Hersey girls basketball coach Mary Fendley struggled to find the words to describe her emotions on Monday.A member of the Illinois High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame with 501 career victories, Fendley has experienced nearly everything in the sport.But Fendley was battling her emotions following a potentially serious right knee injury suffered by junior guard Meghan Mrowicki late in the second quarter of Monday’s 73-37 loss to Fenwick in the 32nd Annual Coach Derril Kipp Hoopsfest at Benet.

Montini point guard Sawyer White just completed a memorable week.It began last Sunday when the 5-foot-8 senior committed to Illinois Wesleyan, where she will play both basketball and soccer.It ended Saturday afternoon, when White turned in a virtuoso performance at the first day of the 32nd Coach Kipp Hoopsfest.

The Addison Trail girls basketball team is relying on a pair of three-year varsity players to their best regular season start in over 15 years.Seniors Mary Velez and Quiana Birmingham are the backbone of the one of the best Blazer teams in recent decades.The Blazers (13-6, 6-1 West Suburban Gold) have built off last season’s showing, led by the production and leadership of Velez and Birmingham.

Caroline Workman is returning to her most basic basketball roots in her first full high school season in three years.Workman, Nazareth’s 6-foot senior, wouldn’t call herself a post. But point guard has never been her first position – at least not until this season. She does, however, have a background playing guard.

Every time Lyons Township point guard Ella Ormsby was open around the three-point stripe on Thursday, her teammates found her.Then she found the range.Ormsby sank five 3-pointers and scored 15 points, sharing team-high honors with fellow guard Olivia Mezan, to lead the Lions to a 61-43 victory over host Montini in the final game of the Montini Christmas Tournament.It didn’t seem to matter where she was on the court, either. Ormsby sank her first 3 from the left corner off a pass from Ally Cesarini, triggering an 8-0 run that gave the Lions (14-3) a 12-4 lead.Winona State-bound star Hailey Markworth found Ormsby on the right wing for the second 3-pointer, which broke a 22-22 tie in the second quarter.Mezan assisted on Ormsby’s third trey, which came from the left wing and put LT up 28-24 with 1:59 left in the half. That started a 28-8 run that lasted into the early part of the fourth quarter and included two more triples.“She’s very capable of it and we know that,” LT coach Meghan Hutchens said. “I was always taught to feed the hot hand, and she was the hot hand tonight.“We kept letting it ride and letting her feel good about it. She deserved it and hopefully there are more of these games to come for her.”Markworth, who finished with nine points, five assists and four rebounds, wasn’t surprised at Ormsby’s efforts, which were not limited to scoring. The 5-foot-8 junior also led all players with nine rebounds, all on the defensive end, to go with three assists, three steals and a block.“We trust her as a shooter every game and this game, especially, she it up,” Markworth said. “She always gets her hands on everything on defense, so she’s a great player on both ends.”Ormsby is in her second year on varsity but first as a starter. She’s taken over the point guard position, allowing Markworth to play the shooting guard and attack the basket more.“I just felt super confident once my first shot went in,” Ormsby said. “I just wanted to keep shooting.”Ormsby made 5 of 8 shots and while she stopped shooting in the fourth quarter as the Lions protected their large lead, she never ceased making a pest of herself on defense. She deflected a pass out of bounds just before she was subbed out with a minute remaining.“She’s come a long way from the beginning of the season,” Hutchens said. “I think that when your offensive game is flowing for you, a lot of other things start to flow for you.“She knew what her place was in our team defense today and she did her job.”The Lions held Montini (10-5) to 16-for-53 shooting, including a 5-for-24 showing in the second half.“I think communication helped with a lot of it,” Ormsby said. “We’ve been working on communication and help-side defense and not helping strong side.“It is really a collective effort on defense, especially in this game.”It was a collective effort on offense, too. The Lions were again diversified as Mezan and Ormsby were joined in double figures by Cesarini, who had 12 points and three steals. Center Izzy Lee chipped in six points, eight rebounds and two blocks.Shannon Blacher tallied a game-high 17 points for Montini, while Victoria Matulevicius added 13 points.“They are a very good team,” Montini coach Shannon Spanos said. “They have a ton of weapons and we knew that going in.“We knew that they had good shooters and our game plan was to close out on them, but they’re very talented. They are doing well for a reason.”Indeed, the Lions went 3-1 in the tournament, losing only to Naperville North.

Lake Park coach Brian Rupp could finally breathe a little easier.Starting the second half on a 13-0 run, Lake Park led 38-16 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.The Lancers had to stave off a valiant comeback effort by Fenwick in posting a 52-44 win in consolation action of the Dundee-Crown 38th Annual Komaromy Classic Wednesday afternoon in Carpentersville.

Sophie Swanson was feeling it early. Her Barrington teammates were as well. The Fillies nailed 6 3-pointers in their first 8 possessions while overwhelming Fenwick, 75-39, in the quarterfinals of the Komaromy Classic at Dundee-Crown. Swanson finished wiht a school-record 37 points.

Whether leading by a wide margin in a game or practicing, Montini junior Shannon Blacher gives it her all, and perhaps, somehow more.“Every day, I go 110%, no matter what. Or else, you’re just wasting your time,” Blacher said following Montini’s 74-20 victory over St. Francis in the opening round of the Montini Christmas Classic on Monday. “So I think just not giving it your all is just not playing who you can truly be up to your full potential.”

Coming off a Dec. 16 loss to Montini, its first loss in 12 games to start the season, the Ramblers regrouped the next night against visiting Glenbrook South in Wilmette

Just this past June, Kelsey Neary finished up her sophomore season on Hersey’s lacrosse team with a team-high 59 goals. She also knows how to score ‘field’ goals in her winter sport. The Hersey girls basketball guard had three on Saturday for 7 points, including a 3-pointer as the state-ranked Huskies (13-3) defeated Mother McAuley 58-44 at the ‘Grow The Game’ shootout on the North Central College campus in Naperville.