School is out for the holidays, but basketball is not. From Florida to Arizona to all over Illinois, Chicago-area basketball teams are competing in holiday tournaments.
Bolingbrook's girls basketball team, two-time Class 4A state champ, traveled to Phoenix to compete in the Nike Tournament of Champions. The
Whitney Young (Chicago) boys team went to Fort Myers, Fla., for the State Farm City of Palms Classic. The
Whitney Young (Chicago) girls team is headed to Detroit next week. The
Glenbard East (Lombard) boys team is competing in the State Farm Classic in Bloomington, Ill.
Closer to home, several city teams are playing in the annual Chicago Public Schools Holiday Classic at Crane High School. Other tournaments include ones being played in Elgin, Mundelin, New Lenox and Proviso West. Tournament play included:
*
Washington (Chicago) won the CPS Girls Basketball Holiday Showcase played at Simeon Career Academy, defeating Curie, 53-43. Victoria Bradley, a senior, scored a double-double (19 points, 17 rebounds) in the title game.
* The
Marist (Chicago) boys team won all five games in the Lincoln-Way Central Winter Classic, defeating Lincoln-Way Central 49-31 in the championship game. Lexus Williams, a sophomore, scored 17 points in the title game victory. "When you get a chance to compete for a championship and win it, it‘s exciting," Marist coach Gene Nolan told the Chicago Tribune.
* The
Hyde Park (Chicago) boys team won its sixth consecutive game, 70-63, over Chicago Orr in the CPS Holiday Classic on Tuesday. Illinois recruit
Mycheal Henry of Orr left the game in the first minute when he caught an elbow in his face and had to be taken to a hospital for stiches to close the wound. He vowed to return for Orr‘s next game, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Hyde Park was to play Farragut in the semifinals, with the winner to meet North Lawndale or Crane in the championship game.
*
Neuqua Valley (Naperville) won its 11th straight game, 71-61 over Fremd in the quarterfinals of the 36th annual Elgin Holiday Tournament. The finals will be played Thursday.
* Whitney Young‘s boys team defeated Melrose (Memphis, Tenn.) in the opening round of the City of Palms Classic, but fell to second-ranked St. Patrick of Elizabeth, N.J., 92-68 in the quarterfinals. Ohio State recruit Sam Thompson scored 17 points for Young.
* Bolingbrook‘s girls team, ranked No. 2 in the nation by MaxPreps, fell to third-ranked Brea Olinda (Calif.), 59-54, in the quarterfinals of the Joe Smith Division at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
* The 10th annual Proviso West holiday tournament begins Dec. 27 with eight first-round games. Of note: Louisville recruit
Wayne Blackshear will lead Morgan Park into its game against Oak Park Fenwick at 7 p.m.
5 BIG PERFORMANCES* Kentucky recruit
Anthony Davis continues to put up big numbers for Chicago Perspectives Charter, although the team continues to lose. Davis scored 46 points in a 74-66 loss to Harper in the first round of the Chicago Public Schools Holiday Showcase. He also had 19 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Of bigger concern: Davis sat out the team's game against Hyde Park because of a stiff back. As a result, Perspectives lost for the eighth time in 10 games, 84-18.
*
Brian Nelms of Rolling Meadows hit a shot from half court as the game-ending buzzer sounded, lifting the Mustangs to a 64-61 win over Glenbrook South in the first round of the Elgin Holiday Tournament. It was the fourth win in 10 games for Rolling Meadows.
* DePaul recruit
Macari Brooks of Rich South scored 30 points and had 10 rebounds in a 60-39 win over Chicago ACE Tech Charter at the Moraine Valley Shootout.
* DePaul women's recruit
Megan Rogowski grabbed a rebound off her own missed shot, and scored a basket with 2 seconds left to give Hersey a 48-46 win over Schaumburg in the Wheaton North Neibch Falcon Classic. Rogowski, a guard, had 14 points and seven rebounds.
* Jewell Loyd of
Niles West (Skokie) scored 73 points in two games, a 61-59 win over Deerfield and a 57-43 win over Evanston. Against Deerfield, she scored 42 points, and had 15 rebounds and 10 steals. Loyd, a junior guard who played on the USA Basketball U17 Women's National Team this past summer, is still an undeclared recruit.
STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:* The
Libertyville girls basketball team won its 13th consecutive game when it drilled Streamwood 54-32 in a battle of unbeaten teams in the quarterfinals of the Mundelein Holiday Classic. Savannah Trees and Olivia Wilcox each scored 15 for Libertyville. Streamwood had won 12 straight, two wins short of a school record. The Wildcats were to play Hoffman Estates in the tournament semifinals Wednesday.
*
Zion-Benton (Zion) girls basketball coach Tanya Johnson won her 600th career victory Dec. 18, when the Zee-Bees defeated Rockford Auburn in the quarterfinals of the Mundelein Holiday Classic. Johnson's previous coach stops include Loyola Academy, where she won two state championships.
* Several of the state's top wrestling teams will compete in the 23rd annual Al Dvorak Memorial Wrestling Invitational on Wednesday and Thursday at Harlem High School. Among the wrestling powers will be
Glenbard North (Carol Stream), the city's top-ranked team, plus
Marmion Academy (Aurora), 2009 Class 2A state champion
Montini (Lombard),
Barrington,
Lyons (LaGrange) and nationally ranked
Iowa City West (Iowa).
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.