Aurora Christian prevails at the UC
In an early season PSL showdown at the United Center on Tuesday, Aurora Christian (3-3, 1-0) came away with a 61-53 win over Wheaton Academy (6-2, 1-1).
Joe Redmond led the Eagles with 15 points and was commended by his coach Don Davidson for his "outstanding job" of guarding Ben Euler, the Warriors' explosive scorer.
Euler finished with 7 points before fouling out. Travis Cleveland added 14 for the Eagles while Paul Werkema and Tim Streets both scored 11 for the Warriors.
Girls basketball
Driscoll 60, St. Francis 42:ŒThis is a different Driscoll girls basketball team.
In past seasons a rare victory over St. Francis would have been cause for a major celebration.
This year the Highlanders are acting like they expect to win. So while they were more than a little happy to beat Suburban Catholic Conference foe St. Francis 60-42 Tuesday in Wheaton, they kept the night in perspective as they left the gym.
Never mind that they had just snapped a 23-game losing versus St. Francis. You have to go back to Jan. 12, 1996, for the last time Driscoll (7-1, 1-1) defeated the Spartans (4-6, 0-4).
"It's a different year," Highlanders coach Steve McCuiston said. "I thought this would be an exciting moment for me and all that, but I want more. It's just a different mindset."
In past seasons Driscoll had plenty of chances to try to bounce back after a loss, but this was the first time these Highlanders faced such a situation. They were coming off a 3-point loss to Rosary.
The Highlanders built a 19-11 lead by the end of the first quarter and stretched their advantage to 36-23 by intermission.
Courtney Lindfors scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half, while freshman guard Allie Divito came off the bench to hit her first three 3-point attempts in the second quarter on the way to a game-high 15 points.
Catherine Culligan's 10 paced St. Francis.
-- Dave Miller
Hockey
Vikings Top Sandburg: Geneva team overcame a 2-goal deficit to beat the Carl Sandburg Eagles 5-3 on Saturday night .
The Eagles scored their first 2 goals in the first five minutes and held the lead going to the first intermission. Geneva began their rally when Rich MacDonald connected on a power play feed from Will Sterne. Then, Nick Leon got past two defenders for the 2-2 equalizer midway through the second. They took a 3-2 lead on a power play goal by Brian Cornick.
In the third, Geneva extended their lead to 4-2 on Leon scored his second of the game with assists from Sterne and Mike Leskun on the powerplay. However, Sandburg pulled to within 4-3 on a goal by Matt O'Toole with 2:20 remaining in the game.
The Vikings (12-2-6, 8-2-5) took a penalty with two minutes left but Cornick scored an empty net goal to seal the victory. Jon Smarsh saved 20 out of 23 Sandburg shots.
North Star JV Goes 1-2-1:
The St. Charles North JV squad team lost to Huntley at home 8-7. Cos Vivirito scored two goals and recorded three assists. Joe Pappas added a goal and an assist.
In their next game, they tied Carmel at home 2-2. Paul Trusso and Pappas scored for the North Stars. Goalie A.J. Gamboa made 32 saves against Carmel.
They dominated Hersey 11-0. Vivirito and Michael Purcell both scored a pair of goals. Goalie Erik Rasmussen earned the shutout in goal out. This past Saturday, the North Stars got blanked 2-0 against Rockford.
Baseball
Aurora Hitting Camp: Aurora University will host a four-day camp from December 26-29 designed to improve players' hitting skills.
The camp, hosted by AU's Director of Athletics and former head baseball coach, Mark Walsh, offers three daily sessions.
Session 1 is from 8:15 am to 9:45 am for players ages 8-10. Session 2 is from 10 am to 11:30 am for players ages 11-13. Session 3 is from 1 pm to 230 pm for players ages 14-18.
The deadline to register is December 21 and the cost is $80 for the first camper and $70 for each additional child in the family. For more info, please call 630-844-6181 or 630-844-5111 or e-mail ndano@aurora.edu.
Basketball
St. Charles North Holiday Camp:
St. Charles North will be hosting basketball camps for kids between grades through eight from January 3-5, 2008. The gender-specific camps run at the same time in different gyms.
Students in grades three through five attend from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and students in grades six through eight attend from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. North Stars head coaches Tom Poulin and Katie Sauber will run the camps and current North Star players will be instructing.
The skill curriculum will include shooting, passing, dribbling, games and more. The cost is $25 per day, $75 for the full length.
Softball
Comets Want Pitchers:
The St. Charles Comets 12U Black team is looking for an experienced fast pitch softball pitcher for the 2008 season.
The Comets are a traveling softball team which will play several tournaments this upcoming summer and have home games at the East Side Sports Complex in St. Charles. Indoor training begins Sunday, January 6.
For more information, call coach Sue Stricker at 630-336-1553 or visit www.stcharlescomets.info.