By Bobby Narang
The holiday high school basketball tournament season is a key moment in the schedule for teams throughout the State.
The four-class State system hits the mid-point of the season and allows a true indicator of teams in the hunt for a championship.
• On the girls side, Geneva High School head coach Sarah Meadows, who has guided the Vikings to a pair of Class 4A State championships, got a good glimpse into her team’s potential. The Vikings, led by a collective effort, captured the 2nd Annual Morton College Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament championship. They defeated previously undefeated Fremd in the championship game to improve to a 12-2 overall record.
Meadows said the tourney title was a special moment for her program, especially after losing to Fremd in last season’s Morton College championship game.
“I can go back many years. I don’t know if we’ve won a Christmas tournament in a long time. This is awesome,” Meadows said.
Senior forward Cassidy Arni, a Wisconsin-Parkside recruit, was named the tournament MVP (most valuable player) after scoring 18 points against Fremd.
“This is a big win,” Arni said. “This win will get us better. I wasn’t expecting (the MVP). Fremd is a big, strong and physical team. We had to be prepared. We wanted this (win) real bad because of last year.”
• Nazareth, which placed second in State Class 3A last season, defeated Chicago powerhouse Young, 62-58, in the championship game of the Montini Christmas Tournament.
The Roadrunners (14-1) are one of the main teams in contention for the State championship this season, and proved it during the holidays.
“This means a lot,” Nazareth guard Grace Carstensen said. “It’s obviously a confidence boost to win, but we’re really focused on our future and what’s going to happen in March and making a huge run.”
• On the boys side, Benet Academy made headlines by nearing winning the Pontiac Tournament championship. The Redwings (16-1) had their unbeaten string snapped in an emotional 52-49 defeat to Simeon in the tournament championship game. Benet’s Brayden Fagbemi was a standout performance, and earned first-team all-tournament honors, while Brady Kunka was a second-team honoree.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Benet head coach Gene Heidkamp said. “I give them a lot of credit, they (Simeon) are the No. 1 team in the State for a reason. We thought we had a pretty good team coming in here, and maybe they validated it…There’s no moral victory here.”