Bartlett celebrating, savoring each win

Bartlett girls basketball coach Denise Sarna can draw some parallels with the thoughts New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had after his team's NFL playoff win Sunday.

"I like how (Brady) says the older you get you start to realize these celebrations aren't going to last forever," Sarna says. "They aren't always going to be there, so enjoy them while you can."

And Sarna says it's just fine with her for her Hawks to celebrate each win and take in the moment.

"Work hard, celebrate the victory and keep that positive mentality going," she says.

Sarna and the top-ranked Hawks hope they get to celebrate for the 22nd time this season tonight when they take their unblemished 21-0 record on the road to Naperville for a big Upstate Eight Valley matchup with No. 7 Neuqua Valley (16-3), a team Bartlett beat 69-56 on Dec. 6 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score might indicate. Bartlett's five starters seniors Haley Videckis, Kristin Conniff, Janessa Baker, Lisa Palmer and Katie Gutzwiller sat out the better part of the fourth quarter of that game as Bartlett had a 20-point lead early in the final period. But Neuqua has improved, as 5-7 sophomore guard Amarah Coleman has become a better and better compliment to senior standout Megan Doody.

"They're playing well," said Sarna of the Wildcats, who bounced back from losses to No. 2 Waubonsie Valley and always-tough Fenwick to beat Glenbard West on Monday. "(Neuqua coach) Mike (Williams) always has his group prepared, we're going on the road and we really need to be ready for this game. It's a big game."

While Sarna, whose team has a 25-game conference winning streak, admits some pressure comes with being undefeated this late in the season, she also know she has a senior-laden team that she believes knows how to stay focused.

"We always talk about the steadies," she said. "Defense and rebounding. Those two parts of the game are very important to us and they are parts we can control."

So far this season, the Hawks have done just that 21 times.

"There's a lot of pressure to being undefeated," Sarna said. "Everyone wants to be the one to knock you off and as coaches we want the kids to be perfect all the time. So with each win, we want the kids to enjoy it, to enjoy every minute, because you never know when it's coming to an end."

Big win, but bad loss: Despite his team's 43-26 upset loss to McHenry Tuesday night, Huntley coach Steve Raethz finds his Red Raiders in the thick of the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division race, the first time since the 2006-07 season Huntley has had a shot at a conference title this late in the season. That year, while still in the Fox Division of the FVC, Huntley won a school-record 25 games overall. And this year's group has even surprised their coach a little, which Saturday's 45-36 win over Valley kingpin Cary-Grove put a punctuation mark on.

"It was a very big win," Raethz said Tuesday afternoon. "I really liked the effort and passion we played with for 32 minutes. We've been struggling with consistency for 32 minutes and we put it all together in that game."

Raethz sees more balance in the Valley Division than in recent years, meaning his team still has a shot at a conference title despite falling a game behind Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown after Tuesday's loss.

"There's no much parity on our division this year that every game really matters," said Raethz, whose team's win over Cary-Grove was Huntley's first since a 53-45 overtime triumph against the Trojans on Dec. 12, 2006. "You have to bring your best effort every night you can't have any slip-ups."

Raethz has been especially pleased with the play of 5-foot-10 sophomore Sam Andrews, who is averaging nearly 17 points per game in conference play.

"Sam has been a model of consistency for us," said Raethz, whose team is 8-0 when it holds the opponent under 40 points. "Abbey Shaw had a big game against Cary-Grove and has come up big for us several times and Haley Ream has been a very versatile player for us. She's a guard but she leads us in rebounding, assists and steals per game."

The Red Raiders stand at 11-7 after Tuesday's loss, but Raethz wasn't so sure this would be a winning season a few months ago.

"We lost our starting five (to graduation) and over 90 percent of our scoring," he said. "I thought the opportunity might be there to be successful because we had a solid offseason but this team has really found its identity and they work well together."

Whips on a roll: After Tuesday's 35-27 win over Crystal Lake Central, Hampshire has won 6 of 7 and climbed over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 11-10.

"The girls are doing a nice job," said Hampshire coach Ed Haugens. "They're playing unselfish basketball, sharing the ball and playing as a team."

Haugens' team has also been through the wars lately, with Tuesday being their fifth game since Saturday. Hampshire went 4-1 on Saturday and Monday in the MLK tournament at Byron.

"We're looking forward to (today) off," Haugens said. "They've earned it. These kids work hard and they're a fun group to coach."

Hampshire's game at Woodstock that was snowed out last week will be played on Monday.

One more march to 1,000: After scoring 21 points in Tuesday night's 42-40 win over Jacobs, Dundee-Crown senior Ali Sanders now has 921 career points and should have enough time left in the season to become the fifth Fox Valley area player this season to eclipse 1,000 points, following Bartlett's Haley Videckis and Kristin Conniff and St. Edward's Maddie Kerr and Callie Johnson.

Climbing the ladder: Speaking of milestones, it may take some doing for South Elgin senior and Loyola recruit Becca Smith to reach 2,000 career points before the season's over but Smith will likely become the third leading scorer in Fox Valley area history. She currently has 1,826 career and needs just 73 points to overtake former Elgin standout Melissa Parker, who scored 1,898 points in her career. South Elgin has five more regular season games and a possible sixth if last week's snow out against Burlington Central gets rescheduled. For the record, Bartlett's Linsday Schrader (2,422) and Elgin's Leslie Schock (2,005) are the top two scorers in area history. Smith currently stands fifth on the list with former Hampshire star Morgan Bahe (1,875) fourth.