Montini senior forward Shannon Blacher is cognizant of the fact that the Broncos are going to get the best an opponent has, especially in the playoffs.

Friday night’s Class 3A regional championship between Burlington Central and Rockford Boylan was a very close contest down to the last three minutes of the game.

Crystal Lake Central’s Ella Madalinski found her shot in the second quarter against Burlington Central, so her Tigers’ teammates kept looking her way.

Burlington Central twice made big scoring runs at Hampshire – netting 10 straight points in the third quarter and nine straight points in the fourth – as the Whip-Purs looked to put the Rockets away Friday in their Fox Valley Conference game.

You just needed to take a look at the stat sheet and see how many turnovers Burlington Central committed to figure out who won.

Burlington Central coach Collin Kalamatas encouraged Page Erickson to be more aggressive in the second half against Cary-Grove.

Sam Origel had to wait her turn on the bench with seniors and other shooters blocking her path the past two seasons, but now the Burlington Central senior has the green light to shoot early and often.

Often when a basketball team runs out to a big early lead, it has to buckle up and hang on tight when the opponent wakes up.

Hampshire played solid defense against Burlington Central all night Tuesday.

Here’s a look at what to expect this winter for the Fox Valley Conference girls basketball teams.