Walsh courts athletic, academic success at Illinois State

Ten days ago, during a men's basketball game, Kiley Walsh made it onto the big video board at center court of Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

While she does not perform her talents in Redbird Arena, she was honored for her talents as a Redbird on the golf course and in the classroom.

The Prospect graduate was recognized as the PNC Bank Student-Athlete Achiever of the Game.

The award recognizes the top Redbird student-athletes who excel in academics and athletics while displaying leadership and service.

Walsh, a junior majoring in Spanish education, finished in a tie for 19th place at the season-opening Redbird Invitational this fall with a 229 (78-78-73), including a team-best 1-over-par 73 in the final round.

She shot a 232 (78-79-75) at Missouri State's MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial one week later.

Walsh helped lead coach Jim Hamann's Prospect Knights to Class AA state titles as a sophomore and a senior and a second-place finish as a junior. She finished fifth in the state as a sophomore, earning Class 2A all-state accolades. She set the Knights nine-hole record as a junior with a 33 and broke it as a senior with a 32.

Walsh also helped Prospect's badminton team to a top-eight finish in the state.

Women's track

Illinois State senior Morgan Keller (Rolling Meadows) had an impressive season debut in the shot put when she won the event with a toss at 15.14m (49-08.25) at the Eastern Illinois Early Bird.

Keller's mark is leading the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks in the top-20 nationally.

Illinois State earned second place in the team standings in the Early Bird with 139 points.

Women's basketball

Former Buffalo Grove standout and current Yale coach Allison Guth recently led the Bulldogs to their longest winning streak (five) in two seasons.

Yale is going into the exam and holiday break with an 8-3 record after it erased a late, 6-point deficit with an 11-0 run to earn a 64-58 victory over the University of New Hampshire

The Bulldogs ended New Hampshire's five-game wining streak by making five of their last six shots while tightening up its defense on UNH.

The Wildcats (6-3) had their biggest lead of the day at 55-49 with 4:01 left while Eli junior Jen Berkowitz (team-high 15 points) was on the bench with four fouls.

That's when Guth put Berkowitz back on the floor, and it ignited a great road comeback.

"I give a lot of credit to UNH and how hard they play," said Guth, who played a major role on Buffalo Grove coach Tom Dineen's 2000 Class AA state championship team. "We have a lot we need to improve on defensively in order to play consistently at the level we aspire to."

"We have threats behind the arc and you're going to have some games when they aren't falling," Guth added on the school's website. "I told them at half to keep taking great shots. They were able to capitalize on the second half,"

Guth is in her second season as Yale's head coach.

"I'm proud of our team's ability to stay together and convert on the offensive end by staying aggressive and selfless," said Guth, whose sister Jen Guth is the head girls basketball coach at Elk Grove.

• Carthage College junior Morgan Harris (Hersey) recorded a triple-double (19 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds) to help lead the Lady Reds (5-3, 2-0) past Carthage 82-69 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game.

"I challenged the girls at halftime and asked who wants to be our defensive stoppers," said coach Tim Bernero on the school's website. "Who wants 10 rebounds in a game? She (Harris) did it a bunch last year, but this year she's been doing other stuff."

• Cornell senior Diamond Boyd (Elk Grove) scored a game-high 22 points and led the Rams with 6 steals in a 69-47 Midwest Conference win over Ripon.

The Rams (4-2, 2-0) had their defense running on all cylinders, forcing the Red Hawks (3-3, 1-1) to commit 32 turnovers on the day, Cornell has now forced a total of 64 turnovers (39 steals) in its first two conference games.

Boyd was also one rebound shy of having back-to-back double-doubles in her first two conference games with 9 rebounds.

• St. Louis junior Jackie Kemph (15.9 ppg) is one of three Billikins averaging double figures. Classmate Jenny Vliet (Rolling Meadows) is second on the team with 13 3-pointers.

EXAM JAMM

Officials for the 'EXAM JAMM' are hoping to attract college women's basketball coaches at Lake Zurich High School tonight.

The event is a joint effort between Lake Zurich and Fremd high schools to provide those coaches the opportunity to view 18 teams and nine games at one sight.

"Our hope is to draw colleges to come see some great talent from the suburbs," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "The name came from the fact that most colleges are having final exams this week and it is a good week to go see games because they are not playing games during final exams."

Lake Zurich has three main gyms - the original main gym, the second main gym and the field house.

"That makes for the perfect place to host this event," said Yates, whose team will face St. Viator at 7:45 p.m.

Other games featuring area teams are: Lake Zurich vs. Vernon Hills (4:15 p.m.), Buffalo Grove vs. Wheaton North (5 p.m.), Marian Central vs Libertyville (5:15 p.m.), Johnsburg vs Hersey (6:30 p.m.) and Rolling Meadows vs. Mother McAuley (8:15 p.m.).

Wrestling

North Central College freshman Adrian Wroblewski (Prospect) finished third in the 197 weight bracket of the 53rd Annual North Central College Invitational. Wroblewski ended the day with a 3-1 record and the Cardinals placed third in their own invite.

Men's hockey

Boston University freshman Patrick Curry of Schaumburg had an assist with 3:54 left in the No. 4 Eagles' 4-0 win over No. 5 Vermont.

Curry has 2 goals and 5 assists for Boston, which is 9-5-2.

Men's basketball

Carthage senior guard Kevin Kozil (Hersey) contributed 11 points in the Red Men's 85-75 upset of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rival North Central College, which is ranked No. 9 in the nation.

"Road conference wins are worth a lot," said coach Bosko Djurickovic on the school's website. "North Central is a team that was preseason top five or top ten team and our guys executed the game plan nicely."

Mustang 3-on-3 shootout

The Rolling Meadows Athletic Booster Club is sponsoring its 22nd Annual Mustang 3-on-3 Shootout Basketball Tournament.

The tournament will be Sunday and is open to boys and girls from third grade through adult.

The games will be played from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with younger players going earlier in the day. All games will be played at Rolling Meadows High School and will be officiated. Concessions will be available.

Early registration is through Dec. 10 and the cost is $100 per team. The final registration deadline is Dec. 16 and cost per team is $120. Teams may register online at rmhsboosters.com.

Proceeds from this event go toward the Post Prom Committee and the RMHS Athletic Boosters. Please direct questions to Dave Dillon (847-252-8969) or Rick Kowalski (847-421-1258).

• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.