Harvest Christian heading to 2A with momentum

Harvest Christian cracked the state Class 2A rankings this week, checking in at No. 10 with a 24-4 record.

It qualifies as good timing. After reaching the Class 1A state tournament last year, the Lions embark on the 2A playoffs for the first time, starting next week with a trip west to the Port Byron regional in Riverdale.

Harvest Christian will take an 8-game winning streak into the postseason.

"We are looking forward to the competition in 2A," Lions first-year coach Jeff Boldog said. "We added a lot of bigger schools to our nonconference schedule to try and help prepare us for the jump to 2A. Every game is going to be tough, there will not be any easy games now that we are in 2A. I am looking forward to the challenge."

Those bigger schools on the schedule included Montini, Lake Zurich, DeKalb and St. Francis.

The No. 1 seeded Lions open regional play next Tuesday against either West Carroll or Morrison.

"When I saw the assignments, I thought we would be at either Winnebago or Elmhurst and was surprised that we were placed in the Riverdale regional," Boldog said. "Overall I was happy with our seeding and regional matchup. It gives us an opportunity to play new teams that we aren't familiar with. Hopefully we can keep up the momentum going into the postseason."

If Harvest advances to the Bureau Valley sectional, the other top seeds are Fieldcrest, Spring Valley Hall and Winnebago, who the Lions already defeated 63-53.

"There are some really good teams in both sectionals," Boldog said. "I have no idea who will come out of the other subsectional. Those are all solid teams, and should be very competitive."

The sectional winner advances to the Oglesby supersectional against the Christ the King sectional winner.

The Lions added three transfers this year, Grace and Addy Ringel and Elena Porrata, and Boldog said it took some time for everything to come together.

Grace Ringel averages 7.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a game. Addy Ringel averages 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while Porrata is second on the team in scoring at 11.5 points a game. She leads the team with 51 three-pointers.

"Adding three new girls to the team this year, they had to learn to play with each other and how to play with true bigs in the Ringel twins," Boldog said. "It was a learning curve, and ever since the St. Francis loss they have been figuring it out. We have been playing some of our best basketball since then. Our defense and team chemistry have been the biggest reasons for the way we have been playing."

Alyssa Iverson is once again doing it all for the Lions, averaging 18.1 points, 4.6 steals and 4.0 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field and 69 percent at the line.

"Iverson has been outstanding this season," Boldog said. "She is an extremely gifted athlete who has a great mind for the game. She has been clutch for us throughout the whole season, whether it is defense and getting that steal to change the momentum of a game, finding the open player or knocking down a key basket, she always seems to come through in crunch time. She has been sacrificing her scoring numbers recently to get more players involved, and it has made a big impact on the team."

Class 1A: Aurora Christian, who improved to 15-7 with a 4-0 week last week, also learned its postseason draw.

The Eagles host a regional as a No. 3 seed in a subsectional of the Hinckley-Big Rock sectional.

Aurora Christian opens against No. 6 Hinckley-Big Rock. With a win, the Eagles likely would play No. 1 seed Newark for a regional championship on Friday, Feb. 9.

Those two teams met early this season, Nov. 21, with Newark winning 37-26.

If the Eagles can somehow turn the tables, a packed sectional would likely include the No. 1 ranked Class 1A school, Annawan (28-0).

"We obviously have a tough draw," Eagles coach Burney Wilkie said. "I feel like we are playing our best basketball right now at the right time. The girls are really excited and really focused, and we can't wait to get this state tournament going."

Simply Golden: Batavia sophomore Erin Golden leads her team in scoring at 11.1 points per game, rebounding (9.1), assists (2.6) and steals (1.8).

She was at it again Friday night against Geneva, scoring her team's first 8 points of the game and finishing with a game-high 18.

It's been quite a jump from a freshman season when Golden barely played.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Jensen took a good-natured jab at himself when asked about the difference in Golden from last year to this.

"Her stupid head coach didn't play her," Jensen said of last year. "I don't know what he was thinking. We knew she was good but she never really overtook a sophomore or senior ahead of her."

Golden has a nose for the ball, tracking down rebounds over taller opponents. Offensively, she's been able to get past her defenders and get to the rim or hit midrange shots.

"There's some kids who are just playmakers," Jensen said. "Put the ball in their hands. She's that. I don't know how she does it. She's not very big. She's not unbelievably fast but she gets by people. She has a nice little touch shooting over bigger players. The sky is the limit for her."