Villarreal making immediate impact at Batavia
A freshman playing on varsity is impressive enough. A freshman starting on varsity is that much more noteworthy.
How about a freshman not just starting on varsity but playing point guard, the position that directs the offense and requires the most poise and experience to play?
Batavia's Sami Villarreal is handling all three this winter, a starting freshman point guard who is allowing Sara Fruendt to move inside and help the team with her height.
Teammates and coaches alike have been impressed with Villarreal's play so far, which included a team-high 11 points in her first game.
"She's doing great," senior guard Liz Barnes said. "Everyone loves her, she's so nice. She's playing well, doing everything our coaches are telling us to do."
Batavia opened the season with three straight wins to take the title at IMSA's tournament. Coach Dan DeBruycker knows it isn't always going to be easy for the freshman but couldn't be happier with how things have gone so far.
"The freshman is doing a good job," DeBruycker said. "Sami is coming into a system as a 14-year-old is a little tough sometimes but I think she's doing a good job running our plays to give Sara a chance to move inside a little bit.
"I didn't move her up to sit her, I moved her up to start her. I just figured it gave us the best chance to move Sara down. A 5-11 point guard last year was fine because I had some size, I had some leapers that could make up for it. This year 5-11 is the second tallest girl on my team. She's got to be more of a post player. It also gives us an advantage to have somebody with that kind of passing skill at the four."
Taking one for the team: St. Charles North coach wasn't sure Saturday morning if she would have her senior forward Jenna Bell back in the lineup for the third place game at Geneva's Thanksgiving tournament.
Bell missed the game the day before against Geneva after coming down with acute bronchitis on Thanksgiving.
When did Brennan know she would have Bell back?
"That changed a few times Saturday morning," Brennan said.
"She wanted to play but at first thought she would come and sit on the bench. But then the thought process came that she can't sit on the bench and not play."
So Bell suited up and wound up leading the North Stars in scoring with 13 points in a 50-48 win over Rosary. She made 9 of her 10 free throws.
Brennan certainly would have liked to have seen what the North Stars could have done in their 45-32 loss to Geneva with Bell on the court. However, Bell's absence, plus early foul trouble for Kiley Hackbarth, gave Brennan a chance to see reserves like Amy Hipple and Kate Booe more minutes.
"This game showed me more we have depth than I thought we have and I'm excited about that," Brennan said. "We looked at some different combinations. Amy Hipple handled it very well. Overall they can be holding their heads high."
Growing pains: Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe has the youngest team in the area this year, with just one senior.
After starting the year with three straight losses, the Knights picked up victories last week over Luther North and Elmwood Park before two more setbacks dropped them to 2-5.
Colombe said he's going to try to play a deep bench this year, especially early, to let his players show who deserves the most playing time.
"We're a small team and pretty balanced," Colombe said. "At the beginning of the year we'll be playing a lot of girls in and out and keep everyone active and a part of the team and go from there. If people step up certainly their minutes will increase. But we came in thinking we'd play at least 10 girls in the rotation."