Lake Park, Montini to be tested
The Montini and Lake Park girls basketball teams already know what they'll receive this holiday season:
Quality competition.
The Suburban Holiday Showcase starts Tuesday with Montini and Lake Park part of a talented field that includes Trinity, Loyola and Lake Zurich.
Montini coach Jason Nichols will be looking to see how much his Broncos have learned from their recent four-game losing streak, which culminated with a loss at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin on Dec. 1.
"I want to see how much better we've gotten and if we've learned and are going to apply what we're doing in practice to the games as we step up in competition," Nichols said. "I think it'll give us an idea of what we have to do in January to get ready for February.
"I'm actually very excited to see where we're at. I don't know where we're at yet. I think we're on the cusp of doing some things. We were in three of those four games we lost with a chance to win 'em, and I think in this tournament we'll be tested like that again. We'll be in games where we're going to have to execute late in games.
"We're working hard. Hopefully, we make our little run like we always do at this time of year where we start to put things together and build confidence."
Lake Park coach Lisa Smith is also looking forward to seeing how her squad stacks up to the competition found in the tournament.
The Lancers faced their biggest test of the young season in their last game and lost to Warren 50-33. The final score may have been ugly, but Smith was generally pleased with how her team played outside of shooting poorly.
Smith said the Lancers are capable of holding their own in the Showcase.
"I think we can play with these teams, and win or lose, if we can play like we did against Warren and shoot a little bit better, then I think they should be competitive because I kind of like what we're doing," she said. "Our defense has stepped things up and a lot of kids are contributing and we're getting on the same page. I think things look kind of positive.
"We have a lot of underdog kids on our team that people don't know about or that people are surprised are doing well. They just do a lot of little things right that makes them competitive."
The Showcase will skip around to a number of schools before concluding at Lake Park on Dec. 27 and Loyola on Dec. 28.
At Wheaton North
At least a couple of teams could experience their first loss at Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic, which tips off the day after Christmas. As of deadline, top-seeded Schaumburg, No. 2 Hinsdale Central and No. 3 Waubonsie Valley were all undefeated.
Schaumburg won the tourney in 2005 before finishing fourth last year. The Saxons are led by the senior trio of Drewann Pancratz, Gabrielle Blackwell and Kylie Castans.
Hinsdale Central has won the event four times -- from 1999 to 2001 and again last year. The Red Devils are sparked by sophomore point guard Toni Kokenis, who is providing more scoring and leading this year.
"She's physically strong, she's fast and she can jump, so she's got the whole package athletically," Hinsdale Central coach Steve Gross said. "But she's still 15, so when you're a 15-year-old girl trying to tell an 18-year-old what to do, sometimes they don't do that very well."
But Kokenis is becoming more comfortable leading the Red Devils.
"It helps being a year older because now I've played with everyone for a year, so we sort of know how to play with each other," Kokenis said.
Waubonsie Valley will try to win the tourney for the first time since 1998. The Warriors placed second in the event last season, but look even better this year as they've put together their best start in ages.
"It is our second year together," Waubonsie Valley junior guard Jessica Morice said. "We're friends off and on the court so it helps us communicate a lot better on the court. We have a lot of potential on this team. We have all different areas of talent, and once we put it all together I think we're unstoppable."
At Dundee-Crown
Naperville Central once again heads to the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic. The Redhawks open against St. Charles North and highly recruited 6-foot-4 junior center Kelsey Smith on Dec. 26.
"The good news is we don't have to play Fenwick or Buffalo Grove on the first two days," said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum. "The bad news is we've got to play a team with a D-I player right away. We'd like to make the semifinals and see what could happen. At the same time we're playing a good team in our first game so we've got to be ready to play. We're on a nice little roll here and I think we've got a chance to do well there."
At Lisle
Lisle's 16-team Holiday Cage Classic looks to have one of its more balanced fields as some of the more powerful participating programs have leveled off. Wheaton Academy received the top seed with a 5-4 record. St. Edward is the second seed followed by Illiana Christian and St. Francis.
Lisle's tourney runs from Dec. 26-29 with eight games played each day.
At Oswego East
Driscoll will try to ride the momentum of its 7-1 start to success at the Oswego East Holiday Classic. The Highlanders received the No. 1 seed in the 16-team tourney followed by Plainfield Central, Oak Park and Lemont.
18th annual McDonald's Shootout
Schedule announced this week
All game at Willowbrook
Friday, Jan. 18
Grant vs. Willowbrook, 5:30 p.m.
Kokomo (Ind.) vs. Warren, 7 p.m.
South Bend (Ind.) Washington vs. Fenwick, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 19
St. Ignatius vs. Kokomo (Ind.), 11:30 a.m.
Resurrection vs. Bolingbrook, 1 p.m.
Lebanon (Ind.) vs. Sandburg, 2:30 p.m.
Loyola vs. Pickerington (Ohio) North, 4 p.m.
New Trier vs. Indianapolis North Central, 5:30 p.m.
Buffalo Grove vs. South Bend (Ind.) Washington, 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 21
Indianapolis North Central vs. Hinsdale Central, 10 a.m.
Pickerington (Ohio) North vs. Maine South, 11:30 a.m.
DeKalb vs. Hamlet (Ind.) Oregon-Davis, 1 p.m.
Lake Park vs. Marist, 2:30 p.m.
Hillcrest vs. Maine West, 4 p.m.
Wheeling vs. Montini, 5:30 p.m.
Schaumburg vs. Marian Catholic, 7 p.m.