If someone watching Tuesday’s St. Charles East and Geneva girls basketball game was to say that the Vikings once trailed by eight points, it would have been hard to believe.There are hot streaks and then there was Geneva in the second quarter.

Leah Palmer earned her redemptive moment.Geneva sophomore’s forward missed two free throws with 26.7 seconds left as the Vikings nursed a two-point lead Saturday at Wheaton North. Twenty-one seconds later, it was Palmer again on the line in a game-clinching situation.She drained both.

Brianna Wooldridge is officially back. Three years ago, in her freshman season, Wooldridge established herself as one of the emerging players in the state. Wooldridge scored a game-high 23 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 assists to power a second-half surge that led Fremd to an improbable 46-40 win over Geneva in the championship game of the inaugural Morton College Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament Thursday.

Benet and Geneva will always be linked together in Illinois girls basketball history.Over the past decade, in Class 4A, the Redwings and Vikings are considered royalty in the sport.Both teams recently won their first state title in program history, and doubled their pleasure with back-to-back championships.Again this season, the Redwings and Vikings are among the top teams in contention for a 4A state title.

Geneva played two polar opposite teams in the first two days of the inaugural Morton College Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament. The end result was the same in each case: a victory. The Vikings scored 23 points in the third quarter to cruise to a 74-56 win over Rolling Meadows in Cicero.

Geneva junior forward Leah Palmer watched the play unfold exactly how it was planned.The Vikings were seconds away from dropping their fourth game of the season in the opening round of the 1st Annual Morton College Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament.All game long, the Vikings were chasing Deerfield’s talented but diminutive trio of guards — junior Lexi Kerstein and freshmen Aubrey Galvan and Nikki Kerstein.The Warriors’ three guards made the Vikings work for every basket, applying relentless ball pressure on defense and pushing the pace on the offensive end in an attempt to wear them out.But the Vikings slowly erased a six-point deficit by clamping down on defense, getting a chance in the final minute to pull off a comeback victory. Palmer came through in the clutch, scoring a basket with 25 seconds left to lift the Vikings to a 65-63 victory over the Warriors.

Here’s a look at where Fox area schools are headed for girls basketball holiday tournaments, including St. Charles East, Huntley and Burlington Central playing at Montini, and Dundee-Crown hosting its annual Komaromy Classic.

The frenetic pace and rapid scoring seemed more applicable to a track meet than a girls basketball game Friday night in Geneva.The second half of the DuKane Conference girls preliminary between Batavia and Geneva would slow considerably–at least for the scorekeeper manning the clock.In the end, however, there was one constant in the 61-52 Geneva victory.

Missing starters Lauren Slagle and Rilee Hasegawa, Geneva’s depth — Chrystiana Pagonis, Caitlin Cassidy and Kinsey Gracey — played a key role in the Vikings’ 65-60 DuKane Conference victory. The Vikings improved to 6-3, 3-0.

Zosia Wrobel loves playing against Wheaton Warrenville South. Geneva’s 6-foot senior forward tamed the Tigers for 20 points on Tuesday night to lead the Vikings to a 52-28 romp in Geneva – and seems to be at her absolute best when facing the DuKane Conference foe. Wrobel, who scored a career-high 25 against the Tigers when the teams last played in Mach, knocked down four of her six three-pointers in the first quarter as the Vikings opened up a 10-0 lead and never looked back.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the first few weeks of the girls basketball season in the Fox area, including a 6-0 start for South Elgin and updates at Geneva, Batavia, Huntley and more.

Carmel Catholic hung on for a 42-36 girls basketball win over Geneva Saturday night.

Sycamore’s Faith Feuerbach delivered the final blow in Geneva’s 48-47 loss in the Burlington Central Thanksgiving Tournament title game Saturday. The senior’s long 3-point basket put Sycamore ahead for the first time with 6.5 seconds left on the clock. The trey, launched from the volleyball attack line, ended up being the winning bucket. However, it was a one-sided third quarter, and a back-and-forth final period, that set up the dramatic finish.

Burlington Central made 4 of 5 shots from the field, including 3 of 4 3-pointers, and hit 6 of 9 free throws in the first quarter. Yet the Rockets still found themselves trailing Geneva, 20-17, after 8 minutes. That’s how tough the Vikings were. Geneva then proceeded to blow the game open in the second quarter, outscoring Central 18-4 en route to a 69-48 win and a spot in the championship game of the Burlington Central Thanksgiving Tournament.

From the opening tip Thursday, Lauren Slagle started to show signs of what she brings to the court for Geneva. Whether it was finding room for seven rebounds or using her 6-foot-1 length for 20 points in the paint in Geneva‘s 63-30 victory over Kaneland, the Vikings have yet another player to add to its list of contributors.

Here’s a look at the girls basketball season in the DuKane