Mark Bennett: Community spirit -- Robinson recovering from storm, rallying behind team

Feb. 27—One beauty of sports is its ability to unify and uplift souls.

Soon, the community of Robinson will mark the one-year anniversary of a EF-3 tornado that devastated the east-central Illinois town of 7,187 residents, claiming three lives and injuring 10 people.

The March 31, 2023 overnight storm destroyed 35 homes and damaged more than 50 other dwellings. It swept away the Crawford County Airport, and then continued on its 42-mile path into Indiana, where it decimated Sullivan and killed three more people.

Many folks will be reflecting on that night.

As the anniversary nears, Robinson High School's girls basketball team is giving its hometown a reason to cheer.

The Maroons on Monday night earned a berth in the Illinois High School Association State Finals for the first time in school history. They beat Peotone 45-36 to win the Class 2A Tolono Unity Super-Sectional title.

That sends Robinson into the State Finals at CEFCU Arena in Normal. The Maroons sport a 28-5 record going into Thursday's 3:45 p.m. CT clash with Class 2A's third-ranked team, Nashville (32-3).

If Robinson tops Nashville, the Maroons play for the state championship at 1 p.m. CT Saturday against the winner of Thursday's other semifinal between Wilmette Regina Dominican and Peoria Notre Dame.

Coach Scott Zane's Maroons are in uncharted territory for a Robinson girls hoops team. They won the school's first regional (the first tier of the Illinois state tournament) since 2003-04. Then they added the school's first sectional and super-sectional titles.

"It means a lot to the school," Zane said of the State Finals berth. His advice to the school and his players is to "just soak it in."

There's a lot to absorb.

Robinson's team dealt with the adversity of sports competition. Their road to an hoped-for Little Illini Conference title hit a pothole in December. The Maroons lost back-to-back LIC games to Newton and Mount Carmel.

Afterward, "our girls were a little down," Zane said Tuesday morning.

He decided it was time for a defensive change. The team tweaked its man-to-man defense to better protect opposing drives to the basket. A tactical adjustment at midseason isn't easy for professional or college teams, and it wasn't simple for the Maroons.

"It was a challenge, and there were times during the season [subsequently] when the girls were frustrated with it," Zane said.

But they won 19 of their next 21 games. And now they're two wins away from a state championship.

They use a fast-paced offensive style in which Zane's players aren't afraid to take a tempting shot, by design.

"We are the team that when we bump into you, we would knock you down and then help you up," he explained.

Using the coach's definitions, Robinson's lineup includes "defensive stopper" Taylor Blank; "the heart and soul of our team" Alexia Zane; her twin sister and "our go-to girl" Marisa Zane; the "very versatile" Katelyn Jones; Elizabeth Shea and her "unusual shooting form" that just works; and a reserves corps topped by University of Louisville softball recruit Addy O'Dell, and center Riley Erton who's delivered "some really big games for us."

Together, they'll take on Nashville, "an incredibly good team," as Zane put it, from southwestern Illinois that has won 18 of its last 19 games. Like Robinson, the Hornettes' lineup features twins — Samantha and Summer Brinkman, a pair of 5-foot-11 freshmen. "The only difference is mine are [5-foot-6] and theirs are 5-10 or 5-11," Zane said, referring to his daughters.

When the tornado hit Robinson last March, Zane and his family took shelter in their basement. "It hit [the community] really quickly," he recalled. "It was a very scary night."

The student manager who assists Zane and his players on the Robinson sidelines is Allison Meese. Her family survived last March's storm, but their home was among those destroyed, Zane said.

The Meese family's home was rebuilt, Zane said, and they recently moved back in.

Signs of recovery are happening elsewhere around Robinson. This month, Crawford County Airport, a vital economic and healthcare hub, was approved for a $3.8-million federal grant to rebuild its terminal building — an infusion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's Airport Terminals Program, the Robinson Daily News reported. On Monday, Marathon Petroleum reopened its Neal Pit Wildlife Habitat, which had been destroyed by the tornado. Employees from the Marathon Refinery in Robinson and volunteers rebuilt the site, situated on 80 acres near neighboring Palestine.

Volunteerism made a difference right after the storm, too. As Robinson Fire Department Chief Travis Miller said that week almost a year ago, the efforts included "citizens helping their neighbors dig out of rubble piles."

Coach Zane recalled that spirit on Tuesday.

"This community was fantastic," Zane said of the tornado recovery. "You've never seen so many volunteers helping."

Eleven months later, folks in Robinson have a basketball team to rally around.

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.