Christie still soaring after making jump from Rolling Meadows to Michigan St.

Last season, he was the best high school basketball player in Illinois.

On Saturday, he was the best college player in Michigan.

And, after leading 10th-ranked Michigan State to an 83-67 win over Michigan in East Lansing, Max Christie phoned home.

"I think overall, I'm having a great year so far and it's playing out the way I wanted it to," Christie told the Daily Herald after connecting on 3 of 4 3-pointers and leading the Spartans with 16 points. "I worked hard for this and I think all the work I've put in is really showing on the court."

While the 6-foot-6 freshman has had a knack for making a difficult game look easy since his prep days at Rolling Meadows High School, Christie has hit some bumps playing in the Big Ten.

Before lighting it up against Michigan, Christie was limited to 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting at Illinois last Tuesday while being the main target of the vocal home crowd in Champaign.

"The Illinois game, I think I just had a bad shooting night, to be honest," he said. "I felt like I did all the other things, I rebounded well, played great defense. But the shots just weren't falling. I was looking to bounce back and this was a perfect game to do it, against our arch nemesis. So I thought I did a good job of that."

It remains to be seen how long Christie sticks around at Michigan State before heading to the NBA. While he's on campus, Christie is going to enjoy his time playing for Tom Izzo.

"He's a Hall of Famer and he lives up to that status, for sure," Christie said. "He's a great coach and it's blessing to be playing for someone like that."

While he's busy playing at such a high level for a Big Ten heavyweight, Christie still keeps a close eye on Rolling Meadows, which is having another strong season and is led by his younger brother Cameron, a junior guard.

"I watch their games all the time," Christie said. "Checking them out, checking out coach (Kevin) Katovich and Cam and all my old teammates there, I'm watching for sure."

While he's moved on to bigger things, the Arlington Heights resident remembers where he came from.

"I think being there for four years and not leaving really helped, just because I knew who I could trust and they supported me through all the time I was there," Christie said. "It was just a really fun experience to be there, not only basketball-wise but as a person, just being there for four years with my friends. And my senior season, we won every single one of our games, that's something I'll always remember."

<h3 class="leadin">Terrific trio</h3>

As an associate head coach at Missouri and assistant at Illinois State, Randy Norton developed strong ties recruiting the Chicago area for talent.

Now in his ninth season as the head women's basketball coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Norton is still mining local players and having big success.

The Blazers are in first place in Conference USA's West division and Margaret Whitley, Emily Klaczek and Sara Rosenfeldt are three key area players helping lead the charge.

A guard, Whitley was averaging over 9 points per game heading into Saturday's play. At Geneva High School, Whitley helped the Vikings win two Class 4A state championships.

"You start with the character piece," Norton said. "She's just an amazing young lady from a tremendous family. The youngest of four sisters, all of them were great athletes in different sports. Marge brings a tremendous work ethic to our program. She lives in the gym and does everything we ask of her."

Klaczek also played at a powerhouse high school program at Fremd. After getting acclimated last season, she is a rising star for UAB.

Averaging over 10 points a game, Klaczek scored a career-high 26 vs. Western Kentucky last Thursday.

"This is a kid that came out of a state championship program at Fremd and last year, as a freshman, her time was limited," Norton said. "Sometimes for freshman, it just takes some time to figure out the college game. Now, she's just having a tremendous season for us."

Rosenfeldt, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at St. Charles East High School, is in her fourth season with the Blazers and is one of UAB's captains.

"Probably one of the most competitive, relentless players I've ever coached," Norton said.