Who had the area’s top prep basketball performances last week?
As we wind closer to the IHSA basketball playoffs, there’s still time to honor the best in the area.
And even though the girls games were few and far between last week due to the impending regionals, the Mid-Suburban League still came through with another round of good crossovers.
This edition of the High Five looks at the top boys and girls basketball performances from the area last week. We’ll keep this going, by the way, through the end of the postseason — and the no-repeat rule will be gone.
5. Alex Ortega, Wauconda
The Bulldogs swept three games, including two in the Northern Lake County, to clinch the conference championship.
Ortega twice scored 28 points, once in a 69-61 win over Round Lake and again in a 66-43 nonconference victory over Highland Park. The 5-foot-10 senior guard chipped in 8 points in a 57-50 win over Grayslake Central to seal the NLCC outright title.
4. Abby Ramel, Rolling Meadows
The 5-foot-11 senior closed the regular season with one of her best outings.
The all-MSL forward scored 27 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in a 63-24 crossover victory over Hoffman Estates.
Rolling Meadows faces Schaumburg in Tuesday’s Class 4A South Elgin regional semifinals.
3. A.J. Berndt, Cary-Grove
The 6-1 senior guard scored a career-high 36 points as the Trojans clinched at least a share of the Fox Valley Conference title with a 75-57 win over Crystal Lake Central.
Berndt scored 17 points in the first quarter and sparked a 9-0 second-quarter run to boost the lead to double digits. Berndt pushed past the 1,000-point mark for his varsity career during the win.
2. Ashley Skelton, Prospect
What a moment for the 6-foot freshman to have the highest-scoring game of her first high school season.
The Knights wrapped up their first MSL title with a 59-43 victory over Buffalo Grove after trailing the Bison by as many as eight points in the first half. Shelton scored a game-high 23 points including 10 straight in the fourth quarter as Prospect pulled away.
The Knights, the top seed in the Class 4A Schaumburg sectional, play the host Hawks in Tuesday’s Hoffman Estates regional semifinals.
1. Tre Watkins, Metea Valley
Trailing by eight points heading to the fourth quarter, Watkins rallied the Mustangs to a 59-45 DuPage Valley Conference win over Naperville Central. In the process, the 6-2 senior guard became the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Watkins scored 27 points for Metea Valley, and added 22 points the next day in a 68-53 victory over Romeoville.