Conference races heating up nicely
Only three weeks remain in the girls basketball regular season, but much has yet to be decided in area conference races.
More will be known after this week.
Key matchups in the DuPage Valley Conference, Upstate Eight Valley and West Suburban Silver should go a long way toward deciding who wins their respective championships.
In the DVC, Wheaton Warrenville South (19-2, 8-0) visits Naperville Central (14-8, 8-1) on Thursday. WW South blew out the Redhawks 67-37 in December, but Naperville Central is 6-1 in January and peaking at the right time.
"I'm really pleased that we got to this game with a chance to create a tie," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "When we played them the first time we just weren't playing with a lot of confidence, we played like we questioned our ability. We're playing with much more confidence and focus now."
WW South is rolling, too.
The Tigers have won nine straight since a loss to Geneva. WW South could all but clinch its first outright DVC title since the 2007-08 season with a win Thursday. The Tigers and Redhawks shared the crown last year.
"We've been telling our kids that they are in a position to affect what they want to get done the rest of the year," Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We have control of whether we want to share the DVC or not. We have to be ready."
Other key conference showdowns:
Action heats up in the UEC Valley and West Suburban Silver over the weekend.
On Friday, Waubonsie Valley (17-2, 7-1 Upstate Eight Valley) hosts Bartlett (22-0, 8-0). Bartlett, which beat Waubonsie 65-47 in December, has reeled off 26 straight wins in conference. Bartlett is also the last team to beat the Warriors on their home floor, exactly a year removed from Friday's game.
Waubonsie was within 11 after three quarters in the teams' first meeting before Bartlett's Haley Videckis buried the Warriors with a late barrage from 3.
Waubonsie was hurt by 22 turnovers and 15-of-33 free-throw shooting.
"We gotta play better and more consistent," Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. "For the most part we have played decent defense. We need to try to run our stuff and hopefully execute better offensively."
York (10-10, 5-2), which won its first Silver title since 1994 last year, has a big weekend with conference games against Hinsdale Central and Proviso West. Proviso West (14-8, 6-2), which shared the Silver title with the Dukes last season, beat York 38-35 in December a game that started a six-game Dukes losing streak that they since have recovered from. Lyons (13-6, 6-3), which beat Proviso West last weekend, is also still very much alive in the Silver.
Bumps and bruises at Benet, Montini:
Benet and Montini hope to get a couple key pieces back on the floor soon.
Redwings senior sharpshooter Madeline Eilers tweaked a knee during Benet's win over Waubonsie Valley at the McDonald's Shootout a week ago. Eilers missed the team's games with Providence and DeKalb last week, both close wins, but practiced a little Sunday. No MRI has been done at this point.
Eilers is averaging 10.8 points and has hit an area-best 66 3-pointers at a greater than 45 percent clip.
Montini sophomore forward Kelly Karlis has not played since tearing a meniscus and damaging scar tissue in a November game. Considered one of Montini's top defenders and rebounders, the 6-foot Karlis is back to practicing full speed and was just cleared to play.
Wearing the zebra stripes:
Most unexpected sight at the McDonald's Shootout a week ago?
It had to have been West Chicago AD Doug Mullaney wearing the zebra stripes as an official for one of the Saturday games.
Asked about it, Mullaney e-mailed that about 12 years ago he asked his assignor for lower-level games in the Upstate Eight or any leagues other than the DVC. Mullaney reported that every once in a while he gets high-profile games like the one at Willowbrook, and also some college contests.
The demand for referees these days is indeed high. Kudos to Mullaney for pitching in.
"I thought it is a way to work with kids who are working their way up," Mullaney said in an e-mail. "I thought that it could be a way that I could help."