The Timothy Christian girls basketball team more than held its own against a challenging summer schedule last month.
The Trojans finished in second place in the Lisle summer league with an 8-1 record, losing to Glenbard East.
Timothy also went 3-0 at the Olivet Nazarene shootout with wins against Rockford Christian, Yorkville and St. Francis.
The Trojans went 3-1 at the Batavia Windmill Classic live event (where college coaches were in attendance evaluating players). Timothy beat Romeoville, Oswego East and Kaneland and lost to Rolling Meadows there.
“At Batavia, we stepped out of our comfort zone and played some bigger schools and did well,” Timothy Christian assistant coach Jack LeGrand said. “Kaneland was a good win for us. Overall, we had a very successful summer. We went 8-1 at Lisle and lost to a very tough Glenbard East team. We got after it and kept getting better.”
LeGrand, the school’s athletic director, ran the summer slate after longtime coach Jill Groenewold retired from both teaching and coaching.
LeGrand said the school hopes to have a new girls head coach in place by the start of the 2026-2027 school year with applications currently being reviewed. LeGrand left open the possibility of remaining on as an assistant coach after being on Groenewold’s staff last season.
“Jill did a tremendous job with the program,” he said. “I stayed with the girls this summer with camp and the games they played. We’re in the process of going through applications and hopefully we’ll have a new coach hired by the start of school. We’re going through the candidates and interviewing them. We want to get the right fit for Timothy Christian girls basketball and the next leader on the faith journey side for these young women.”
LeGrand, also formerly the school’s highly successful boys basketball coach, noted Timothy was quite busy during the month of June. “You have your 20 contact days and you jam in camps and play games here and there,” he said. “It’s a good group of girls who did a good job and had a very good summer.”
Timothy lost three seniors from a team that went 23-4 and made it to the sectional semifinals this past season.
Back for the Trojans are senior-to-be Els Van Den Berg, who eclipsed the 1,000-career-point plateau last season. LeGrand noted she was injured for about a week and a half this summer. Van Den Berg averaged 17.1 points and 10.8 rebounds (a double-double) and shot 63 percent from the floor last season.
“It was kind of a blessing in disguise because the other girls had to learn how to play without her a little bit,” he said.
Sophomore-to-be Lyla Plaisier also returns, along with Annika Lemkuil and Brooklynn Hanchett. Plaisier averaged 10.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.1 assists as a freshman. Hanchett, a senior-to-be, averaged 4.9 points and shot 40 percent from the field, while Lemkuil, also a senior-to-be, averaged 4.2 points, 2.9 steals and shot 41 percent from the field for the Chicagoland Christian Conference runners-up.
“We return the bulk of the team,” LeGrand said. “They know each other well and are familiar with each other. That will help keep things rolling. Players like Annika and Brooklynn had strong summers. The girls keep getting better and better. The new girls did well. We have some sophomores we pulled up who did some good things. The talent is there. They keep getting after it and have bought into it. They know hard work is non-negotiable. They are very coachable and want to get better. They enjoy playing together, which is very cool to see. That’s half the battle. If you have that, you are in a good position and that can carry you.”
LeGrand was impressed by how each player up and down the roster contributed to the team’s success this summer.
“How can you help our team? Whether it was a rebound, a defensive stop or a bucket, everybody found a way to help,” he said. “The gist of this is I’m very proud of them. I’m proud of the returning girls and the new girls.”
Groenewold leaves Timothy after having served two stints as head coach. From the 1998-1999 to 2006-2007 seasons, according to published IHSA records, she went 177-83 (9 seasons) with her 2000 team finishing fourth in the state and 2002 team qualifying for the state finals tournaments. Her teams won eight regional and five sectional titles during that first run.
From the 2019-2020 to 2025-2026 seasons, Groenewold teams went 124-67 (7 seasons) with 4 regional titles.
Overall, in 16 seasons, Groenewold had a 301-150 record (.667 winning percentage) with 12 regional and five sectional titles.
