Geneva seniors ready for emotional night

Emotions are going to be running high tonight at Geneva when the Vikings girls basketball team welcomes St. Charles East, and not just because the team can clinch the outright Upstate Eight Conference River title.

Friday will be the last home game for eight seniors, including a pair of four-year varsity members Kat Yelle and Sammy Scofield.

“Me and Sammy have been talking and really upset because we have been playing together since eighth grade,” Yelle said. “It’s kind of surreal this is going to be our last (home) game. It’s definitely going to be bittersweet. I can’t imagine it’s going to be my last time playing on this court.”

Yelle’s second-to-last game on the court went well, just like most of them have over the last four years. She scored a game-high 20 points as the Vikings blew out a Streamwood team that entered 19-4 by a 73-48 margin.

Geneva senior starters Katelyn Allen and Kelsey Pease also will be honored Friday along with senior reserves Brooke Binette, Dori Rogers, Alison Connolly and Andrea Connolly.

“I love playing with these girls,” Allen said. “It’s going to be really weird tomorrow when it’s Senior Night. I just love playing with everybody.”

Thursday’s win gave the Vikings (20-6, 10-1) a share of the conference title, their third straight. They also now have six straight 20-win seasons with records of 26-4, 25-3, 21-7, 32-2, 31-1 and 20-6. That’s a 155-23 record in that span, and they are 104-16 — an .867 winning percentage — with Yelle and Scofield.

“We’ve had a great group of kids,” Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. “We can’t take tomorrow night lightly. It will be an emotional night. St. Charles East is playing very well right now. They are a young, hungry team. We have to step up and rise to the occasion again.”