Thursday, February 24, 2011

Playoff Time

The Class 3A and 4A girls basketball are in the thick of things with sectional championships on the line tonight. Sportstownchicago saw Mother McAuley and Whitney Young earn convincing victories their sectional semifinal wins. Young defeating Bogan 66-26 while forcing 39 turnovers, looks to be the team beat as they are ranked number 2 by the Sun Times for a reason. Mother McAuley defeated St. Ignatius 57-44 in a battle of Catholic League regional winners. Now it will be Catholic vs. Chicago Public as the Mighty Macs try to pull of the upset over the Dolphins and advance to the supersectional at St. Xavier.

The boys begin their playoffs next week, but we will not wait to get another game in for Friday Night Hoops. We had a thriller last week with Wheaton Academy nipping host Aurora Christian 67-66, avoiding their second loss of the season. This week we return for the second time to East Aurora (20-5) to see them take wrap up the season with an Upstate 8 crossover game against Batavia (13-11). East Aurora is currently ranked number 18 by the Sun Times and has won the Upstate 8 Valley title.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Game of the Week!

Thursday, January 27th had the game of the week, possibly the entire regular season as Loyola Academy (19-4) took on Marist (19-4). It was the game of the week for several media outlets including SportsTownChicago.com.

You never know what will happen when the lights are on, the camera's rolling, band playing, and crowd rocking. JeTaun Rouse went off for 18 first half points for Marist and though only a sophomore, she stepped it up in prime-time. That was only the start of the dominating performance for Marist. Holding Loyola to 32 points was quite impressive...14 at half. Putting up 62 was also impressive, but no where near as impressive as the rebounding for the Redhawks.

For Loyola it was an off night. Not the first time we've seen Loyola play, and it was clear that it was an off night. The hustle and effort was there but the shots were not falling. Loyola will be fine moving forward, they work hard and played hard in this game, the ball was just not dropping through the net at Marist.

Marist was able to get their 20th win and will be the 2 seed in their regional. This win has to be a confidence booster and if their defense can continue to play at the high level we witnessed, they'll be very dangerous come the post-season.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Beating the Cold

Despite the cold winter weather of Chicago, that has not stopped sportstownchicago from covering high school basketball. Since the start of the new year, we have seen some top teams and top players.

Some of the top players include Snoop Viser and Ryan Boatright of East Aurora as they took care of business pouring in 88 against Waubonsie Valley on January 7. Benet Academy, despite limited action from Dave Sobolewski vs. St. Viator, defended their home court in East Suburban Catholic action on January 18 with an easy victory. Seven-footer Frank Kaminsky gave no easy shots in the paint all night long.

Friday Night Hoops January 14 game at Oswego did not have the big named players, but the competition of the game was not sub par. Oswego edged Plainfield North 59-56.

In girls action on Martin Luther King Day, the top-rated Bolingbrook Raiders won convincingly over Montini, another top-ranked team (Sun Times #3) 79-63. The Raider victory snapped Montini's 36-game winner streak, and extended Bolingbrook's to 50 against Illinois opponents.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New Year

Tuesday night is now the night for sportstownchicago.com to cover high school girls basketball. We have seen some good games so far: Wheaton North 55 Glenbard South 50 from Dec 14, Walther Lutheran 30 Immaculate Conception 29 from Dec 21, and Montini 52 Columbus (IN) 35 from Dec 28.

Our January 4 game to kick off the new year was between two top 20 teams: number 6 Bartlett (15-1), and number 11 Geneva (11-4) (rankings reflect the Chicago Sun Times).

The Hawks of Bartlett had control early in the game and at the start of the 3rd quarter, but a tenacious Geneva full-court press gave Bartlett problems, and disrupted the flow of their offense. The Vikings were down as many as nine points, but took a one point lead into the 4th quarter. However, the Hawks were able to rally back and hold on to a two point 54-52 victory.

The Vikings were led by Kat Yelle, who had 17 points and six steals, while the Hawks were led by Jacki Gulczynski who had 11 points and 16 rebounds.