Fox Valley girls basketball notes
Larkin girls basketball coach Amy Silverman knew her young team was going to go through some growing pains this season.
After a 1-3 start to the season, Silverman is now hoping her Royals start to see improvement.
"We're just so young," said Silverman, whose team competed at the Oregon Thanksgiving tournament and then played Dundee-Crown on Thursday night before hosting rival Elgin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
"The more experience they get on the floor the more they'll improve," she said. "I've seen signs of really good defense but we need to put a complete game together."
Even though the Royals haven't been an offensive juggernaut, Silverman is impressed with the play of senior guard Nadyah Spencer, who didn't play last season.
"She's looked good," Silverman said. "She's really quick."
Silverman's glad to get her team back on the court after more than a week without a game.
"We need games," she said. "We need to get on the court and get some experience."
Silverman knows she won't have to say much to pump her team up for Saturday's Elgin game.
"It's not what it used to be when I first started but it is still Elgin-Larkin and the rivalry is still there," she said. "As much as you try to play it down and treat it as just another game, there's still the Elgin-Larkin pride factor and that will always be there."
Balanced Whips: Hampshire is off to a 6-1 start behind solid defense and balanced scoring.
"It's a great start to the year," said Whip-Purs coach Sue Ellett. "The thing I'm most impressed with is our defense."
Ellett wants her team to hold the opposition to under 40 points per game, and the Whips have done that in four of their six wins.
Ellett is also impressed with the play of 5-foot-9 junior Cassie Dumoulin early this season.
"Cassie has some real good overall quickness and she's show the ability to score," Ellett said. "She's given us a nice boost. And Chrissy (Heine) has gotten stronger this year. She's able to guard anybody on the court. We've got balanced scoring and we've been able to spread things around. We're a hard team to guard."
Above all, Ellett has been pleased with the point guard play of senior Kelly Plichta.
"The unsung hero is Kelly Plichta," Ellett said. "We needed somebody to get the ball up the floor and she's done that. She plays with a lot of heart and passion."
The Whips dive into Big Northern East play next week, hosting Marengo on Tuesday and Burlington Central on Friday.
Speaking of the Rockets: Burlington Central coach Wade Maisto didn't come away from BC's Thanksgiving tournament all that disappointed. His team fought through injuries to go 3-2 in the tournament and stands at 3-3 for the season.
"I left the tournament encouraged about what I have to work with the rest of the year," said Maisto, who rested his point guard daughter Jordan (wrist) in the third-place game loss to Rockford Auburn. "If we can get Jordan and Molly (Turk) healthy and Taylor (Colby) keeps coming on like she has been, we could be OK."
The Rockets' schedule is plentiful. They played Genoa-Kingston Thursday night, they're at Stillman Valley Saturday, host Oregon Monday, Streamwood Tuesday and then play at Hampshire next Friday before diving into the Woodstock Christmas tournament, which is a 16-team affair this year with games being hosted at Woodstock, Marengo, Richmond and McHenry.
Hawks flying high: Bartlett is also off to a good 4-2 start, a far cry better than last year's 0-6 beginning. The Hawks have been spurred by the expected strong play of sophomore center Jacki Gulczynski, a returning all-area player, who has averaged 17 points per game and hit for 26 in a 77-74 win over Joliet at the Naperville Central/Benet Tip-Off Tournament.
But in addition to Gulczynski, Hawks coach Denise Sarna has been more than pleased with the play of the four freshmen she brought up to the varsity, guard Ashley Santos, who has added to the scoring mix.
"Ashley's just a natural athlete. She's a ballplayer. We've just got a really strong freshman class and they're all contributing," said Sarna of Santos, Haley Videckis, Kristin Conniff and Katie Gutzwiller.
Sarna's team is an interesting mix this year, one she's coming to like more and more. In addition to the four freshmen, the Hawks have three sophomores, one junior and six seniors on the squad. One of those sophomores, 6-foot Christina Carlson, is expected back from a stress fracture in her back around Christmas-time.
"Jacki was kind of an unknown last year. This year she's drawing more attention but we have a stronger supporting cast," said Sarna, whose team graduated only Katie Koster from last year's squad. "We had a ton of kids return and now with the new kids we have more depth.
"It's a credit to what the kids did over the summer. The freshmen had to earn their spots and they have. But on the other hand, the juniors and seniors aren't going to roll over. Our practices are really competitive and that's just going to make us better."
The Hawks also face a tough schedule ahead and by the time the 2008 portion of the slate is over Sarna will have a good idea of how good her team will be in the end. Bartlett plays Waubonsie Valley, West Chicago, Lake Park and St. Charles North prior to the ultra-tough Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament.
Super ECC: Larkin athletic director Jim Juliano swears he isn't bucking to be a game show host but a supersectional host he and Larkin will be. Both supersectional doubleheaders - one for Class 1-2A and one for Class 3-4A will be held at the Elgin Community College Events Center this season and hosted by Larkin. The 1-2A supers will be at ECC on Monday, Feb. 23 and the 3-4A doubleheader on Monday, March 2.
The Illinois High School Association released site hosts for the postseason earlier this week and Class 4A is the only class in which Fox Valley area schools host a regional or sectional. South Elgin and Crystal Lake South each host regionals that feed to the Jacobs sectional. Marengo is also a sectional host in Class 3A.