FVC, EUC conference races heating up
As the girls basketball regular season comes into the home stretch the next few weeks, it's time to take a look at how conference races are shaping up. And there are dogfights all the way around.
Upstate Eight: Four teams -- Waubonsie Valley, Lake Park, St. Charles North and St. Charles East -- are still in contention for the UEC title. Much will get cleared up this weekend. On Saturday, Lake Park plays at St. Charles North and a North Stars win will pretty much knock Lake Park out of the race.
The big UEC game is Feb. 1 when St. Charles North visits Waubonsie Valley. If the North Stars, who like Waubonsie are undefeated in the league, dispose of Lake Park this weekend, the showdown will be set. This is Waubonsie's UEC weekend off so the Warriors go into the Feb. 1 SCN game unbeaten in the UEC.
FVC Valley: Cary-Grove now controls its own destiny in the league race, having taken a 2-game lead over Dundee-Crown, Jacobs and Crystal Lake South. The Trojans avoided an upset bid by Woodstock earlier this week to complete the first round of divisional play at 5-0. C-G gets 3 of its final 5 league games at home and is certainly the favorite to win the title.
FVC Fox: Johnsburg has emerged the favorite in the Fox as the Skyhawks ran the table in the first half of divisional play. Prairie Ridge and Huntley stand 2 games back. The Red Raiders host Johnsburg Tuesday and will need a win and some help to possibly forge a tie for the division title.
Big Northern East: Unless one stumbles, it looks like Burlington Central and Hampshire will share the BN-E crown, making it two straight for the Rockets. BC, which hosts 16-3 Batavia in a nonconference game tonight, still has league games remaining against North Boone, Harvard and Richmond -- all teams they heat handily in the first round -- and Marengo, which gave the Rockets a tussle (45-40) last weekend in Marengo. Hampshire has league games left against Harvard, Richmond and North Boone, teams the Whip-Purs beat by an average of 19 points the first time around.
Suburban Catholic: With Montini ready to wrap up yet another SCC title, the race for second place is on between Rosary (8-2) and Driscoll (7-3). But at 6-4, St. Edward could figure into the second-place fight if it can knock off Rosary and Driscoll on the road.
Clueless: St. Edward junior Katie Yohn may not be clueless about basketball, but she sure is when it comes to statistics. Yohn, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career on Tuesday against St. Francis, says she doesn't pay attention to the numbers.
"I just go out and play," said Yohn, now averaging an area-best 20.7 points per game for the season. "I see stuff when it's in the paper but I don't keep track of stats."
Yohn, who is being heavily recruited by many Illinois mid-majors, started her milestone night shooting 0-for-8 but came alive to score 28 points and lead the Green Wave to a 66-60 win.
"Katie's learned this year that when her shot isn't falling she has to take it to the basket," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. "She's just a great kid and I'm glad we have her one more year."
Another chase: Now the question will become, can Yohn break the school career scoring record of Green Wave legend Beth (Hasenmiller) Sauser, who now administers girls basketball -- among other things -- for the IHSA. Sauser scored 1,772 career points in her storied St. Edward career. Yohn now stands at 1,017, just 755 points away. With at least four games left in this season, if she scores 20 per game she'll top out this season at around 1,100 - with about 450 this year. You do the math from there.
Honoring Mr. Hix: At the Friday, Feb. 8 game between Marengo and Burlington Central on Rocket Hill, the 1983-84 Central girls team will honor their coach, Ralph Hix, who passed away on Christmas Eve. Hix coached that team to the program's only Sweet Sixteen appearance before finishing his coaching career at Marengo.
That time already: Class 1A and Class 2A regionals begin a week from Monday and no, that's not a typo. Locally, Hampshire hosts a Class 2A regional and Westminster Christian is a host in Class 1A. Hampshire is the third seed in its sub-sectional and will likely play No. 2 Oregon for the title. The Whips played Oregon in a Big Northern crossover on Thursday.
Also in 2A, St. Edward, the fifth seed, was sent to the Plano regional and will play No. 4 seed Aurora Christian on Feb. 6. The winner will likely see No. 1 seed Driscoll in the finals.
In Class 1A, No. 8 seed Elgin Academy and No. 11 seed Westminster Christian kick off the Westminster regional against each other on Feb. 4. The winner's prize is a date with top-seeded and state ranked Hinckley-Big Rock the next night.