Daily Herald Players of the Week

The Daily Herald's Week 1 Players of the Week.

Northwest Cook County

Lana Rukavina, Wheeling

Rukavina banked home the winning 14-footer with eight seconds left to lift Wheeling past defending Class AA state champion Fenwick 69-67 in the final-round game of the Niles North tourney. The 6-foot-3 senior center collected a game-high 25 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, 2 steals and 1 assist for the Wildcats, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A.

Luke Mead, Hoffman Estates

The junior guard was red-hot Luke as he averaged 19.7 points and hit 65.6 percent of his shots from the field to lead Hoffman Estates to the inaugural Coaches vs. Cancer tourney title at Crystal Lake Central. Mead was 8-for-14 from 3-point range and also averaged 7.3 assists a game in the tournament.

DuPage County

Danielle Pipal, Glenbard South

The 5-foot-7 senior guard was named the MVP of Glenbard East's Rachel Bach Memorial Tournament after leading the Raiders to the title. She delivered a game-high 17 points with 5 rebounds and 2 steals in a 52-41 victory over the host Rams that clinched the championship.

Drew Crawford, Naperville Central

Behind this 6-foot-4 junior swing man, the Redhawks went 4-0 at Fenton's Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament to claim their third title in five years. Crawford averaged 19.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2 blocked shots to earn MVP honors.

Lake County

Sarah Boothe, Warren

Signing with Stanford just prior to the school year didn't make her complacent. In her second game of the season, the 6-foot-5 center scored a career-high 34 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against Bogan. Boothe averaged 22.2 points and 14.2 rebounds in the New Trier tournament, leading the Blue Devils to the championship with a 5-0 record.

Mike Shields, Grant

The senior guard credited his team's defense for helping the Bulldogs rally from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun Wauconda for the championship of the Johnsburg/Richmond-Burton tournament. His offense helped, too, as he scored 16 of his 23 points in the fourth. He averaged 24 points in the tourney, scoring a career-high 34 vs. Johnsburg.

Fox Valley

Katie Yohn, St. Edward

St. Edward's junior standout started the season by scoring 57 points in 3 games at the Dakota tournament, where the Green Wave went 2-1 and finished second. Yohn had four 3-pointers and was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line in the tournament.

John Moran, Jacobs

A lot of great players have played in the Quincy Thanksgiving Tournament during its 37-year existence, but none had the impact of John Moran. Jacobs' senior guard became the only player in the tournament's history to be named to the all-tournament team four times and finish as the tournament's leading scorer four times.

Tri-Cities

Taylor Whitley, Geneva

The junior guard earned MVP honors for the third consecutive year at Geneva's Thanksgiving tournament after she averaged 15.2 points per game in the 4 games the Vikings won.

Nick Fruendt, Batavia

The Northwestern-bound 6-foot-6 senior forward started his season by winning his second straight MVP honors at Batavia's Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic. Fruendt averaged 24.3 points in Batavia's three wins, including 30 in the season opener against Addison Trail.