Sizing up girls basketball post-Thanksgiving
Everyone have enough turkey? And football? And basketball?
Without question, this past weekend was one of the busiest of the school year, but now the dust has settled and it's time to take a look at how some of the Fox Valley area's girls basketball teams came out of their respective Thanksgiving tournaments.
So, without further adieu, here we go.
The winners: Jacobs, Hampshire and Cary-Grove each came out of the first portion of the season 5-0. Jacobs won the title at Dundee-Crown over Cary-Grove based on tiebreaker since the two didn't play each other. Hampshire won the championship at the DeKalb tournament.
Jacobs coach Ed Haugens wasn't real happy after his team had to hang on to beat St. Viator 39-37, and he held a longer-than-usual postgame meeting with his team to let them know that. The Golden Eagles responded by coming out the next two nights with quality wins over very good teams in Fremd and Lake Zurich. Jacobs will get another stiff test tonight when it hosts Johnsburg, which bounced back from a 49-point loss to Fenwick to play Wheeling to a 2-point game.
Cary-Grove, meanwhile, is also off to a 5-0 start and also registered quality wins over Fremd and Lake Zurich at the D-C tournament. Many have anointed the Trojans as the team to beat in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division this season and there's no reason to think otherwise at this point.
Circle Jan. 8 on the calendar. That's when Jacobs and Cary-Grove meet in Cary. But don't forget about Dec. 15, as the Trojans travel to Crystal Lake South and are sure to have their hands full.
Hampshire's 5-0 start isn't all that unexpected. The Whip-Purs are loaded this year and their only problem will be depth. Coach Sue Ellett knows her team's biggest obstacle will be staying healthy, but if the Whips do so, they're going to be awfully tough to beat. When you take a look at their schedule, it's clear Hampshire has a great chance to win upward of 25 games this season.
Good starts: The three undefeated teams aren't the only ones who had good starts to the season. Burlington Central is 4-1 and St. Edward is off to a 3-1 start.
The Rockets, under first-year coach Stephanie Smith, took second at their own tournament, falling to a pretty decent Rockford Auburn team in the championship game. Smith has BC playing her brand of basketball and so far it's working out well. While there are tough tests coming up, the date to look forward to is Jan. 16, when Central visits Smith's alma mater Hampshire.
St. Edward started strong with a Suburban Christian Blue win over Chicago Christian then went to the Dakota tournament where the Green Wave placed third. They beat Rockford Guilford before losing to Freeport Aquin and then coming back to beat the host school.
"Saturday morning was a little bit of a wake up call for us," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson, who added that sophomore Maddie Kerr made the all-tournament team at Dakota. "We just weren't in sync. But we pulled it together and had a nice finish against Dakota."
After hosting Aurora Christian tonight, the Wave hits a tough stretch of conference games in which they will play Rosary, St. Francis, Marian Central, Montini and Immaculate Conception prior to Christmas. Dawson should have a pretty good idea of what her team really has before Santa arrives this year.
Even-steven: Bartlett (3-3) and Huntley (2-2) have each started the season at .500 after playing in tough tournaments. Bartlett, after losing to York in its season opener, went 3-2 at the Naperville Central/Benet tournament, losing to tournament champion Naperville Central in overtime, and to runner-up Trinity. Coach Denise Sarna's club will get a tough test Thursday night when the Hawks host Waubonsie Valley, which is off to a 6-0 start.
Huntley fell to Waubonsie and Minooka after beating Naperville North and West Aurora in the Warhawk tournament. After playing FVC crossovers with Prairie Ridge and Woodstock North, the Red Raiders will be at Bartlett Dec. 10 in an interesting matchup of teams that haven't faced each other in the past.
Keeping up with Katie: After being held scoreless against Washington State in the opening round of the UNLV tournament, St. Edward product Katie Yohn exploded for a season-high 25 points Sunday to lead Bradley to an 83-68 win over UNLV in Las Vegas. Yohn, a freshman who is now starting at Bradley, went 5 of 8 from 3-point land and had 20 points by halftime in that win.
Congrats and condolences: Congratulations go out today to Bruce Kay and the entire Cary-Grove football team and the community for the Trojans' state championship over the weekend. I first got to know Kay as a coach in 1987 when he took the Trojans' girls basketball team downstate. In 1997, Kay's football team played one of the most memorable games I've ever covered, an overtime loss in the semifinals at Rock Island and I can still see Kay sitting by himself on a locker room bench after that game as disappointed as I've ever seen a coach after a loss. It's nice to be able to replace that memory with the images of Kay smiling and celebrating the championship on Saturday.
We also wish to pass along our condolences today to the family of Art Getzelman, who passed away Nov. 13 at the age of 84. Art was one of my favorite guys growing up. He was the leading scorer on the 1943 Burlington High School basketball team that won a district championship and he always had a good story to tell. He was inducted into the Central Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.
Condolences also to Cary-Grove girls basketball coach Rod Saffert, whose father passed away in Minnesota just before Thanksgiving. It's never easy to lose a parent, especially when distance separates you from them.
jradtke@dailyherald.com