Girls basketball/Scouting Fox Valley sectionals
Class 4A York sectional
Top 4 seeds: Fenwick (24-4), Bartlett (26-1), Trinity (25-4), Proviso East (26-6).
Regional hosts: Trinity, Hoffman Estates, Glenbard North, Glenbard West.
At Glenbard North: Monday: No. 15 Addison Trail (14-10) vs. No. 18 Chicago Austin, 6 p.m.; No. 10 Conant (14-12) vs. No. 21 Glenbard North, 8:10 p.m. Wednesday: No. 2 Bartlett vs. Addison Trail-Austin winner, 6 p.m.; No. 7 Rolling Meadows (18-11) vs. Conant-Glenbard North winner, 8:10 p.m.; Friday: Championship game, 7:30 p.m.
Outlook: The top four seeds here could easily make for a fine state tournament, although top seed Fenwick comes in reeling, having lost two straight including a 53-43 setback to Marian Catholic Friday night in the East Suburban Catholic title game. Nevertheless, come state tournament time the Friars are still the team to beat. They will play in the Hoffman Estates regional where the likely title-game opponent will be either No. 8 seed Hoffman or No. 9 Oak Park-River Forest. Trinity, which Bartlett beat 61-50 at Thanksgiving, is in its own regional and will likely face No. 6 West Chicago (16-10) in the title game. A real dark horse at Trinity is No. 11 York (18-11), which has won 8 of its last 9. The Dukes play West Chicago in one semifinal. At Glenbard West, No. 4 Proviso East figures to get a stiff test from No. 5 Wheaton North (17-9) in the championship game. The Falcons would appear to be the dark horse of the field with senior standout Fantasia Vine leading the way. But if seeds hold, look for a rematch of last year's sectional title game between Fenwick and Bartlett on Feb. 24.
Advancement: The York sectional winner advances to the Loyola University supersectional on Feb. 28 to play the winner of the Maine East sectional. The top four seeds at Maine East are Maine South, Loyola, Niles West and Lincoln Park.
Class 4A Jacobs sectional
Top regional seeds: DeKalb, Cary-Grove, Geneva, Hononegah
Regional hosts: Huntley, Dundee-Crown, St. Charles East, Rockford Boylan
At Dundee-Crown: The likely scenario at D-C will have Cary-Grove (24-3) and Streamwood (21-5) meeting in a rematch of last year's Cary-Grove regional final that the Trojans won 53-49 in overtime. But before that, Monday's opener will pit Elgin (0-26) against Larkin (3-21) for the third time this season with the winner moving on to play Cary-Grove on Tuesday. Elgin, led by junior Briana Hamilton's 11.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, will be trying to avoid the program's first winless season by knocking Larkin out of the playoffs for the second straight year. The Royals own 2 wins over Elgin this season, 42-37 and 44-25. Streamwood can't look past Dundee-Crown, which is much improved this season and comes in 9-17. Juniors Ali Sanders (12.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg), Carlin Faulkner (7.9 ppg, 27 3-pointers) and Diamond Williams (8.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg) lead the Chargers. Streamwood is having its best season since 1987-88 and is led by the senior duo of Emma Schmidt (12.6 ppg, 9.0 rpg) and Michelle Tomczak (12.8 ppg, 10.1 rpg). Sophomores Jessica Cerda (8.3 ppg, 47 3-pointers) and Deja Moore (7.5 ppg) and junior point guard Amanda Patterson (7.2 ppg) give the Sabres good balance. Streamwood beat D-C 55-45 at Thanksgiving. The class of this regional is still Cary-Grove, though, and with NIU signee Claire Jakubicek (20.3 ppg, 8.6 rpg), the area's top scorer, leading the way the Trojans would appear to be poised to win the program's 16th regional title. Streamwood's last regional title came in 1988.
At Huntley: Top seed DeKalb (22-5) would appear ripe to be upset here, having lost 4 of its last 5. But for second-seeded Huntley (18-8) to move on, the Red Raiders will need a healthy Carly Goede, their senior point guard who has missed the better part of the last 3 weeks with a bad ankle. She and senior Kadie Lowery lead the team at 12.3 ppg and they have combined for 86 3-pointers, with Goede hitting 50 of them. Huntley showed its potential earlier this week when it gave No. 3 Bartlett a tussle before losing 66-56. Prairie Ridge (13-14) meets Jacobs (4-22) and McHenry (19-9) takes on Crystal Lake South (3-23) in the play-in games Monday with the semifinals set for Tuesday. Melanie Schwerdtmann and Brittany Pittas have been the scoring leaders for Jacobs and CL South, respectively, all season.
