Three teams head into tough tests Monday

And then there were three.

Three girls basketball teams alive in the state tournament.

All three are back in action Monday night. While Aurora Central bids for a spot in the Class 2A Final Four at ISU when the Chargers play Al Raby at the Concordia supersectional, Geneva and Kaneland take the court in sectional semifinal matchups.

Looking back at recent history, three is a big number for this area at this stage of the season, and that doesn't include 2,000-point scorer Becca Smith and South Elgin also alive in 4A.

Obviously the IHSA's move to four classes is a big reason why. That's a topic for another day — for now let's look ahead to Monday's three games, starting at 2A and working our way up.

Class 2A Concordia supersectional: The list of firsts keeps adding up for Mark Fitzgerald's Chargers.After winning their first regional championship last year in 3A, the Chargers have moved down and added their first sectional crown in 2A. They weren't challenged last week at Chicago Christian, winning the two sectional games by a combined 46 points.That came after struggling at times in winning the Plano regional the week before. All that matters, of course, is they won, and the Chargers will enter Monday's matchup with a school-record 24 wins (and 6 losses).Senior Jackie Cardona leads the way at over 13 points a game, and fellow three-year starters Ashley Wilk and Katilyn Rosa are capable of a double-double any night. Rosa just did that with 10 points and 18 rebounds in the sectional championship win over St. Francis DeSales while Fitzgerald said Wilk makes the most of her talent.#8220;Ashley is just a warrior,#8221; Fitzgerald said. #8220;She isn't the tallest but she has springs in her legs.#8221;Two transfers round out the starting lineup, Lisa Rodriguez from Aurora Christian and Tess Alderman from Kaneland.#8220;Lisa, what a wonderful addition she has been,#8221; Fitzgerald said. #8220;Tess is a sparkplug. She creates offense and gray hair. I'm blessed to have her.#8221;Alderman, who led the team with 16 points against St. Francis DeSales, moved from Elburn to Aurora this summer and said she likes playing at both schools.#8220;I don't know if I was expecting it,#8221; Alderman said of how smoothly the transition has gone. #8220;There's some things I miss about Kaneland and there's some things I love about here.#8221;Monday's winner in River Forest advances to the state semifinals Friday night at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University against either Quincy Notre Dame or St. Thomas More from Champaign. Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 in the final AP state Class 2A poll.Class 3A Sycamore sectional: The Knights also miss Alderman but still had enough talented players for a turnaround season under coach Ernie Colombe.Like the Chargers, who had a pair of 1-win seasons before this senior class burst on the scene three years ago, the Knights have struggled in recent years including a 5-victory season.That's a far cry from this year as the Knights improved to 19-9 with their 37-34 victory over Yorkville Thursday in a game they had to come from 3 points down in the final few minutes to win.As usual the Knights did it with a balanced attack. Allyson O'Herron and Ashley Prost led the Knights with 11 and 10 points, respectively.The Knights average 43 points a game and allow just 37.#8220;We have a bunch of kids who could make an argument to start,#8221; Colombe said. #8220;Really an unselfish group.#8221;In the regular season Prost led the team in scoring at 10.3 points a game with O'Herron next at 7.6 and Kelly Evers checking in at 5.3. The numbers don't blow anyone away, but Colombe can go to the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth girl off his bench and find someone who could lead the team in scoring on any given night.And of that deep rotation only Evers is a senior meaning this regional title could be the start of something, not a one-year wonder. #8220;(Sarah) Grams, (Alli) Liss all those players are starting to play like seniors now,#8221; Colombe said.Hampshire enters with a 17-14 record after beating Woodstock North 52-43 on Friday. Reserve Grace Jakubowski led Hampshire with 16 points.Class 4A Hoffman Estates sectional: Of the three remaining teams, Geneva is the one used to playing this time of year.The Vikings are seeking their fourth straight sectional title, though this promises to be the toughest one yet since the streak began when Taylor Whitley, Kat Yelle and company led Geneva through the 2009 Addison Trail sectional on their way to a fourth-place finish at the state tournament.Second-seed Geneva brings a 24-5 record into a matchup against No. 3 seed Wheaton Warrenville South. The Vikings defeated the Tigers 65-58 on Dec. 17 but of course that was when Marquette recruit Ashley Santos was still in the lineup.To their credit, Geneva has gone 8-2 without Santos. But they haven't beat a team like the 27-3 Tigers losing to similar quality opponents Fenwick and Waubonsie Valley.#8220;WW South, they have athletic kids,#8221; Geneva's first-year coach Sarah Meadows said. #8220;They are a good team. It's going to be a fantastic game. I don't think it will be a 7-point spread. It will be a nail-biter game.#8221; Sophomore point guard Meghan Waldron leads the Tigers at 14.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per hame. Forward Kasey Gassensmith, the only senior starter who is committed to Truman State, averages 13 a game while sophomore Maggie Dansdill averaged 14 points and 9.5 rebounds in two regional games but doesn't usually score that much. That gives Dansdill something in common with Geneva's Morgan Seberger, also a sophomore who went from about 5 points a game during the regular season to averaging 17 last week in the Vikings' two regional wins.#8220;She's going, we'll ride her,#8221; Meadows said. #8220;She's doing a really nice job.#8221;If Seberger can keep up her scoring it gives Geneva a much-needed extra option without Santos to go with three starters who have been steady all season: junior forward Sami Pawlak (11 ppg, 9.5 rpg), senior guard Rachel Hinchman (11 ppg, 3 spg) and sophomore guard Michaela Loebel (7 ppg, 3.5 spg).Another player who has stepped up is athletic freshman forward Abby Novak, called up to varsity shortly after Santos went down. She gave Geneva 7 points and 6 rebounds in its 55-45 come-from-behind win over Elk Grove on Thursday.#8220;She played a fantastic second half,#8221; Meadows said. #8220;We challenged her a little bit. She was playing a little soft. She stepped up.#8221;Novak said while she has been nervous at times the transition to varsity basketball is going well. With Hinchman the only senior starter, Novak looks like yet another reason Geneva is going to continue playing deep into the postseason in years to come.#8220;They are so welcoming to me,#8221; Novak said. #8220;They are great people. I love it.#8221;In the other semifinal, No. 1 seed Bartlett (28-1) plays fifth-seed West Chicago (16-12).