Christmas tournament season gets into full swing
It's Christmas tournament season and there's no shortage of places to watch Fox Valley area girls basketball teams compete over the next two weeks.
Always one of the top tournaments in the state, the 33rd Annual Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown has a strong field again, highlighted by undefeated New Trier (9-0), which finished second to Prospect in last year's tournament and won the 2013 title. The Trevians' first-round opponent on Dec. 26 is host Dundee-Crown, while defending champion Prospect opens this year's tournament in the final game on Dec. 26 against St. Charles North.
The Charger Classic opener, at 10 a.m. the day after Christmas, pits Stevenson (8-2), which is on a 7-game win streak, against Bartlett (6-4), which has won its last two under new coach Dave Mello. The Hawks tune up for Christmas Friday night when they travel to rival South Elgin.
Burlington Central (7-0), which lost to Stevenson in last year's fifth-place game at D-C, will open this year's tournament against Crystal Lake South (7-3), which has won 6 straight. That game will feature three 1,000 career point scorers - BC's Sam Pryor and Shelby Holt along with CL South's Chanel Fanter, who recently became the school's all-time leading scorer. BC's Kayla Ross is also climbing toward 1,000 as she goes into the D-C tournament with 885 career points.
The BC-CLS matchup will also clearly be the Rockets' first tough test of the season. Ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, BC has won its first seven games by an average of 42 points. No opponent has come closer than 14 to this point.
Other first-round matchups at D-C include Hononegah vs. Maine South, Maine West vs. Naperville Central, Buffalo Grove vs. Fenwick and Resurrection vs. Barrington.
The tournament has already kicked off with Batavia and Aurora Central Catholic playing at Marian Catholic, and it continues this weekend when the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic, which plays at Richmond-Burton, Woodstock and McHenry.
Crystal Lake South is in the pool at Richmond and will play Lakes on Friday then Belvidere and Marian Central Saturday, while Dundee-Crown plays in the Woodstock pool and will take on Johnsburg Friday, then play Woodstock and North Chicago Saturday. The semifinals and finals of the NIHC are Monday and Tuesday.
Around the horn: In addition to Batavia, Geneva and Huntley playing in the ultra-tough Montini tournament beginning Dec. 26, the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic at Wheaton North starts Monday, with Jacobs, Elgin, St. Charles East and West Aurora part of the field. No. 8 seed West Aurora takes on host Wheaton North in the first round, while Elgin will battle No. 2 seed Lyons Township, Jacobs takes on No. 7 seed Hinsdale Central and St. Charles East faces No. 5 seed Palatine. Glenbrook South is the top seed. ... Larkin is in the Blue Devil Classic at Warren and opens pool play Saturday against Deerfield. The Royals play Carmel Monday and Warren Tuesday. ... Harvest Christian will step up in class again and open play in the St. Viator tournament on Saturday against Maine East. The Lions also play Leyden and St. Viator in pool play. ... Kaneland travels to the Ottawa tournament and opens play Saturday against Geneseo and Sandwich. ... Cary-Grove and Streamwood play in the Mundelein tournament that starts on Monday. C-G opens with Grant while Streamwood plays Libertyville. ... The Oswego East tournament also begins Monday and Aurora Central Catholic will take on Plainfield North in the first round. ... South Elgin is in the Riverside-Brookfield tournament and will open play on Dec. 23 against Niles North. ... Westminster Christian plays Monday in the Guerin tournament against the host school. ... St. Edward and Hampshire will wait until Dec. 26 to start play in the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic. St. Edward will take on Walther Christian in the first round and Hampshire faces Hinckley-Big Rock. ... And, Aurora Christian and Rosary wait until Dec. 28 to open play in the Dixon tournament.
Make way for Montini: Postseason assignments were released this week, and coaches in the Class 4A Schaumburg sectional are gearing up for quite a challenge.
The field features six teams ranked in this week's Daily Herald Top 20: No. 8 Geneva, No. 10 Batavia, No. 13 Glenbard East, No. 14. Glenbard North and No. 16. St. Charles North.
The sixth? That would be Montini, ranked second. The Broncos have been a perennial state power in Class 3A and now pose quite an obstacle to Upstate Eight Conference River teams like Geneva, which has won five sectional titles the last seven years.
"I don't have much to say about it," Vikings coach Sarah Meadows said. "It is a tough assignment, but at that time of year you have to be playing your best ball anyway so let's go."
"All good," North Stars coach Sean Masoncup said. "We welcome Montini into our sectional so it just strengthens an already tough sectional."
