Hampshire wants more at Harlem this year
The past couple of years, the Hampshire girls basketball team has been content to get a couple of win at the Harlem Holiday Invitational.
Not this year.
"We want to contend for the title," said Whip-Purs coach Sue Ellett. "We certainly feel we'll be one of the top three seeds going into the final day."
The 12-team Harlem tournament begins Wednesday with pool play. After three days of pool games, first, second, third and fourth place brackets are created and every team gets at least one more game, with the championship game scheduled for 1:45 p.m. next Saturday. Each of the top four seeded teams plays in a "place" game.
Hampshire, now 7-1 after beating Burlington Central 48-31 Friday night, opens play on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against Rockford East, then plays Harlem on Thursday and Rock Falls on Friday.
Jacobs (5-2) is also in the field and plays Rockford Lutheran Wednesday, Belvidere North Thursday and Rockford Auburn Friday.
Rockford Boylan, Rockford Christian Life, Rockford Guilford and Sycamore complete the field.
"Sycamore could be a darkhorse," said Ellett, whose team is in the Class 3A Kaneland regional field with Sycamore when the postseason comes.
The Whips, who continue to have a balanced attack with seniors Kelly Plichta and Christine Schumacher, juniors Chrissy Heine, Bridget Dumoulin and Cassie Dumoulin, and sophomore Alex Dumoulin leading the way.
That's the depth that Ellett hopes will help the Whips this coming week.
"When you play four days in a row you have to rely on good defense and good shot selection because you don't get that practice time," said Ellett, who believes Boylan, Lutheran, Jacobs and her team are best bets for the top seeds. "I would hope I've got some seniors and juniors who can adjust on the fly.
"We want to contend for the title this year. It's not just a learning experience like it has been the last couple years. We want to see how we stack up with some of the (Class 4A) teams and we get a chance to see Sycamore, who is in our regional."
Wave on a roll: St. Edward has now won four straight since losing to Dakota 44-30 in the championship game of the Dakota Thanksgiving tournament. The Green Wave stand at 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the Suburban Catholic Conference heading into Monday night's home matchup against SCC power Driscoll, which will come to Elgin as the No. 3 ranked team in Class 2A. The Highlanders are led by 6-foot-4 junior Courtney Lindfors and state golf champion, guard Gigi DiGrazia.
"Our girls are working hard and they're really a coachable group that's trying to do everything we're asking right now," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. "We've got some girls stepping up and showing some leadership."
In addition to Bradley-bound senior standout Katie Yohn, who is averaging 20.5 points per game, Dawson has been pleased with the play and leadership of senior Valerie Gotheridge and junior Kristi Knott and sophomore guar Enza Ranallo, among others.
"We've had great balance," Dawson said. "Enza's had a couple big games, Kristi and Val have stepped up and so has Angie (Cortez). They're really helping to play a supporting role for Katie and I don't think she feels the pressure of having to do it all herself. Her assists have been incredible this year. The girls are learning to expect the ball from her."
Dawson said she knew this team had some talent but admitted she wouldn't have predicted a 9-2 start.
"We know we're going to have some ups and downs," she said. "I knew we had talent but we lacked varsity experience. I'm not shocked by it but it was a guessing game going in. Fortunately we meshed and we've been winning."
More early Christmas: Larkin and South Elgin each head to the Oswego East tournament that begins Wednesday and the Storm (6-3) and Royals (1-9) are on opposite ends of the bracket. South Elgin opens the tournament against Plainfield East on Wednesday while Larkin waits until Friday for its first game, a 6:30 p.m. matchup with the host school.
Assignments released: The IHSA has released postseason assignments and in one curious twist of the map, Elgin and Streamwood were sent to the Class 4A Crystal Lake South regional while Larkin and DeKalb are among the teams assigned to the South Elgin regional. Jacobs will be the host of a sectional that includes regional winners from Boylan, Woodstock, CL South and South Elgin. Huntley is in the field at Woodstock while Jacobs and Dundee-Crown are both at CL South. DeKalb, St. Charles East and St. Charles North join the mix at South Elgin.
Cary-Grove was left out of the above field and assigned to the Barrington sectional complex, which includes Wheeling, the state's top-ranked team.
Bartlett, meanwhile, was assigned to the 20-team Addison Trail sectional complex, where Elk Grove, York, Lake Park and West Chicago are the regional hosts.
In Class 3A, Burlington Central and Hampshire are part of the Kaneland regional along with IMSA, Sycamore and the host school. The Kaneland regional feeds to the Marengo sectional, along with regional winners from Sterling, Oswego and Belvidere.
In Class 2A, St. Edward will join Aurora Christian, Ottawa Marquette, Seneca and the host school in the Plano regional. St. Edward lost to Seneca 66-63 in overtime in the second game of the season at the Somonauk tournament.
The Plano regional feeds to the Plano sectional, along with regional winners from Bishop McNamara, Peotone and Chicago Christian.
Elgin Academy and Westminster Christian are both in the Hinckley-Big Rock regional in Class 1A.
Correction: In last week's coverage of Elgin's win over Larkin, we published that it was the Maroons' first win over the Royals since former Elgin coach Lee Turek's squad did it in December 2002. That 2002-03 Elgin team was actually coached by Donna Null. Turek retired after the 2001-02 season.