Time to turn up the excitement

The economy may be suffering in many ways, but it didn't stop girls basketball fans from coming out to support their teams this past weekend, at least at the games I attended.

And that tells us it's time to turn up the volume on the excitement meter as Monday night officially kicked off the girls postseason with Class 1A and Class 2A regionals around the state.

So let's start a busy week with that.

Westminster Christian (5-16) is the No. 3 seed in the Class 1A regional at Hinckley-Big Rock. The Warriors face No. 2 Indian Creek, a team they lost o 63-41 at Thanksgiving, on Wednesday.

Elgin Academy won its play-in game 35-28 over Mooseheart Monday night and now the Hilltoppers have a Wednesday sate with state-ranked Hinckley-Big Rock, which is the heavy favorite to win its own regional and go deep into the tournament. The Royals are one of only four teams to beat Class 3A Hampshire this season.

Meanwhile, St. Edward waits until Wednesday to begin the Class 2A postseason and the Green Wave will be determined to right the ship that has them going into the state tournament with four straight losses. They play the 8 p.m. game at Aurora Christian against Seneca, a team St. Edward lost to 66-63 in overtime at the Somonauk Thanksgiving tournament. But that was just two days after St. Edward had finished its run downstate in volleyball and all that game really means now is, well, nothing. Seneca (19-8) is the No. 2 seed and Ottawa Marquette (20-6) is the top seed at Aurora Christian.

So is this a time for a sense of urgency on Elm & Locust? You bet.

"I think we do," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson Monday night when asked that question. "They were really focused in practice Saturday and today. Their intensity has stepped up and they know what Wednesday's game means, especially the seniors. They aren't ready for their season to end yet."

Much hype has been given to senior Katie Yohn's pursuit of Beth Hasenmiller's career school scoring record, but Yohn will be the first to tell you that means nothing in comparison to making a state tournament run, one like the Wave did Yohn's sophomore year.

That's why you'll likely see Yohn step up in more ways than just scoring this week. She'll be the best leader she can be, and if will has anything to do with it, she'll find a way to not only help her team win but make sure it's a team win as well.

"It's the end of the season," Yohn said after the Green Wave's 91-87 overtime loss to St. Francis last Friday. "If we don't win this next game we're done. The younger girls on our team might not realize that right now and we have a really young team."

The four straight games St. Edward has lost shouldn't be used as an indicator of much either. The losses were to Driscoll, Montini, Rosary and St. Francis. Driscoll and Montini are two of the best teams in the state in any class and Rosary has won 19 games.

But, it's a given the Green Wave will have to play better defense to advance in the state tournament. As adept as they are at scoring themselves, giving up 78, 83, 79 and 91 points in their last four games is certainly cause to make defense a priority this week.

For the record, Yohn stands 51 points from tying Hasenmiller's career record of 1,772. Yohn went over the 600-point mark for the season with her 37 against St. Francis last Friday and the Bradley signee is now averaging 24.2 points per game this season.

If you happen to wonder how much those numbers will mean to Yohn in 10 or 20 years, as opposed to a couple of wins this week, here's a little snippet of a conversation I had with Hasenmiller (Beth Sauser now, of course) right before she left work at the IHSA office Monday.

Me: So, Beth, how do you feel about Katie Yohn possibly breaking your school scoring record?

Beth: Oh, do I still have records at St. Ed's?

After I gave her a little update, Beth went on to wish Yohn all the luck in the world. But then we talked about the state tournaments she played in and it was clear that meant much more to her than a scoring record - and we know it does to Yohn as well.

Good crowds: I mentioned earlier we saw some nice crowds this weekend. St. Edward's gym was about three-quarters full for the Green Wave's Senior Night and the fans were entertained by a game unlike any girls game I've seen in a long time. A check of the record books not only revealed it was the 15th highest scoring game in state girls history, but it comes in 1 point shy of another St. Edward game. On Feb. 3, 1989, the Green Wave beat Rosary 117-62, also in St. Edward's gym.

And how do we know for sure that game was at St. Edward? Current Green Wave assistant coach Stacey (Karom) Wahlberg was a senior on that St. Edward team and remembered it was at home, that's how.

On Saturday night, the crowd was outstanding for the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division clash between Cary-Grove and Crystal Lake South at Gator Alley. Energized too. I love listening to the South student section. Every time a ball goes out of bounds, even if it was clearly off a South player, they yell in unison "White ball!"

Too bad that game Saturday night had to be bogged down by an officiating crew that chose to call a foul on every little touch in the fourth quarter. There were 38 free throw attempts in that quarter alone. Enough said.

This should be a good one: Two of the hottest teams around, South Elgin and Bartlett, meet tonight in the Hawks' gym and it should be a dandy. South Elgin comes in 17-7 and on a seven-game winning streak. Bartlett, while just 14-9, has shown to be a tough challenge for anyone. The Hawks lost to undefeated Geneva by 10 points Saturday night and only one other team - DeKalb - has come closer to beating the Vikings.

"I'm really excited about it," said South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast of tonight's game. "Since I've been here at South Elgin I've gotten the sense more and more that Bartlett is our big rival because a lot of our kids live in Bartlett. I've seen Bartlett and they're tough. It'll be like two trains colliding. It should be fun."

The winner could still sneak into third place in the Upstate Eight Conference before the week is over. South Elgin currently stands at 6-3 in the UEC ad Bartlett is 5-2. Bartlett plays a rescheduled game at St. Charles North, which has a lock on second place in the league, Wednesday and then finishes at Elgin Friday. Waubonsie Valley, is currently 5-2 in the league and finishes with St. Charles East and East Aurora.

Around the area: It's final tune up time for the postseason for the area's Class 3A and 4A schools but while some teams will use this week for just that, others won't think about the postseason just yet. Like Jacobs and Crystal Lake South, who meet at Gator Alley tonight. If South wins, the Gators clinch a share of the FVC Valley title, with only a Friday game at Woodstock standing in their way of the outright title. Should Jacobs beat the Gators tonight, as the Golden Eagles did, 49-47 on Jan. 23, then South, Jacobs and Cary-Grove will each need wins Friday night to share the title. Jacobs hosts Dundee-Crown Friday, while Cary-Grove, which can't afford another loss to remain in the title picture, hosts Dundee-Crown tonight and McHenry Friday.