It's unanimous: Boothe nets all-state honors

Sarah Boothe of Warren was the only unanimous choice to the Associated Press' Class 4A all-state girls basketball team, which was released Wednesday.

Boothe, considered the No. 1 recruit in Illinois who has signed with Stanford, received first-team votes on all 10 ballots cast by a statewide panel of sports writers and broadcasters and compiled by John Radtke of the Daily Herald. A 6-foot-5 center, she averaged 20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game for Warren this season. She eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for her career during the postseason.

Joining Boothe on the Class 4A first team are seniors Teandrea Smith of East St. Louis, Anya Covington of Edwardsville, Ellen Ayoub of Buffalo Grove and junior Samantha Arnold of Roselle Lake Park.

The Class 4A second team consists of Fenwick sophomore Tricia Liston, Whitney Young senior D'Frantz Smart, Buffalo Grove senior Maggie Mocchi, Proviso East senior Miame Giden and Wheeling junior Ashley Wilson.

East St, Louis' Smith, a 6-2 center, averaged 17.9 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals for the Flyers. She is committed to Illinois. Covington, the other downstate selection, is also 6-2 and averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds per game this season. She is committed to Wisconsin.

Ayoub, who will lead her Buffalo Grove team against Whitney Young in Friday's state semifinals, is a 6-foot guard who averages 15.8 points and shoots 53 percent from the field. She has scored more than 1,700 points in her career, leading Buffalo Grove to more than 110 wins the past four years. She has signed with Loyola.

Arnold is a 6-4 guard/forward who averaged 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3 blocks per game while shooting 83 percent from the free throw line. She has verbally committed to Michigan.

Leading off the second team is Fenwick's Liston, considered one of the top sophomores in the country. A 6-1 guard/forward, she averaged 20.5 points and 6 rebounds in leading her team to the supersectionals.

Smart and Mocchi will face each other in Friday's state semifinals. Smart is a 5-foot guard who averages 13 points, 8.5 assists and three steals per game for Young's Dolphins. She is signed to play at Rice. Mocchi, who will play at Northwestern, is a 5-10 guard who averages 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 3.1 assists for Buffalo Grove. She has more than 1,800 career points.

Giden, who is signed with Western Michigan, is a 5-11 guard/forward who averaged 20 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.9 steals and 2.3 assists for Proviso East, while Wilson, a 6-foot forward, scored 15 points per game and averaged 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 1.5 blocks. She has made a verbal commitment to Purdue.