Girls Hoops: Warriors Set To Make School History In State Tournament

DEERFIELD, IL — For the first time in school history, the Deerfield High School varsity girls basketball team is playing in the state tournament. The Warriors (29-5) face Lincoln (35-0) Friday in the Illinois High School Association 3A semifinal round at Normal's Redbird Arena.

Tip-off is set for 11:45 a.m., immediately following the other state semifinal between Peoria and Nazareth Academy.

"I'm very proud of this group of girls for what we've endured this season and I think we've learned more from the five losses than the wins," Deerfield coach Nicole Keith said Tuesday during an IHSA press conference. "That's very telling of my team right now. It's been very good."

In Keith's two years as coach of the Warriors, the team has compiled a record of 55-11. Prior to Deerfield, she was the coach at Waukegan.

Keith was a three-sport (volleyball, basketball, track and field) athlete at Wheeling High School, where she graduated in 1995. She received scholarship offers for all three disciplines, including a double scholarship to the University of Michigan for basketball and track. An injury derailed her basketball career, but coaching has proven to be a successful endeavor for Keith.

After college, she would go on to coach AAU basketball before landing at Waukegan and eventually Deerfield.

Keith is quick to commend the contributions of her coaching staff, including Pollyanna Johns Kimbrough, who joined the team this season and is a former WNBA player and University of Michigan graduate. Keith played against the Evanston High School star in high school.

"She has been a major contributing factor to my coaching staff, working with my post players in particular," Keith said.

While last season's run to a sectional title game versus eventual state champion Carmel was memorable, the 2022-2023 season has been one for the ages for the Warriors. The team finished the campaign with 10 consecutive wins, the latest coming over Montini Catholic, 52-45, in the Class 3A Dundee-Crown supersectional Monday night. Sophomore point guard Aubrey Galvan led the charge for Deerfield with a game-high 23 points.

"This was big for us because we had lost by six to them in early December (55-49 tournament loss to Montini Catholic on Dec. 13). We had controlled that whole game and now we've handled that," Keith said.

Prior to the playoff game against Montini Catholic, the Warriors knocked Carmel out of the playoffs, 49-39, on Feb. 23 in this year's sectional final.

"It was a good revenge win this year. We've been kind of laughing about how the media has been calling [our season] the 'revenge tour.' We had lost to Maine South in the crossover game the year before and this year we came back and won that," Keith said.

Galvan leads the team this season in steals, assists, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and even blocks at 5-foot-6, according to Keith.

"She's one of the most selfless players you'll see. She would rather get the steal and make the pass than be the shooter," Keith said of Galvan, who currently has 11 Division I offers.

With Galvan at the point, the rest of the starting lineup for the Warriors includes sophomore shooting guard Nikki Kerstein, senior guard Lexi Kerstein, senior forward Olivia Kerndt and senior forward/center Morgan Kerndt.

According to Keith, Nikki Kernstein, who she describes as a pure shooter, currently has more than 10 Division I college scholarships.

Her older sister, Lexi Kerstein, is a team captain. The University of Vermont commit joined the 1,500-point club and became the leading scorer in the program's history last month.

"She leads by example. We call her 'The Bulldog.' If you want somebody to go down and get you to the free throw line, Lexi is going to drive and do that," Keith said. "She's our best girl coming off curls, coming off drives. She's that girl for us."

Olivia Kerndt, the other team captain for the Warriors, is the team's leading rebounder and averaging 10.9 points per game. Keith said Kerndt has been especially clutch for the team during the stretch run.

Her twin sister, Morgan Kerndt, is a post defensive specialist for Deerfield, according to Keith.

"We put her up against any big post we're going to play and it doesn't matter if a girl is 6-foot-4, 220 [pounds], she has proven herself," Keith said. "She has shut down some of the biggest posts in our area."

The Warriors face a major challenge Friday versus the undefeated Railsplitters. Lincoln has outscored its opponents, 345-141, in five postseason contests. Keith is hoping her team's commitment to playing fast, which she says has been described as "AAU-style ball," will help in the state tournament.

"We're run-and-gun, full-court man a majority of the game unless we get into certain personnel things and I change it up. I think that's what gets other teams," Keith said. "They're not really ready for our speed and we're going to keep doing it."

DEERFIELD GIRLS BASKETBALL ROSTER

• No. 1 — Nikki Kerstein, guard, 5-foot-7, sophomore
• No. 2 — Sophie Engerman, guard, 5-foot-5, senior
• No. 3 — Aubrey Galvan, point guard, 5-foot-6, sophomore
• No. 4 — Andrea Hinds, guard, 5-foot-4, senior
• No. 10 — Tori Gitler, forward, 5-foot-9, junior
• No. 12 — Kate Trella, center, 6-foot-1, junior
• No. 21 — Olivia Kerndt, forward, 5-foot-11, senior
• No. 22 — Brenna Burns, forward, 5-foot-8, senior
• No. 25 — Lexi Kerstein, guard, 5-foot-6, senior
• No. 33 — Dara Carson, forward/center, 5-foot-9, senior
• No. 35 — Lauren Gottlieb, guard/forward, 5-foot-7, junior
• No. 40 — Morgan Kerndt, forward/center, 5-foot-11, senior