Previewing Class 3-4A sectionals in the Fox Valley
Class 4A Schaumburg sectionalPairings: Game 1) Bartlett (22-7) vs. Montini (29-2), 6 p.m. Monday; Game 2) Batavia (26-5) vs. Geneva (24-4), 7:30 p.m. Monday; Game 3) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m. Thursday.
How they got here: Bartlett defeated Wheaton North 53-40 and WW South 38-32 to win the Bartlett regional. Montini beat Conant 55-27 and Glenbard East 79-17 to win the Elk Grove regional. Batavia defeated Addison Trail 65-35 and Glenbard North 50-40 to win the Batavia regional; Geneva downed Glenbard West 58-29 and St. Charles North 50-41 to win the Glenbard West regional.
Outlook: Three of the Daily Herald's top-five teams are in this field, and the fourth - Bartlett - enters as the hottest team, winners of 13 straight. Montini is No. 1 while Geneva checks in at No. 4 and Batavia No. 5. The Bulldogs split with Geneva during the regular season, bouncing back from a 20-point loss to win 57-56 on point guard Bethany Orman's buzzer-beater on Feb. 5. Batavia made nine 3-pointers in that win including three from the school's all-time leading scorer Hannah Frazier who scored 27 points. "I can't wait," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "I'll be interested to see what they do. They played a lot of man last time - we'll see. We'll try to be ready for everything." Junior Mackenzie Foster and seniors Jess Koch and Shea Bayram join 4-year starters Frazier and Orman in the starting lineup while freshman Geddy Rerko continues to play big minutes off the bench and will be needed to help battle the Vikings on the boards. "We have to rebound," Rerko said. "That's a big thing. And just play our game and focus on us."
Geneva was saying similar things after they punched their ticket to an eighth straight sectional by beating St. Charles North behind 20 points, 11 rebounds, 8 steals and 3 blocks in a typical stat-stuffing line from junior center Grace Loberg. "We need to get off to a better start," Loberg said after the Vikings played from behind in their loss to Batavia. "We have to play strong and consistent throughout the entire game and not just show up the fourth quarter." The Vikings also feature sophomore guards Margaret Whitley (13.5 ppg) and Stephanie Hart, who made a pair of key 3s and scored 10 points against St. Charles North. Maddie Yelle is the third sophomore in the starting lineup with Taylor Williams the lone senior. "It's going to be really fun," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. "We're two really good basketball teams. We're going to compete. It's going to be a battle. It's going to be physical." Monday's matchup is a similar situation to two years ago when Geneva and Batavia played for the sectional championship. Frazier was a sophomore in that game and Loberg a freshman, and Batavia was coming off a 2-0 series win in the regular season. But the Vikings put their complete lineup together for the first time in that sectional final, and they stymied Frazier, star guard Liza Fruendt and Batavia, 48-24. "It felt like they got in our head early," Jensen said. "They were at full strength finally. They played really well and smothered Liza real well."
In the first semifinal, the Hawks start 4 seniors and are looking forward to their shot against the defending Class 3A state champion Broncos (29-2). "Obviously, they're a phenomenal team but from the beginning I've said that you've got to go after the giant at some point," Bartlett coach Dave Mello said. "I talked to the girls at the very beginning of the season when we knew they (the Broncos) were in (Class) 4A and then when the assignments came out. I said, 'Hey, Montini is in our sectional and you're going to have to beat them.' So let's go get them Monday." Shelley Lyjak is one of those seniors, a 5-foot-6 guard who scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half against WW South. The team's leading scorer, Kaitlin Brohan (14.4 ppg), added 11 points and 5 steals. The Hawks also start Kayla Hare (11.1 ppg), Nicole Gerdevich (6.7) and Kelly Harris (6.6).
High-scoring Montini, averaging 68.9 points per game, features three players headed to Division I schools - Tiara Wallace (Loyola, 4.0 apg, 2.5 spg), Lea Kerstein (UAB, team-high 12 ppg) and Nikki Oppenheimer (Syracuse), not to mention a slew of other talented younger players like 6-foot-5 sophomore Lindsey Jarosinski (8.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and junior starters Kaylee Bambule and Claudia Kunzer. Kerstein averages 3.1 3s a game. "I'm sure they'll be ready for us and we'll be ready for them," Mello said.
Advancement: The Schaumburg sectional winner advances to the Hoffman Estates supersectional to play the New Trier sectional winner at 7 p.m. on Feb. 29.
Class 4A DeKalb sectionalPairings: Game 1) Dundee-Crown (15-17) vs. Hononegah (27-3), 6 p.m. Tuesday; Game 2) Huntley (28-3) vs. Crystal Lake South (23-9), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; Game 3) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m. Thursday.
How they got here: Dundee-Crown defeated Grant 46-43 and South Elgin 54-51 to win the Streamwood regional; Hononegah beat Rockford Guilford 66-39 and Harlem 60-50 to win the Rockford East regional. Huntley defeated DeKalb 66-41 and Rockford Auburn 66-40 to win the Belvidere North regional; CL South downed Cary-Grove 47-33 and Prairie Ridge 45-27 to win the McHenry regional.
