Bendoff plans to vault to Missouri for college
Brittany Bendoff is flipping - with excitement.
The gymnast, a Stevenson senior, recently signed a national letter of intent with the University of Missouri.
Bendoff, a Long Grove resident, competes with the Libertyville Gymnastics Academy. She does not compete for Stevenson.
Softball
Northern Ice, Canada-style: Talk about "Northern Ice."
The Wauconda-based Northern Ice U16 college exposure softball team did well enough during the fall to earn an invitation to an international tournament in Canada.
The Canada Cup 16 & Under Fastpitch Showcase Tournament will take place July 6-12, 2009 in Surrey British Columbia, Canada.
The Ice includes Paige Goldberg (Lake Zurich), Kendra Wedl (Wauconda), Kayla Stos (Wauconda), Jordan Wekony (Barrington), Toni Kintzel (Libertyville), Shelby Luna (Warren), Abby Hanson (Zion-Benton), Danielle Kaczmar (Libertyville), Brenda Botzenhart (McHenry), Victoria Pyan (Crystal Lake South), Kristen Kuhn (Barrington), Kelsey Kuhn (Barrington), Heather Kozlowski (Jacobs), Veronica Kraly (Zion-Benton) and Hannah Mahoney (Crystal Lake South).
Fall highlights for the Ice included finishing third behind two 18U teams in its own Fall Freeze Out Tournament. The Ice remained undefeated against U16 teams.
October tournaments included both the Homer Hawks College Exposure Tournament (1-4, all losses against U18 teams) and the Sparks Pumpkin Tournament (3-1-1) in Elgin. In November the Ice traveled to St. Louis for the St. Louis Classic College Exposure Tournament and went 5-0. It took first place (4-0) in the Turkey Shoot in McCook.
Rick Eklund, Steve Kaczmar and Dan Botzenhart coach the Ice. For more information on the Northern Ice Softball program visit the team's Web site at northernicefastpitch.com.
Girls basketball
Round Lake 45, Vernon Hills 43: Amber Phillips' 2 free throws with 24 seconds left snapped a 43-43 tie, as the Panthers rallied to win the North Suburban Prairie Division game.
Stephanie Infante's 3-pointer with a minute left pulled Round Lake (6-0, 2-0) even.
Vernon Hills (1-6, 0-2) led by nine points in the opening quarter and was up 28-23 at halftime.
Infante and Labrenthia Murdock led Round Lake in scoring with 12 points apiece. Chanee Brown and Phillips added 8 and 7, respectively.
Vernon Hills received 17 points and 8 rebounds from Jessica Schwartz and 16 points from Sarah Krippinger, who sank 3 of her four 3-pointers in the first quarter. Jamie Rucks had 6 points (two 3s), 3 assists and 3 rebounds.
Carmel 37, Resurrection 28: Tiffany Hendrickson scored 14 points for the Corsairs in their home win.
St. Joseph (Wis.) 41, Lakes 32: Mary Doupis had 8 points for the Eagles.
Waukegan 54, Grayslake North 43: The Knights lost the nonconference game despite 16 points from Ali Vlahos (four 3-pointers) and 14 from Lauren Erickson. Kinsey Siler had 7 points and 8 rebounds.
Prospect 49, St. Viator 40: Watching their team win for the seventh time in eight tries this season, Prospect fans once again got to see plenty of girls in action.
Second-year girls basketball coach Martha Kelly used 11 players as the Knights posted a 49-40 victory over visiting St. Viator on Thursday night at the Jean Walker Field House in Mount Prospect.
Knights senior guard Danielle Brucci scored 7 of her 13 points in the first four minutes as the hosts grabbed a 7-5 advantage.
They extended the lead to 15-5 as Sarah Hunt (6 points), Rachel Hunt (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Alyssa Baker (6 points, 4 rebounds) all tossed in buckets before the quarter expired.
"It's like we have a lot of confidence in our bench," said Baker, a 5-10 junior forward. "We have a lot of people who can go in and out an do the things we need to do."
Kelly said she was able to play 13 girls twice at the Lyons Township tourney where the Knights went 4-0.
"I consider us a deep team," she said. "All the girls can play. And because we are playing a full-court game, some players will get winded. We have a lot of girls who can play solid defense and take care of the basketball."
Junior Lexi Glennon led the Knights with 15 points whilesophomores Sarah Winans and Marissa Pettenuzzo also made it into the scoring column.
Lexi Glennon's 17 footer gave the hosts a 20-14 lead before Viator received a 3-pointer from Mary Calov (10 points) and a free throw by Kelly Hendricks (5 points) to close to within 20-18.
That's as close the Lions (2-3) would get.
A steal and layup by Lexi Glennon and a layup by Brucci off an assist from Baker made it 24-18 at half.
"We are really focused on playing as a team this year," said Lexi Glennon.
- John Leusch