Big game? You better believe it
Forget what the calendar says. Tonight's Waubonsie Valley at Bartlett girls basketball game is as big as they come in the regular season.
They're both undefeated. They're ranked No. 1-2 in the Daily Herald Top 20, Bartlett at the top and preseason No. 1 Waubonsie Valley now standing at No. 2.
And while a leg up in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division is enough incentive for both teams, both coaches also acknowledge this is a big one.
"Both teams are undefeated and when you look at the rankings and the way people look at teams, yes it's a pretty big game," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna, whose team has won 21 straight Upstate Eight Conference games and is the defending Valley champ.
"Both teams have a core of varsity kids who have been playing varsity a long time. We've had some great battles with Waubonsie and these are the games that are fun. It'll be packed and the kids will be playing their butts off out there. It's a big game."
Waubonsie Valley coach Kim Connell need not be reminded.
"It's still early," Connell said, "but in the scope of things when you're talking about the conference it's us, Bartlett or Neuqua."
Bartlett (10-0, 3-0) beat Neuqua Valley last Tuesday and has beaten every opponent this year by at least 13 points while scoring 67.5 points per game.
Bartlett swept last year's two games with Waubonsie, although the 68-64 final at Bartlett was arguably one of the Warriors' better performances.
Indiana-bound Haley Videckis, one of five Hawks senior starters, is the top gun but far from the only threat. The Hawks have gotten consistent play all season from their other senior starters Kristin Conniff, Janessa Baker, Lisa Palmer and Katie Gutzwiller. Sarna has also been able to go 8-9 deep and still maintain a high level of play.
"Their top seven can all score and they can all run," Connell said. "We have to limit their scoring and slow down their transition."
It would indeed behoove Waubonsie (7-0, 2-0) to keep this one in the half-court, where the physical Warriors do their best work defensively. Waubonsie surrenders just 40 points per game, and has given up greater than 40 just twice.
Key for the Warriors is staying out of foul trouble, because they are not a particularly deep team. The rotation has lengthened the last two games with the return of senior point guard Becky Williford from an ACL tear. Connell also said senior guard Tami Morice, who scored her 1,000th career point last week, has picked up her shooting of late.
"We want to hold teams under 40 points," Connell said. "That's a pretty lofty goal, but we feel one of our strengths is our half-court defense. We need to keep our starters on the floor and limit mistakes at both ends."
Sarna believes rebounding will be the key.
We'll have to do a good job of keeping them off the boards," she said. "They're a real good rebounding team. We'll also have to limit our turnovers and create some."
Sarna realizes that Williford makes the Warriors a better team but she's impressed with Waubonsie as a team in general.
"Becky Williford's a very good player," Sarna said. "We've seen her at her best and we've played well against her. She does some things that can hurt you. But they've obviously been able to get their backup kids to fill roles while she's been out."
One thing Sarna knows is that her team will have to play better than it did at East Aurora Friday night, when the Hawks survived, 41-28, against an improved Tomcats team. Videckis was held to just 3 points in the win.
"It was an eye-opener for us," Sarna said. "We didn't play real well but I was proud of the team for the way they fought through it."
And the veteran coach knows Tuesday night will truly be a barometer of where this Hawks team stands in the ranks of the elite.
"We're going to see what we're made of and how we respond," she said.
Charging on: Dundee-Crown has fashioned a 4-game win streak after starting the season 0-4, as the Chargers have had two unknowns now in the starting lineup step up and play well.
While D-C coach Michelle Russell knew she had potential in 3 of her returning starters seniors Ali Sanders, Carlin Faulkner and Diamond Williams the other two spots have now been filled nicely by 5-foot-8 junior Jill Weichmann and 5-11 sophomore Emily Michalski.
"Jill has been really tough on defense and Emily's played good defense and she's been blocking some shots," Russell said. "She's really been stepping up and giving us as lot. Right now the starting five have all been contributing."
Unfortunately for the Chargers, Faulkner, the Fox Valley Player of the Week last week, sprained an ankle in practice Saturday and could miss this entire week. D-C (4-4, 2-0) plays a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game at Prairie Ridge Tuesday night then has games with Elgin on Thursday and Larkin on Dec. 20 prior to the Charger Classic Christmas Tournament.
