Schedule heats up for Geneva; Saints draw tough holiday opener
Nobody came within double figures of the Geneva girls basketball team during last year's Western Sun Conference schedule, and looking at scores like an 82-20 Vikings win this week it might be more of the same in 2009-10.
The Vikings (7-0, 3-0) should see a few more competitive games soon, starting with the Benet/Naperville North Holiday tournament, then the Willowbrook Shootout Jan. 16.
Geneva found out this week its opponent at Willowbrook, where many top teams not just from Illinois but around the Midwest come each year for three days of top-level girls basketball on Martin Luther King weekend. The Vikings will play Hillcrest at 1 p.m. Saturday, a team led by DePaul-bound guard Uniqua Hampton, a 6-foot senior.
Next Thursday Geneva starts play at Benet, with games on three straight nights against Wheaton Warrenville South (6-1), Benet (6-4) and York (4-3). The following Monday, Dec. 21, they play Naperville North and Dec. 22 they concluded the tournament against 8-1 Glenbard West, who just edged York 59-58 on Tuesday.
Geneva begins this stretch of seven games in 12 days this weekend against DeKalb tonight and West Chicago Saturday.
Surprise, surprise: It didn't take long - the first week of conference play - for the Upstate Eight to show how unpredictable the race could be this winter.
St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra had this to say last week, and that was before she found out Streamwood had rallied to surprise St. Charles North in overtime.
"I think it's a question mark, I think there are a lot of teams, I think the parity is the best it's been in a long time," Drumtra said. "Just based on last year and what they had at the lower levels and what they have coming back - Bartlett, St. Charles North, Waubonsie, Lake Park, I think they are all going to be competitive. It's going to be a horse race for the conference title. I don't think anyone is going to run away with it. I'd like to but I don't think it's going to happen."
The Saints (4-3) have two more Upstate Eight games before they start tournament play Dec. 19 at Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic. St. Charles East hosts the same Streamwood team that surprised St. Charles North Saturday, then faces South Elgin next Friday in a rematch of their regional semifinal win last year.
And the Saints didn't get any breaks at Wheaton North, where they will open against the No. 1 seed in the 16-team field, Hinsdale Central, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19. The Red Devils have won the tournament six times, including the past three seasons.
St. Charles North (5-2), meanwhile, learned its draw at one of the elite holiday tournaments year in and year out, the 27th annual Charger Classic hosted by Dundee-Crown. The North Stars open against Mother McAuley at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 26.
Batavia and Rosary get a jump on everyone when it comes to holiday tournament play this Saturday when they are both part of the 8-team field at Oswego. In opposite pools, the Royals open at 3 p.m. against Yorkville while Batavia plays at 6 p.m. against Glenbard East.