Bolingbrook, Montini girls basketball power up in Chicago

There is little question that the best in Illinois high school girls basketball begins in Bolingbrook and Montini (Lombard).

Bolingbrook (12-2), ranked No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps, has won two consecutive Class 4A state championships. Its lineup includes Tennessee recruit Ariel Massengale and Connecticut verbal Morgan Tuck, both stars on the last summer‘s USA Basketball U17 women‘s world championship team. Taylor Tuck, Morgan‘s older sister, is committed to the University of Illinois.

The Raiders have not lost a game in Illinois in more than two years, running up an overall record of 41-3.

Lombard Montini is coming off the school's first Class 3A girls basketball state championship. The Lady Broncos have won 35 consecutive games, including their first 22 this season. Five Broncos reached double figures, including 15 by Notre Dame recruit Whitney Holloway, in a 73-34 win Tuesday over River Grove Guerin.



A showdown is about to happen. Although Bolingbrook and Montini won't meet in the state tournament because they are in different classes due to enrollments, they will meet in the marquee game of the 21st annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park. Outside of the Illinois Super-sectionals in the Chicago area, there will be no bigger game this season. There are at least four major-college recruits who will play in this one.

Adding to the fire: Montini's last loss came to Bolingbrook one year ago.

The McDonald's Shootout begins Friday and will also have games Saturday and Monday, concluding with the Bolingbrook vs. Montini matchup at 7 p.m. Monday. In all, 32 schools from four states will compete. Another big game: 2010 Class 4A finalist Whitney Young (Chicago) will play Carmel (Ind.), at 7 p.m. Saturday. Other out-of-state schools include Pickerington North (Ohio); Canterbury, Ind., and Nicolet (Glendale, Wis.).



5 BIG PERFORMANCES
* Connecticut recruit Ryan Boatright of East Aurora scored 32 points, and posted six rebounds and six steals, leading the Tomcats to a 66-64 win over previously unbeaten Naperville Neuqua Valley. East Aurora overcame a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Mark the date: Neuqua Valley, which had won its first 14, faces East Aurora again on Feb. 10.

* Kentucky recruit Anthony Davis of Chicago Perspectives-MSA scored 36 points, and had 15 rebounds and eight steals in a 56-41 win over Chicago Clemente.



* Louisville recruit Wayne Blackshear of Morgan Park took over a game at Chicago Vocational, scoring 31 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a 66-61 Morgan Park win. The Mustangs (10-1) rallied from an early 13-point deficit.

* Jewell Loyd of Niles West scored 39 points in a 62-51 win over Glenbrook South. Loyd, a member of the Team USA U17 gold medal National Team this past summer, scored 15 of West's 18 points in the fourth quarter.

* Morgan Park's Kendyl Nunn scored 29 points in the Mustangs' 72-53 girls basketball win over Rich Central. Morgan Park has won 17 of 19 games.

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* Simeon (Chicago), ranked No. 5 nationally by MaxPreps, and Chicago Perspectives will be among the boys basketball teams at the Flyin' to the Hoop tournament this weekend at Trent Arena in Kettering, Ohio, just outside of Dayton. Simeon will meet Dunbar, Ohio, ranked No. 1 in the Ohio Associated Press poll, at 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Perspectives and Kentucky recruit Anthony Davis will take on Meadowdale, Ohio, at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be televised by ESPNU.

* Bolingbrook High School is hosting a "Pack the Place" event Friday, in which both the boys basketball team and nationally ranked girls team will play games. The girls will play Joliet West at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys facing Homewood-Flossmoor (Flossmoor) at 7.

STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* In addition to Naperville Neuqua Valley's boys basketball team dropping from the ranks of the unbeaten in its loss to East Aurora, the Chicago De La Salle boys also lost after 12 straight wins, the Thornton boys lost after 13 straight victories and Wauconda's girls team lost after 15 straight wins. A basket by Oak Park Fenwick's Tim Gancer with 15 seconds left sent De La Salle down, 49-48, in a Chicago Catholic League battle. North Lawndale's Deangelo Thigpen's hoop with two seconds left sank Thornton, 55-53, in the T.F. North Hambric Shootout. In Stevenson's stunning 51-30 win over Wauconda, Michelle O'Brien scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers.



* Oh, there‘s nothing like the world of Chicago politics to bring a big name out to a high school basketball game. Rahm Emanuel, a former Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama's White House staff and one of the leading candidates to replace William M. Daley as mayor of Chicago, took in a night of hoops at Chicago St. Ignatius. He watched University of Illinois recruit Nnanna Egwu score 23 points in a 58-40 win over St. Rita.

* The much anticipated boys basketball game between defending Illinois Class 4A champion Simeon (Chicago) and Morgan Park (Chicago) has been postponed from Thursday until Jan. 22. The game was to be played at Morgan Park, but because of a large expected fan turnout, the showdown might be played at Chicago State University.

* John Maniatis, the girls basketball coach at Hillcrest (Country Club Hills), won his 400th career game, when the Hawks defeated Eisenhower, 86-41. In his 17th season, Maniatis is 400-84 and coached the Hawks to a Class 3A finals appearance last year. "It‘s a testament to all the players, coaches and the educational staff here," Maniatis told Sun-Times Media.

Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.