"That will hurt us," said Russell of losing Faulkner. "She had been scoring, hitting some 3s, and playing really good defense. Jordan Bartelt will have to come off the bench and step up a little more and take more of a leadership role.
"Our goal is to go into Christmas 7-4. Before we played McHenry (a 49-36 win) we wanted to get back to .500, now we want to go into Christmas well above .500.
The week ahead: The Mundelein Holiday Tournament takes the week off but reconvenes with the second round on Saturday. Cary-Grove (6-3) will take on host Mundelein in the 5 p.m. quarterfinal while Huntley meets Grant at 10:30 a.m. and Streamwood plays Waukegan at 1:30 p.m. in the consolation bracket.
The Oswego tournament continues this week as well. Hampshire has a tall task against 8-1 Neuqua Valley Tuesday night while Larkin takes on Rosary Wednesday. Hampshire comes back against Batavia on Thursday and the final round is Saturday.
The Northern Illinois Holiday Classic gets under way on Friday. The tournament, hosted at four different sites, features Burlington Central and Crystal Lake South. The Rockets play in the McHenry pool and take on Round Lake Friday, then Crystal Lake Central and McHenry Saturday. CL South is at Richmond and plays North Chicago Friday, then Grayslake North and Richmond on Saturday.
Another interesting local matchup on Friday has Elgin's Class 1A Christian schools Westminster and Harvest matching up Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Westminster. Westminster is 7-3 on the season and Harvest, in its first year of IHSA basketball, is 7-1.
Postseason assignments: No. 1 Bartlett would not have to see Fenwick or Trinity, the teams that have eliminated the Hawks from the Class 4A postseason the last two years, anywhere short of Redbird Arena this season. The IHSA released postseason assignments Friday and the Hawks are a regional host within the Hoffman Estates sectional, where the other regional hosts are Addison Trail, Geneva and Conant. Based on current rankings, Hoffman Estates' gym could be host to a Bartlett-Geneva sectional game, but undefeated Wheaton Warrenville South is also in the field, as well as 7-2 York.
The Hoffman Estates sectional winner will play the McHenry sectional champ in a supersectional at Elgin High's Chesbrough Field House. South Elgin, Hononegah, Prairie Ridge and DeKalb will host regionals within the McHenry sectional with Dundee-Crown, Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin and Streamwood all converging on the predetermined South Elgin regional. Undefeated Hononegah would be the odds-on favorite to advance to Elgin.
Fenwick and Trinity were each assigned to the Lyons sectional, along with Whitney Young, and that winner will play the winner of the Neuqua Valley sectional, which includes Bolingbrook, in a supersectional. Bolingbrook and Young, coached by former Larkin great Corry Irvin, have played each other downstate the last three years.
In Class 3A, Hampshire will host a regional that includes Burlington Central, Crystal Lake Central, Woodstock and Woodstock North. The host Whip-Purs, who were derailed by two-time state champ Montini in last year's sectional finals, would not have to see the top-ranked Broncos this year prior to downstate. The Hampshire regional winner joins regional winners from Rockford East, Rochelle and Yorkville in the Sycamore sectional, which feeds to the Elgin supersectional and plays the St. Viator sectional winner.
Montini has been assigned to the Glenbard South sectional and would play in the Hinsdale Central supersectional.
In Class 2A, St. Edward will go west as well and play in the North Boone regional along with Harvard, Rockford Lutheran, Rockford Christian and Marian Central. The winner at North Boone joins regional winners from Oregon, Princeton and Pory Byron Riverdale in the Rock Falls sectional and that winner meets up with the Knoxville sectional winner in a supersectional at Monmouth College in central Illinois.
In Class 1A, Westminster Christian hosts a regional that includes Harvest Christian, Christian Liberty, Chicagoland Jewish, Elgin Academy, Woodlands Academy and St. Martin dePorres. The winner at Westminster plays in the Willows Academy sectional, which feeds to the DeKalb supersectional against the winner of the Lanark Eastland sectional.
Joshua Welge contributed to this report