Outlook: In its quest to reach a supersectional for the third time in the last four years, Huntley will have to beat Crystal Lake South for a third time this season. The Red Raiders won over the Gators 60-46 on Jan. 27 and 45-31 on Feb. 3 but trailed by as many as 10 points in each of those games. "We beat South twice but they're a formidable opponent," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "They're a tough team with a zone that can present problems. Offensively they are very patient and they work for good shots. They're a tough opponent. We'll need to be patient offensively because their zone is very active. It'll be important for us to knock down some shots and open up their zone." While any team that plays Huntley tries to stop senior standout Ali Andrews, the 6-2 Illinois recruit has had another stellar season, averaging just over 22 points per game. But the Raiders have gotten steady scoring from senior Kayla Barreto (6.8 ppg), senior Paige Renkosik (7.8) and junior Morgan Clausen (9.4) as well. The Gators, meanwhile, are led by seniors Chanel Fanter (16 ppg) and Annika Sevcik (11.5) and junior Taylor Jozefowicz (8.3). "Fanter is a really good player, Jozefowicz has stepped up and Sevcik is tough inside," Raethz said. "They're a solid team and they play really hard." Raethz does agree if there's one intangible Huntley has its experience. "That's been a benefit for us all year," he said. "Our kids have been through a lot of situations and a lot of big games the last 3-4 years."
Monday's opener pits Dundee-Crown, in a sectional for the second straight year, against a Hononegah team that won its first regional in four years despite being a six-time NIC-10 champion. The Indians, who beat D-C 80-57 back on Nov. 24, have a balanced attack as witnessed by all five starters - Ellie Welsh, Jordan King, Berkley Byron, Cali Schmitz and Megan Matuska - scoring in double figures in their regional final win. Hononegah's losses are to Huntley, 43-29 on Nov. 24, and then Stevenson and St. Charles North at the Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament. Dundee-Crown, a fifth seed in the sub-sectional, upset No. 1 seed South Elgin to win the Streamwood regional behind a 25-point effort from senior guard Melissa Barker (15 ppg, area leader in 3-pointers with over 100). The Chargers have also been getting steady play from juniors Paige Gieseke (8.0 ppg) and Allison Michalski (13.5) and sophomore Madelyn Tripp. "If we can keep up with the pace Hononegah plays at we can battle with them," said D-C coach Sarah Miller. "The first time we played them we were right there at halftime and then they came out and lit it up in the third quarter. Most people wouldn't have picked us to even be in this game so we have nothing to lose and our girls are excited at the opportunity to play in the sectional again."
Advancement: The DeKalb sectional winner advances to the Fremd supersectional to play the winner of the Stevenson sectional at 7 p.m. on Feb. 29.
Class 3A Rochelle sectionalPairings: Game 1) St. Francis (21-10) vs. Rockford Boylan (22-9), 6 p.m. Monday; Game 2) Burlington Central (24-4) vs. Rockford Lutheran (27-2), 7:30 p.m. Monday; Game 3) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m. Thursday.
How they got here: St. Francis defeated Aurora Central Catholic 65-46 and Sycamore 48-41 to win the IMSA regional; Boylan downed Belvidere 53-25 and Hampshire 58-55 to win the Belvidere regional. Burlington Central beat Rochelle 71-37 and Kaneland 49-30 to win the BC regional; Lutheran defeated Rock Falls 47-41 in OT and Stillman Valley 54-37 to win the Rock Falls regional.
Outlook: Rockford Lutheran is not an unfamiliar opponent for Burlington Central, which is in a sectional for the third time in the last four years. In 2014, on their way to a fourth-place finish at the state finals, the Rockets defeated Lutheran 55-41 to win the Belvidere sectional. Three Crusaders - Baillie McGirk, Abby Woollacott and Kaylah Koehler - were sophomores on that team, and Lutheran has added DeKalb transfer Ashlei Lopez to the mix this season as it has earned a No. 4 ranking in Class 3A. The Crusaders, who lost to Morton in last year's supersectional, has only lost to Huntley 47-38 and to Lincoln-Way East 57-56 in back-to-back games at the DeKalb MLK Tournament. Included on the list of "quality" wins are victories over Bloomington Central Catholic and Champaign St. Thomas More when the Crusaders won the small school championship at the State Farm Classic, and a win over Joliet Catholic at the Fremd Showcase. Just as No. 10 Burlington Central rolled through its Big Northern East schedule, so too did the Crusaders in the Big Northern West, being tested only by Class 2A power Byron. But Lutheran did have to survive an overtime scare from Rock Falls in the sectional semifinals. "They're a great team that is very well coached," said BC coach Mark Smith of the Crusaders and his Monday counterpart Joni Carlson. "We think we match up well with them and we're excited to play them. It's going to be fun and we're just excited to move on to the next step." In that 2014 game, the Rockets got an 18-point effort from Shelby Holt, who averages 10.9 ppg this season and has 50 3-pointers. Sam Pryor is the scoring leader among BC's five senior starters, scoring 15.8 ppg with 74 3-pointers and 4.7 rebounds per game. Kayla Ross, who held McGirk to just 2 points in the 2014 game, scores 11.7 ppg to go with 3.8 assists and 4.3 steals. Becca Gerke, who had a game-high 17 points in Friday's regional final, averages 7.5 points and 4 rebounds and steady guard Sam Cruz scores 3.1 ppg.
Monday's first game pits St. Francis, which upset sub-sectional top seed Sycamore in the regional final, against a seasoned Boylan team that dropped down from Class 4A this year.
Advancement: The Rochelle sectional winner advances to the Manlius Bureau Valley supersectional to face the Galesburg sectional winner at 7 p.m. on Feb. 29.