Regional time for Whips, Wave

The calendar may only say Feb. 1 but the girls basketball postseason is about to begin.

The first IHSA 4-class basketball state tournament series will commence Monday night when Class 1A and 2A regionals begin around the state.

Hampshire and St. Edward, which played each other for a Class A regional title last year at St. Edward, were sent different directions this season and both are hoping to come away with regional titles.

Here's a look at those two regionals.

At Hampshire: The Whip-Purs, seeded third in their sub-sectional setup of the Oregon sectional, would love nothing better than to close the girls' stay in the Purple Palace with the program's 12th regional title and first since 2005.

Hampshire (16-7) had won 10 of its last 11 games going into Thursday's Big Northern East matchup at Harvard. The Whips play at North Boone tonight and with wins in both those games will seal at least a share of the Big Northern East championship.

Then it will be on to a Tuesday regional matchup against the winner of Monday's North Boone vs. Rockford Christian game. North Boone (11-12) beat Rockford Christian 63-30 on Jan. 3, so Hampshire coach Sue Ellett is planning to play the Vikings tonight and then again on Tuesday.

"I like the setup," said Ellett, who has won 95 games in her five seasons at Hampshire going into Thursday's game. "If you had let me take the pencil and set it up this is how I would have set it up."

The regional opens Monday with No. 8 Rockford Christian Life taking on No. 9 Genoa-Kingston at 6 p.m. That winner comes back Tuesday to play No. 2 Oregon (20-7), a team Hampshire beat 52-48 last week in Hampshire.

"I think Christian Life against Oregon could be a real battle," said Ellett, who lauded Christian Life's Holly Wiersma as a legitimate college prospect. "Christian Life is really athletic and they could be a darkhorse."

Ellett won't look past North Boone to a potential rematch with Oregon, but if seeds hold, she's confident in her team's ability to beat the Hawks again.

"We think the confidence factor of knowing you won the first time is still one-up over revenge," she said. "It'll be our last game at home, we'll have a big crowd and our confidence is peaking at just the right time. I don't think Oregon does too many things that scare me. They're certainly a nice team and we'll have to come prepared but we're playing real well right now."

And how. Over the last 11 games, the Whips' only loss is to state-ranked Byron, 55-45, on Jan. 10. Since then Hampshire has won 6 straight by an average of 16.6 points.

Hampshire has continued to get a boost by the return of junior Christine Schumacher, who has averaged 7 points per game and hit nine 3-pointers in her 8 games since coming back from a knee injury. Schumacher isn't in the starting lineup as she might have been without the injury, and Ellett said it will likely stay that way.

"(Former Hampshire coach) Milt Awe always told me not to rock the boat if it doesn't need rocking," Ellertt said. "(Schumacher) has been doing a great job coming off the bench and giving us a spark. Her confidence is growing and I'm comfortable right now with where we're at and what we're doing. We're all on the same page and that's to win a regional title."

The Whips have been led all season by senior Mallory Koster (11.1 ppg) and sophomore Chrissy Heine (11.1 ppg) and freshman Alex Dumoulin (8.1) has steadily improved. Sophomore Cassie Dumoulin has spearheaded the area's fourth-best defense that has allowed just 42 points per game.

The Hampshire regional winner will play the Sterling Newman winner in the Oregon sectional semifinals. Top-seeded and state-ranked Sterling Newman is the heavy favorite to win its own regional.

At Plano: Can it happen again? Last year St. Edward entered the postseason with a less-than-glamorous 12-11 record before making a magical state tournament run that ended in the state quarterfinals at Redbird Arena. Can the Green Wave do it again? They were 10-10 entering Thursday night's Suburban Catholic Conference game at Rosary.

"We're just working on staying focused for the postseason," said Wave coach Michelle Dawson. "We have to come out and play a solid four-quarter game and dictate what we want to do."

St. Edward is assigned to the Lisle sectional complex and, like last year, is a No. 5 seed. The Wave open regional play against No. 4 Aurora Christian (12-12) on Wednesday. The winner will comes right back Thursday and play for the regional title, most likely against No. 1 seed Driscoll (19-4), which owns 2 wins over St. Edward this season, 60-47 and 52-45.

As much as she'd like to, Dawson isn't overlooking Aurora Christian, which is led by Lauren Heck (16 ppg) and Rachel Mertens (10.2).

"We saw them play East Aurora and they're a solid team," said Dawson of the Eagles. "They don't have a lot of height but they are quick and they're patient. They're definitely a team we have to prepare for."

Dawson would be happier going into regionals with a more flexible schedule.

"It's tough to play back-to-back nights," she said. "You can't overlook the first game but you have to have a game plan for the next night in place."

St. Edward continues to be led by 5-10 junior standout Katie Yohn, who is running away with the area scoring title at 20.6 ppg. She also has 38 3-pointers. Senior Celeste VonAhnen averages 12.7 points per game and the Wave has been getting more scoring recently from seniors Kelly Knott, Megan Pozezinski and Amanda DeBrocke.

The Plano regional winner advances to play the Luther North regional winner in the first semifinal at Lisle. Chicago Latin is the top seed at Luther North.

Class 1A: Westminster Christian hosts a regional that begins Monday night when the 11th-seeded host Warriors take on No. 8 Elgin Academy. While the winner can claim a postseason victory, it also gets a date the next night with top-seeded and state-ranked Hinckley-Big Rock.

Westminster (2-16) has been led this season by sophomores Rachel Doby (7.8 ppg) and Sarah Rodgers (7.3). The Warriors won their first two games of the season on Martin Luther King Day, where Doby was named MVP of Westminster's mini-tournament.

Elgin Academy (7-14) is led by sophomores Alyssa Pena (9.7 ppg) and Lauren Steimle (9.6).

The Westminster regional winner advances to the Serena sectional to play the North Shore Country Day regional champ.

Big night in UEC: All eyes in the Upstate Eight Conference will be on Aurora tonight as Waubonsie Valley (20-2, 7-0) hosts St. Charles North (18-4, 9-0). If the North Stars, who are 8-0 since Christmas, win tonight they clinch the league title. If Waubonsie, which has lost only to Hinsdale Central, the top-ranked team in the Daily Herald Top 20, wins tonight, SCN will need help from either St. Charles East or East Aurora to salvage a tie for the league title. In an odd scheduling twist, this is SCN's final UEC game of the season.