Batavia, St. Charles North rolling entering UEC play

Batavia and St. Charles North meet Thursday to start the Upstate Eight Conference River Division girls basketball schedule, two teams hoping to challenge Geneva for conference supremacy, and two teams both off to impressive starts.

"It's going to be tough," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "I think it will be a real good matchup knowing who they have coming back. Geneva is the favorite until someone proves otherwise. The Tri-Cities schools we all feel we have rights to fight for the same award at the end."

The Bulldogs (4-1) and North Stars (3-0) are a combined 7-1. Batavia started at the Trinity Thanksgiving Tournament and defeated Warren, Oak Park, Trinity and North Lawndale, losing only to Proviso East.

The Bulldogs tied Trinity and Proviso East with 4-1 records but finished third in the tiebreaker based on point-differencial. Still, it was a vast improvement from last year when the Bulldogs went 2-3.

"Considering the tournament I'm very pleased with our start," Jensen said. "We played pretty well. Our understanding of how to play is at a much higher level this year. We're playing at a much higher pace. This year there is much more determination. Overall we're having a blast. I tried to start that with myself and not getting to those moments where we get too upset and trying to have fun and so far it has paid off."

The 54-50 win over Trinity highlighted the tournament. St. Louis-bound senior Hannah Frazier scored 33 points and grabbed 12 boards.

"Her game against Trinity was something else," Jensen said. "She looked like a big-time player. She hit outside shots, she hit inside shots, she had counter moves and went back to her right which is something she has struggled with in the past. She decided to be the best player and was."

McKenzie Foster and Bethany Orman joined Frazier on the all-tournament team. Shea Bayram and Jess Koch made key 3s against Trinity.

"We have a little higher confidence level to put up shots outside of Hannah," Jensen said. "I think we are a really close group. You can even see on film watching our bench against Trinity and how excited they were."

St. Charles North opened its season for the second straight year at the Pontiac Tournament. A matchup with Washington was postponed by snow, but the North Stars won their other three games over LaSalle-Peru, Champaign Centennial and Pontiac.

"We got better each game, we were able to find our identity," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said. "Every game we improved and the last game the second half was the best we played probably in the three years I've been here."

There wasn't an all-tournament team. The North Stars received solid play from their bigs Morgan Rosencrants, Claire Jakaitis and sophomore Anna Davern, along with strong backcourt play from Kyla Helsel and company.

"We have a pretty deep team, we're pretty tall," Masoncup said. "Morgan had some spectacular games at Pontiac. It was pretty much a team effort which is nice to see."

Masoncup is looking forward to the frontcourt matchup Thursday between his trio of bigs and Frazier.

"They are well-coached and they have the all-stater in Hannah and they have some guards who have some experience," Masoncup said. "You have our bigs going against their bigs. We have to come ready to play.

"I think there are four teams if you want to add Larkin to the mix (in the UEC River race). We have some great talent in this conference. I think it's probably like the boys last year is the type of talent we have this year. Every night is going to be a challenge."

Another fast start: Kaneland joins St. Charles North among the area unbeatens after going 4-0 at the IC Catholic Prep tournament.

The Knights defeated Luther North, Evergreen Park, Regina Dominican and IC Catholic Prep. Only one of the games was competitive, a 48-37 win over the hosts in the title game.

It is the second consecutive title for Kaneland at this tournament and third in four years.

Bailey Crimmins led the Knights averaging 14 points at the tourney. Camri Conley was right behind at 13.8 points and 4.8 assists a game, and Morgan Weber chipped in 9.8 points a game on a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line.

Kaneland plays its home opener Friday against Morris.

Good trip south: St. Edward, which has played in the Dakota Thanksgiving tournament the past several years, headed south instead last weekend to play in the Quincy tournament. The Green Wave came away 3-0, beating Quincy twice with a win over Danville in between. Juniors Madelyn Spagnola and Katelyn Castor were named to the all-tournament team with Castoro being pegged the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The Wave also got solid play from sophomore guard Yssa Sto. Domingo.

"It was a great tourney for her," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson of the 5-3 Sto. Domingo. "She's a quiet leader who brings up the team's level of play often while having the toughest defensive assignment. And Castoro is always our go-to scorer while playing equally well on defense."

"The whole tournament was a great learning experience. We learned how to hold off comebacks and have good fourth quarters of our own."