South Elgin, Streamwood on collision course again
If seeds hold, Fox Valley area girls basketball fans could be in for a treat come regional final Thursday in Class 3A and Class 4A.
The IHSA released pairings for the postseason on Friday and in Class 4A, South Elgin and Streamwood could meet for the third straight year in a regional final, this time at Jacobs.
The Sabres beat South Elgin last year before advancing to the sectional finals and falling to Huntley. In 2012, South Elgin beat Streamwood in the regional final before losing to Cary-Grove in the sectional semifinals.
Jacobs hosts one of four regionals within the Crystal Lake South sectional. The action kicks off on Monday, Feb. 17 with No. 4 seed Larkin playing No. 5 Jacobs. It’s the first time in three years Larkin hasn’t played Elgin in the first round of the postseason.
The sixth-seeded Maroons play No. 3 Dundee-Crown in the second game on Feb. 17. The Jacobs-Larkin winner plays No. 1 South Elgin and No. 2 Streamwood takes on the D-C/Elgin winner in the Feb. 18 semifinals with the championship game Feb. 20.
Cary-Grove also hosts a regional. Prairie Ridge is the top seed there, with CL South No. 2. No. 4 CL Central plays No. 5 McHenry and C-G takes on No. 6 Grant on Feb. 17, with PR and CLS getting the respective winners on Feb. 19. The title game is Feb. 21.
Huntley, which finished fourth in Class 4A last year, is the top seed at the Rockford Jefferson regional. The Fox Valley Conference Valley Division champs will play on Feb. 19 against the winner of a play-in game between No. 4 Rockford East and No. 5 Jefferson. The other semifinal has No. 2 DeKalb against No. 3 Belvidere North.
Hononegah is the top seed in its own regional, which also feeds into the CL South sectional. The regional winners from Jefferson and Jacobs face each other in the first sectional semifinal Feb. 25 with the Hononegah and Prairie Ridge winners meeting in the second semi.
The CL South sectional winner will take on the Addison Trail sectional winner in the Judson University supersectional March 3.
The Addison Trail sectional includes Bartlett, which got the No. 8 seed and was assigned to the Glenbard East regional where it will take on No. 9 St. Charles North in one semifinal on Feb. 19. The winner will likely get a shot at Wheaton Warrenville South, the top seed, in the title game. WWS lost to Huntley in last year’s supersectional at Dundee-Crown and features DePaul recruit Meghan Waldron.
Also feeding to the AT sectional will be regional winners from Wheaton North, Batavia and York. Downers Grove North, Batavia and Wheaton North are the other top seeds.
Class 3A: The site may be Aurora, but if seeds hold Burlington Central and St. Edward, which moved up to Class 3A this year, will meet for a regional championship at Aurora Central Catholic. Central, which lost to Vernon Hills in the Hoffman Estates supersectional last year, is the top seed at ACC and will open the postseason Feb. 18 against either No. 4 ACC or No. 5 Hampshire. The Green Wave will meet either No. 3 Rosary or No. 6 IMSA in the other semifinal with the title game Feb. 20.
The ACC regional winner advances to the Belvidere sectional to play the Plano regional winner. Sycamore is the top seed at Plano. Also at Belvidere will be regional winners from Freeport and Richmond. Rockford Lutheran is the top seed at Freeport and Marian Central is No. 1 at Richmond.
The Belvidere sectional winner advances to the Hoffman Estates supersectional to play the Ridgewood sectional champ. Vernon Hills, Antioch, Carmel and North Chicago are the top four seeds at Ridgewood.