Geneva keeps winning games, winning big; SCC proves tough

It's impressive enough that Geneva's girls basketball team is off to a 20-0 start, having won a pair of tournament titles along the way.

But it's the way the Vikings have won those 20 games that stands out most.

Geneva has outscored its 20 opponents by 616 points. That makes the Vikings' average victory margin a staggering 30.8 points per game.

Additional proof of their dominance lies in the fact that only one game has been decided by less than 10 points (44-36 win over DeKalb Dec. 12), with just four games decided by 20 points or fewer.

Is the lack of tight games a concern?

"No, because we've had stretches of games that have been really close," said Vikings coach Gina Nolan. "In a lot of games, it feels a lot closer than the scoreboard might show.

"We had a close game at DeKalb in a tough environment and it was close with Glenbard West in the first half - it was a 7-point game at halftime."

As the Vikings go deeper in the state tournament, the games will likely get much tighter, something Nolan already has prepared her team for.

"We work on some end of quarter and end-of-game situations in practice just to be ready for that," said the coach.

What's changed? How have the Vikings improved from a year ago when they finished 21-7?

"I think a big difference is the maturation of the girls," Nolan said, "and just more time playing together. They all committed to play a lot last summer which was great to see. They sort of developed that trust and faith in each other."

Nolan isn't surprised by her team's success.

"From what I saw us do last summer, we felt we had a chance to be an excellent team this year," she added. "It's been nice to see it come together."

While Indiana State-bound guard Taylor Whitley, backcourt teammate Emily Hinchman and frontcourt standouts Lauren Wicinski and Kelsey Augustine form the Vikings' nucleus, Nolan has been thrilled to see additional support come from juniors Myra Yelle, Sam Dudman and sophomores Kat Yelle and Sammy Scofield.

"It's been a pleasant surprise to see so many people contribute," said Nolan. "It hasn't just been one or two people ­- it's been balance from guards, posts, wings, and defensively, I think that we've really picked it up."

Perfect sophs, too: The future of Geneva's girls basketball looks brighter than ever. While the Vikings lose two starters to graduation (Hinchman, Whitley), help is likely to come from their sophomore squad in 2009-2010.

Coach Sarah Meadows' sophs own an 18-0 record.

Doing a double take: That is the reaction when you see Rosary with a 3-5 conference record.

The Royals are 13-6 overall, and other a loss to Geneva, Rosary hasn't lost a game that's not in the Suburban Catholic.

Last week, for example, the Royals went 0-2 with losses to Driscoll and Montini - two teams with a combined 33-3 record. Rosary is now 0-4 against those two teams.

"It's a strong conference," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "Top to bottom I think it's one of the better ones in the area."

Beebe wasn't happy with the way the Royals ran their offense against Driscoll.

"I told the college coaches here, I'll buy you dinner if you can tell me what we ran," Beebe said. "We'll be running it tomorrow quite a bit in practice. You can't go against a team that strong and basically do a walk through."

The Royals had a lot going on last week, but Beebe didn't want to hear about it.

"Here's your escape from finals, here's your escape from the weather," Beebe said. "It's not going to snow in here. We're not going to bring the books in and make you take a test. Here's your escape for right now and we don't take advantage of it. I'm not a fan of excuses."

Saints gear up for tough stretch: St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra hopes her team learned a few valuable lessons from last weekend's 69-41 loss to Geneva.

"They play hard every single possession - all five of them," said Drumtra. "That's what we need to do. As a team, all five of us have to play hard every single possession. They have to take pride in it."

The nonconference clash with Geneva was just the first of many tough games down the stretch for the Saints (10-6), who visit cross-town rival St. Charles North Saturday.

In February, St. Charles East will face challenges from Batavia, Lake Park, Waubonsie Valley and Marian Catholic.

"This is definitely the toughest stretch - the second half of our schedule, and we knew that," said Drumtra.

Obscured by their 28-point loss to Geneva last Saturday was the all-around effort of Saints junior Jaime Rust, who scored 11 points with three 3-pointers, dished out 4 assists and defended Vikings guard Taylor Whitley (19 points) most of the evening.

"I thought Jaime had a strong floor game and that's not easy, having to take on that defensive assignment and at the same time still be a big part of the offense," said Drumtra.

Junior teammate Lexi Baltes also enjoyed a solid game with 13 points (three 3-pointers), 3 rebounds and 3 steals.