No Fox Valley area teams at state, but definitely some local connections
The Fox Valley area won't have a team playing in the Class 3A or 4A girls basketball state finals this weekend, but that doesn't mean there won't be some local ties — specifically Elgin connections — to the state tournament.
When Fremd and Whitney Young meet in the Class 4A semifinals Friday night, the two head coaches bring with them an Elgin upbringing.
Young coach Corry (Carter) Irvin, a 1992 Larkin graduate, has become one of the most successful girls basketball coaches in the state and her Dolphins (27-5) will be going for their fourth state title in Irvin's 15 years directing the program.
Irvin, who is assisted by her dad Deryl (still an Elgin resident), and who gets endless support from her mom, Marlene, and her brother Deryn, the head boys basketball coach at Larkin, takes a 418-58 record to Redbird Arena Friday. Her Young teams have won nine state trophies with their last title coming in 2012.
Meanwhile, Fremd coach Dave Yates is a St. Edward graduate. In 1987, Yates played for the Green Wave's boys basketball team that advanced to the Class A Elite Eight. Their 63-59 win over Mendota in the supersectional at NIU's old Chick Evans Field House was one of the more memorable basketball games played by an Elgin high school. Yates, by the way, scored 4 points in that game.
Yates took over the Fremd girls program 10 years ago and has gone 221-83 since. His team finished second to Benet in last year's state tournament and takes a 29-2 and No. 1 AP ranking into Friday's game against Young.
Another local tie: Well, sort of anyway. While sitting in the cafeteria at Bureau Valley Monday night writing my story on Morton's supersectional win over Burlington Central, Morton coach Bob Becker stopped for a chat on his way to the team bus. Turns out, Becker has some Fox Valley ties of his own, even if they are extended a bit. He grew up just outside of Kingston, graduated from Sycamore High School in 1987 and still has a connection to Burlington in the form of his uncle and aunt, Neal and Pat Dahl, who still live in Burlington. Becker's cousins, Heather and Amy Dahl, played basketball and softball at Burlington Central, Heather graduating in 1991 and Amy in 1992.
After graduating from the University of Illinois, Becker taught one year at East Aurora before moving to Morton where he has been since. He's in his 17th year as Morton's head girls basketball coach and takes a 377-142 record into the Class 3A semifinals Friday where his defending state champion and top-ranked Potters will take on No. 2 Morgan Park.
What a season: I've been covering girls basketball around her for, well, a long time and I can't remember another season that produced such a plethora of individual milestones. A total of 10 girls reached scoring milestones in the Fox Valley this season — three going over 2,000 career points and seven eclipsing the 1,000 mark. Congrats to Huntley's Ali Andrews, Batavia's Hannah Frazier and Westminster Christian's Maddie Versluys for going over the 2,000 mark. And to the “Super Seven” who reached 1,000 and beyond — Burlington Central's Kayla Ross and Shelby Holt, Larkin's Marlee Kyles, Harvest Christian's Paulina Castro, Bartlett's Kaitlin Brohan, St. Charles North's Claire Jakaitis and Geneva's Grace Loberg. Kyles and Loberg are juniors so look for them to add greatly to their totals next season.
More numbers: Much has been written about three of Burlington Central's three top-scoring seniors — Sam Pryor, Shelby Holt and Kayla Ross, all of whom scored over 1,000 career points. But don't forget about the other two seniors — Becca Gerke and Samantha Cruz — years from now when you think about a group that went 105-20 in their four varsity seasons. All told, the five Rocket seniors scored 4,746 career points. Pryor leads the way with 1,484 while Holt had 1,223, Ross 1,116, Gerke 685 and Cruz 238.
On to state: Well, that wraps up the Fox Valley girls basketball season for 2015-16. Time to pack the bags and head to Redbird.
jradtke@dailyherald.com