Chukwuyem has become major contributor for Hoffman Estates

Before last season, Hoffman Estates girls basketball coach Mike Koester learned he was getting a transfer student.

She was coming all the way from New Jersey.

And she could play the game.

Berry Chukwuyem joined the Hawks as a junior after playing two years on the varsity team at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, N.J.

First thing she did was let Koester know she would not be available on Fridays and through sunset on Saturday due to her religion.

Koester had no problem.

"We just told her to control what she can control and when she is here with us to work her butt off," he said. "And she has done that. She's had a great attitude through the whole thing and that's all we can ask."

While she misses most of the Hawks' Mid-Suburban West games because they are on Friday nights, she doesn't miss out on scoring points the rest of the week.

The 6-foot-4 senior center had a career-high 19 points against Lake Park and 16 against Proviso West. She averages 9 points and 10 rebounds.

"She's really athletic and really good around the basket," Koester said. "She's a great rebounder and great shot blocker.

"It's been a great experience for her and for our girls. So we really value that."

And Chukwuyem has loved every minute.

"It's gone by way too fast," she said. "I am a Seventh Day Adventist so we have a sabbath. It means we don't do anything secular between that time period from Friday to Saturday sunset.

"Honestly, I've become accustomed to it. Since freshman year, this is how it's been for me in high school. "My coaches have been real cooperative."

Koester said it can work as an advantage sometimes.

"Someone might scout us on a Friday night and then we play them in a nonconference game (on a week night) and they might not know about Berry," he said.

The Hawks also feature 6-2 senior power forward Raven Wilson, who averages 13 points and 8 rebounds

"Also, they (scouts) might have seen us with both of them and were planning for two bigs," Koester said. "Then if they play us on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon, they don't see Berry."

What you see from Chukwuyem is a strong inside player who wants to play on the collegiate level. She plans to study business management.

"I was always undecided for most of my high school career but this past summer I took a course at a college for three weeks," she said. "It was called mathematics for money and I learned a lot about budgeting, the economy and business management.

"I really enjoyed it so this year I've just taken business courses. I'm enjoying them and feel this is a good direction for me."

Her favorite class is macroecomonics.

"We just started it this semester and I really like it," said Chukwuyem, who owns a solid 4.0 GPA "It's interesting."

Chukwuyem has plenty of interest, of course, in her teammates' Friday night conference games.

She normally finds out the results from a group text message.

"I'm always anxious to see how they did," she said. "I don't stay up late so sometimes I don't find out until Saturday morning."

She said not being able to play in a big conference can be challenging mentally.

"But this is me," she said. I'm trying to get through my spiritual journey and trying to improve my relationship with God, So I've made sacrifices, This is just what I believe.

"I don't compromise it. A lot of people are curious why I believe and what I believe, but I feel with the right research they will understand or if they have to hear it directly from me they will understand."

It is a belief she has held her entire life.

"It does not stop me from playing my heart out on the court because I am just doing what I love, she said. "Whether it's only on Monday through Thursday and Saturday night, that's OK because I still have these games to do my best.

"All games are important but I have something I believe in and I cherish that."

And she cherishes her time with her teammates.

"I'm glad I've had this experience because it's just really prepared me for college," she said. "I miss my old team (in New Jersey) but I love playing with these girls.

"I just hope we can take it to the next level. I have big hopes for us in the future. I love playing basketball. I love this team, I love the sport. And I have high hopes for the rest of the season."

Kipp's Hoopsfest: Director Jim O'Boye hosted the 29th annual Coach Kipp's Hoopsfest this past weekend for the 29th straight year.

O'Boye began the shootout in 1991 at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. The first key game that year featured Rossville (IN) against Mother McAuley.

Remarkably, considering the weather in the middle of January when the event is always staged, a game had never been canceled until this year.

The 8:30 a.m. (Brooks vs. Willowbrook) and 7 p.m. (East Chicago, IN vs. Naperville North) games on Saturday were not played due to the inclement weather.

O'Boye is already planning for the 30th edition with many of the same teams returning including St. Ignatius and Maine West, the only two schools which have competed in the event every year.

Two years ago, O'Boye renamed the Chicagoland Girls Prep Classic to the current Coach Kipp's Hoopsfest.

It is named for Derril Kipp, the legendary coach for Maine West's girls basketball program, where he won 788 games in 35 seasons and an undefeated Class AA state championship (35-0) in 1988.

He lost his courageous battle with cancer in the summer of 2016.

Kipp had a hand in starting the Chicagoland Girls Prep Classic.

"I believe no one has done more to grow, promote and help young girls continue their basketball and educational goals than coach Kipp," O'Boye said. "His summer league and observation tournaments at Maine West High School are legendary. In the 1980s, no one was making the efforts in the summer for girls basketball like coach Kipp.

"He and his wife Marianne, along with a couple of other Maine West staffers, organized these leagues and tournaments that were attended by thousands of young girls and hundreds of college coaches over the decades."

State pairings: Teams from the Northwest suburbs will be in five different sectionals.

In the Class 4A Palatine supersectional, Buffalo Grove, Hersey, Prospect, Fremd, Palatine and Wheeling are at the Libertyville sectional. Hersey will host a regional.

Maine West and Leyden are in the field at the Evanston sectional.

The Class 4A Streamwood supersectional includes Elk Grove, Conant, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg in the Batavia sectional with Rolling Meadows hosting a regional.

Barrington plays in the Class 4A Belvidere North subsectional A.

In Class 3A, St. Viator hosts a regional in the Carmel sectional which feeds into the Elgin Community College supersectional.

Christian Liberty and Schaumburg Christian participate in the Class 1A Ottawa-Marquette subsectional B which feeds into the Pontiac supersectional.