for the Trevians. The No. 14-ranked New Trier entered this week 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the CSL South after losing to Niles West and Glenbrook South. The Titans took control of the conference with their 49-44 win Friday.

“Both of those losses are learning experiences for us,” the 5-foot-9 Bosco said. “We are in one of the best conferences, and all of the teams in it are very competitive.”

New Trier trailed by 12 early in the second half before putting together an 8-0 run that closed the gap.

Alexa Czyzyski’s basket at the 4:48 mark of the final quarter returned the lead to the Trevians for the first time since midway through the second quarter. 

The teams traded leads before the Titans assumed control again for good.

Maggie Lyon got New Trier within three points with 8.3 seconds remaining, but Colleen McDonagh knocked down two free throws to clinch the victory.

“Our strength as a team always has been transition,” Bosco said. “We tried to use that to our advantage again. But Glenbrook South is such a tall team, and we got into foul trouble. There were a lot of dead balls.”

Lyon finished with a game-high 12 points for the Trevians, but she went nearly 24 minutes between her first two baskets.

Jessica Blackwell, one of two Trevians to foul out, followed Lyon with 11 points. New Trier was without 6-footer Colleen McConnell when the Trevians could have used her against the tall Titans, whose smallest player in the starting lineup was 5-10.

Bosco dove headfirst into the sport after earning an invitation to play for a Winnetka-based travel team for boys. Joe Bosco said Isabella was the only girl in the league and one of its best players.

“She was inspired by players like Dierdre,” Joe Bosco said. “She’s now fulfilling her dream.”

New Trier was scheduled to play Deerfield on Tuesday before playing Waukegan on Friday in a CSL South contest.

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