At St. Charles East: South Elgin (12-14) comes into regional play on a 3-game losing streak but with Becca Smith's scoring potential, the Storm can be in any game. Smith, a junior who averages 20 points per game, dropped a career-high 41 on Metea Valley Thursday night but the Storm has allowed 168 points in its last 2 games. South Elgin, the No. 3 seed here, opens against No. 2 St. Charles North (14-13) on Wednesday. The Storm has also been getting increased scoring as of late from junior Lania Robinson, sophomore Kara Rodriguez and freshman Savanah Uveges. This regional opens Monday with No. 4 Batavia (8-18) taking on the host Saints (10-17). The winner gets top-seeded Geneva (21-6), which is led by scoring machine Kat Yelle. The Vikings don't have the lofty record they did last year but they were the class of the Upstate Eight River, dismantling Streamwood 73-48 in the championship game Thursday.
At Boylan: The top seed and odds-on favorite here is Rockton Hononegah (26-3), which features 6-4 Wisconsin recruit Courtney Smith.
Advancement: The winners from Huntley and Dundee-Crown meet in one semifinal at Jacobs on Feb. 22, with the winners from St. Charles East and Boylan meeting after that the same night. The Jacobs winner moves on to the Barrington supersectional Feb. 28 to meet the winner of the Mundelein sectional. The top seeds at Mundelein are undefeated Libertyville, Mid-Suburban League champion Fremd, Stevenson and Hersey.
Class 3A Burlington Central sectional
Top regional seeds: Belvidere North, Aurora Central, Montini, Hampshire
Regional hosts: Belvidere, IMSA, St. Francis, Sycamore
Outlook: A few coaches weren't very happy when the IHSA shifted defending 3A state champ Montini (29-1) into this sectional field, especially Glenbard South's Julie Fonda, whose 23-3 team would meet Montini for a regional title. Hampshire (25-2) comes into the postseason riding a 10-game winning streak but the Whip-Purs also find themselves in a tough regional. They get the bye and will open Wednesday against either rival Burlington Central (11-16) or host Sycamore (11-13), an up and down team that just beat DeKalb and only lost to Hampshire 45-44 on Jan. 22. Burlington, which plays Sycamore in the play-in game Monday night, has lost 3 straight and 4 of its last 5. The Rockets are led by senior post Alli Settani (12.9 ppg) and junior Brenda Thasavong (11.7 ppg) and have been getting more scoring lately from junior guard Jessica Laird (5.2 ppg). Hampshire, which reached a sectional final last year, is led by seniors Alex Dumoulin (15.9 ppg, 9.4 rpg), Karla Vietinghoff (12.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Jessie Van Dorin (9.6 ppg, 72 3-pointers). The second semifinal Wednesday will pit No. 2 seed Crystal Lake Central (16-12) and No. 3 Rochelle (19-7) with the winners returning Friday for the title, and the right to meet the St. Francis regional winner at Burlington the next week.
Advancement: The BC sectional winner moves on to the Hoffman Estates supersectional Feb. 28 to play the winner of the Grayslake Central sectional. The top seeds at Grayslake are the host school, Wauconda, Gorden Tech and Johnsburg.
Class 2A Westminster Christian sectional
Pairings: Monday: St. Edward (20-7) vs. Chicago Latin (19-8), 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday: Walther Lutheran (20-5) vs. Timothy Christian (17-10), 7:30 p.m.; championship game Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Outlook: After failing to get out of regionals last year, St. Edward is back in a sectional and the Green Wave are confident they can win against this field. After breezing through their own regional, St. Edward is now ready to tackle Independent School League champion Latin, which won the Francis Parker regional. The Romans are led by Caroline Kaplan and Nikki Dizon. St. Edward features as balanced a scoring team as anyone. The Wave is led by junior Callie Johnson (10.7 ppg), sophomore Rena Ranallo (9.2), senior Enza Ranallo (9.1), junior Maddie Kerr (9.0) and junior Alex Lee (6.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg). St. Edward has played the teams in the opposite bracket. The Wave lost to Walther Lutheran 54-43 on Jan. 11 and beat Timothy Christian 44-25 in the Lisle Christmas tournament. St. Edward has won 8 of 9.
Advancement: The Westminster sectional winner advances to the Willowbrook supersectional Feb. 28 and will meet the winner of the Seneca sectional. The matchups at Seneca have Bishop McNamara playing Westmont and Seneca taking on St. Francis deSales.