Batavia started the year at the Trinity tournament and is currently playing in the Marian Catholic tournament. After Christmas the Bulldogs will play at Montini's Christmas tournament. They certainly will be prepared for the postseason.
The Bulldogs (11-1) play host Marian Catholic for that tournament title Saturday, and that comes after a showdown with Geneva Friday night for the early lead in the Upstate Eight River race.
"Honestly, the sectional assignment for us is about what I expected," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "I like that our sectional is not a sub-sectional or set regionals. There are very strong teams in every sectional, and ours is not any different. It's going be extremely difficult to get out of this sectional, but we welcome the challenge."
Bartlett is also in the Schaumburg sectional field and will host a regional. The Schaumburg sectional winner will play the New Trier sectional winner in a supersectional at a site still to be determined.
Also in Class 4A, DeKalb is the host of a sectional that is split into sub-sectionals. One of the sub-sectionals includes Dundee-Crown, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin and Streamwood while the other sub-sectional includes Jacobs. Huntley, DeKalb and the NIC-10 schools from the Rockford area.
In Class 3A, Kaneland and Burlington Central are part of a sub-sectional with Wheaton Academy, Sycamore, Rosary and Aurora Central Catholic, among others. The other sub-sectional that feeds to the Rochelle sectional includes Hampshire as well as state-ranked Rockford Lutheran.
"We were not too surprised about the postseason assignments," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "It will be a competitive sub-sectional and sectional. There are a lot of quality teams in our sectional that are capable of making a run. I am sure people are picking teams as the favorite. We think there are multiple teams capable of coming out of each sub-sectional."
St. Edward has dropped back to Class 2A this season after spending the last few years in Class 3A. The Green Wave, along with Aurora Christian, are in a sub-sectional that feeds to the Byron sectional. Both the Wave and Eagles will hit the road for regionals as the host schools within their sub-sectional are Seneca and Wilmington.
The three Elgin private schools in Class 1A get to stay closer to home as Westminster Christian is a regional host and Harvest Christian will host a sectional. Elgin Academy is included in the sub-sectional with Westminster and Harvest.
No longer McDonald's: The 26th Annual Chicagoland Girls Prep Classic has returned to its original name as McDonald's has dropped its sponsorship of the event at Willowbrook High School on MLK weekend. Jan. 16 and 18. Included in the Jan. 16 schedule, Geneva plays Prospect and Burlington Central takes on Hersey. Batavia will play on Jan. 18 against an opponent that organizer Jim O'Boye will determine after the Montini Christmas tournament.
On fire: Larkin junior guard Marlee Kyles continued her fine play this week with 30 points Monday against Dundee-Crown and 17 Tuesday against St. Charles East.
Unfortunately for the Royals they lost both games, barely - by 3 to the Chargers and 5 to the Saints. They are now 3-7 and if they want to turn some of those 'Ls' to 'Ws' they need a little more balance.
"We've got to be a team that just can't rely on Marlee," Larkin coach Steve Knapp said. "If we are going to win some games we've got to get some scoring from other people."
Kyles showed off all her skills against Dundee-Crown, hitting jumpers or driving to the basket where she finished with her left hand as easily as her right.
"To be honest I think she finishes better left than right," Knapp said. "She's so shifty it's really hard for anyone to guard her.
She's one heck of a player. She can do it all, inside, outside."
Post presence: From Batavia's Hannah Frazier to Geneva's Grace Loberg to St. Charles East's Sara Rosenfeldt to St. Charles North's Claire Jakaitis, there's no shortage of outstanding power forwards and centers in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division.
Frazier and Loberg will square off Friday. Last week it was Jakaitis and Rosenfeldt's turn to do battle.
Basketball might have changed to a more perimeter and 3-point shooting game over the years, but Jakaitis and Rosenfeldt helped turn back the clock with their play in the paint. Neither player was afraid to use their strength.
"I like playing against physical players who are the same aggressive style," Jakaitis said. "It's a lot of fun. You just have to be really physical and not let them push you around or bother you. Push them right back."
Rosenfeldt led the Saints with 14 points while Jakaitis topped all scorers with 17.
"She (Rosenfeldt) wants to bang and get physical and I thought Claire did a great job to bang and stay out of foul trouble," said North Stars coach Sean Masoncup, who moved guard Abby Tarpey into the starting lineup so Jakaitis could focus more inside. "I think it works. Once we get Claire with her back to the basket, she takes over. Once she gets her feet underneath her it's deadly."