Whips hoping to derail BC
Last season, Hampshire's girls basketball team prevented Burlington Central from winning the Big Northern East title undefeated when the Whip-Purs beat the Rockets at the Purple Palace in the regular-season finale.
BC had already locked up the league crown at that time so the only thing at stake was running the conference table.
Saturday night, there's much more at stake for the BN-E rivals when they meet for the last time at the current Purple Palace. Game time is 6 p.m., preceding the boys' varsity game on Hampshire's Pack the Place night.
BC (12-5 overall) currently leads the East with a 3-0 record while Hampshire (10-6) sits at 3-1, the only loss being a 58-48 setback at Central on Dec. 7. The Whips are on a 4-game winning streak and looking for more.
"I think we're playing really well right now and so is Central," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett. "It's going to be one of those great Hampshire-Central Saturday night Pack the Place games."
Hampshire is led in scoring by sophomore Chrissy Heine and senior Mallory Koster and has been boosted by the return of junior Christine Schumacher from a knee injury and the progress of freshman Alex Dumoulin..
BC coach Darlene Guyett doesn't want to put a lot of stock in the first game.
"Both teams have played a lot of basketball since that first game," she said. "Hampshire has improved and gotten better and we know coach Ellett will have her kids excited and ready to go."
BC continues to be led in scoring by seniors Cory Bazany and Melanie Laird but sophomore point guard Jordan Maisto had a breakout 20-point game against Harvard earlier this week.
Westminster tournament: Westminster Christian will host a mini-tournament on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 21.
The Warriors will play Woodlands Academy at 10 a.m. while Mooseheart will take on Keith School of Rockford at 11:30. At 1:30, the first-round losers will play and at 3 p.m. the first-round winners square off.
Slide into perspective: After a 6-1 start to the season, St. Edward has lost 6 of its last 7 games heading into tonight's Suburban Catholic Conference matchup at home against Aurora Central.
"The kids are getting experience and we're learning from every game and staying positive," said Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson, whose team was just a game over .500 when the postseason began a year ago before going on a memorable run that ended downstate.
"It never makes losses OK or easy but we're looking to the future."
Seeding time: Class 1A and Class 2A seeding meeting will be held next week. St. Edward is in the Lisle sectional complex and will be assigned to a regional either at Lisle or Plano. Driscoll figures to be the No. 1 seed in St. Edward's sub-sectional.
Hampshire will host a regional as part of the Oregon sectional. If the Whips can pull off a win at Burlington tonight, they could grab the No. 2 seed. Byron, which played at Hampshire Thursday and is state-ranked, figures to be the top seed in the sub-sectional Hampshire is in.