The Suburban Lakes League began playing girls basketball in 1974-75, and there is no question which school produced the most dominant program.

Eastwood shared the SLL championship with Elmwood in the league's inaugural season, and the Eagles have since won or earned a share of 20 SLL titles.

The Eagles' most successful run came under the direction of head coach Jim Gracyk, who took over beginning with the 1990-91 season. Gracyk's teams won 10 SLL titles and finished second three times until Gracyk's departure following the 2006-07 season.

Jim Gracyk

Gracyk's teams – and Gracyk himself – always provided good entertainment. Opponents knew that when they stepped onto the court against Eastwood, they were in for an intense, up-tempo, physical game.

“From 2000 to 2007 we probably averaged 800 to 1,000 people for home games,” Gracyk said. “In 2005-06 we made more money (for the school) than the boys' program did, and we played two fewer home games. We played an exciting style of basketball, and maybe people wanted to come to games to watch my (sideline) antics. We were successful and schools that played against us, they wanted to see us get beat.”

Eastwood was relatively successful before Gracyk took over. He replaced Mike Godfrey, who coached the Eagles for one season after replacing veteran coach Melissa Chase.

Gracyk's first Eastwood team won just a handful of games, but that quickly changed. He said the main reason his teams became so dominant was because he had “good players.”

“And, my personality,” Gracyk said. “I was more demanding. I pushed the kids harder.”

The Eagles' 2005-06 team set a single-game state record when it made 22 3-pointers (in 52 attempts) in a 101-44 road win at Otsego. Eastwood also made 17 3-pointers against Woodmore and 15 against Swanton that season.

The Eagles set a state record for 3-pointers that season, with 202 (in 21 games), but that record has since been broken. Lima Bath's 2007-08 team holds the record with 241 3-pointers in a season, albeit in 27 games.

Eastwood also set a league record that will never be broken — 71 straight SLL victories over nearly a five-year period.

Gracyk's 2000-01 team reached the Division II state semifinals, losing to Canfield, 54-40, at Value City Arena in Columbus. Canfield (21-7) lost to Cincinnati Archbishop McNicholas, 52-40, in the state championship game.

Eastwood has had one other appearance in the state final four, in 1977. Coach Betty Bruning's squad lost to unbeaten (23-0) Warsaw River River View, 41-38, to finish 17-4.

Gracy's state semifinal squad, which finished 24-3 and was ranked eighth in the state, was led by senior post players Libbe Speck and Brianna Hartman.

Gracyk credited the Eagles' SLL opponents for preparing them for the rigors of the tournament.

“Our league was extremely good that year,” Gracyk said. “Dick Heller had a very good Lakota team. Mike DeStazio had a very good Woodmore team. Gibsonburg had a very good team. Elmwood was tough, and Otsego was competitive. We only beat Genoa, Chris Mathews' team, by I think a combined eight points.”

Gracyk, who won 300 games at Eastwood, said one of the aspects that made competing in the SLL so enjoyable was the rivalries the Eagles had with other league schools. Gracyk is now an assistant coach under Jerry Sigler at Northview.

“The reason I liked it so much, I could just see the closeness,” he said. “Every school surrounded Eastwood. We were kind of like the hub of the league geographically. Everybody else was north, west, east or south of us so you had border rivals. I think that's what makes high school sports great. I really liked the SLL.

“The proudest thing for me about our group getting to state was we did it the right way. We didn't have one move-in, no out-of-district kids and no transfers and we got to the final four. Every one of those kids on that team, from second grade on, wanted to play basketball at Eastwood.”

Heller had his share of success at Lakota during his 11 years coaching the Raiders, from the 1990-91 season through 2000-01. Lakota won two SLL titles during that period and took second four times.

“It was competitive, tough basketball,” Heller said. “I would say the talent pool then was deeper at more schools. I don't think it's quite as deep at all the schools now. Back then, Genoa, Woodmore, Eastwood and Lakota were tough and Otsego was getting better. Gibsonburg was tough. It was just very competitive. We played a double round, so you had to be prepared.”

Heller left Lakota to coach Oak Harbor's varsity girls program from 2001-02 to 2009-10. The Rockets posted back-to-back 20-0 regular seasons in Heller's second and third year.

After all these years away from the SLL, Heller still recalled the battles his Lakota teams had with Gracyk's Eagles.

“He had a great run there,” Heller said. “You either had to be ready to compete or you were going to be pretty well handled. Gracyk had everything — ball handlers, shooters, big kids. Without Jim in the league I don't know if the league would have been as good. He forced you to compete. We had to get better if we wanted to compete with them.”

The Raiders took second place behind SLL champion Eastwood in 1996 and then won the league title ahead of the runner-up Eagles in 1998. Eastwood went on to claim five of the next six SLL titles.

“They were the premier team as far as I was concerned, year in and year out in that league,” Heller said. “Our girls decided they wanted to compete against Eastwood and they committed to working hard. That was the team everybody was shooting for. Jim forced the rest of us to step it up and get after them.”

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