Presenting the 2021-2022 Fox All-Area Girls Basketball Team

Claire Nazos was the first Batavia senior to have the celebratory basketball net draped around her neck.Eventually, as the jubilant vibes following Batavia’s 50-34 victory over St. Charles North in the Class 4A Addison Trail regional final wafted through the Bulldogs celebration, the plaque and net made its way around for pictures and memories they won’t soon forget.

Alyssa Hughes proved elusive on Tuesday night and St. Charles North advanced to Friday’s Class 4A Addison Trail regional championship game after a 52-44 victory over the pesky host Blazers.

While cliché in nature, the old “everybody is 0-0 at the start of the playoffs” is a truthful statement.A deeper meaning, as South Elgin girls basketball coach Dan Mandernack explained, is don’t overlook anybody or uniforms might be turned in the next day.

A wave of emotion appeared to crash over Eva Saltsman as she exited the floor for her curtain call. Saltsman was one of three St. Charles North seniors, along with Erin Stack and Morgan Klug, to celebrate Senior Night with the North Stars’ 50-31 girls basketball win over Lake Park on Thursday.

Lexi DiOrio’s shot wasn’t falling Saturday, but that didn’t mean her attitude and competitive drive was going to take a dip.

Mike Tomczak was hoping to see Geneva miss a shot.The Vikings shot a blistering 50% from the field in the first half Thursday night against his St. Charles North girls basketball team and held a 16-point halftime advantage.Tomczak got his wish after halftime as his North Stars clawed back, but it was too much Cassidy Arni and Geneva timely shooting as the Vikings pulled away for a 66-50 victory to remain unbeaten in DuKane Conference play.Arni finished with a game-high 23 points and five steals. Her final basket of the night was a 3-pointer that aided a 13-1 run to finish the game after St. Charles North cut its deficit just four.“We were hoping they weren’t going to make every shot in the second half,” Tomczak said. “It certainly seemed like they did in the first half… We knew if we didn’t make a push early on [in the third quarter], that game could have gotten ugly. We didn’t finish it all the way, but I’m proud of how we responded.”“We knew they were going to come at us strong,” Arni said.” [St. Charles North] is a great team. I think that’s something we need to improve on, but I think we did a good job of bringing back that energy… I think we just had to keep each other up and just play together. We play our best when we play team ball.”Speaking of team ball, the Vikings (18-4, 10-0 DuKane Conference) had six of its seven players score points in Thursday night’s win, including Zosia Wrobel (17 points) and Leah Palmer (16) joining Arni in double figures.Geneva used its team defense to hold the North Stars (14-11, 4-6) scoreless over the final 4:22 of action. The North Stars didn’t make a shot from the field in the final 7:33 of Thursday’s loss.Alyssa Hughes matched Arni with 23 points of her own in defeat for St. Charles North in trying to bring the North Stars back from a deficit that grew to as big as 18 in the first half.“I think that’s been the story of our season,” Tomczak said. ”We start a little slower, dig ourselves a hole and fight like crazy to come back. We’re using everything we have to come back, but we run out of gas. You can’t do that against teams of this caliber.”While the Vikings cooled down to shoot 37% in the second half, it relied on the solid defensive effort to hold off a strong third-quarter effort from the North Stars.When Geneva needed it most, it got back to playing theunselfish basketball that has kept it unbeaten through conference play.“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “[St. Charles North] plays us tough each and every time we face them. We battle with them every game and we knew it was coming. We need to do abetter job of executing, but we’re starting to get there.”“I think we just got back to not taking the first shot,” Wrobel said of her team’s response. “When we pass the ball four or five times,the defense loses focus or can get lazy and we can get a wide open layup orshot… We can all shoot so it can be really hard to guard.”Reagan Sipla added 12 points in the loss for the North Stars.

Who has the hottest of hot hands right now in the Fox Valley area?

Brooke Carlson was expecting high defensive pressure as the clock ticked closer to zero.Down three with seven seconds left in regulation, the Batavia sophomore somehow found herself open for a three-point attempt.She swished it to force overtime, and hit two free throws in the extra period to finish off a sensational 22-point, 11-rebound game in Batavia’s 54-47 overtime win over St. Charles North.

Emory Klatt may be “just” a sophomore, but she played like a veteran for Stevenson’s girls basketball team on Tuesday. Klatt scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead the Patriots past St. Charles North, 55-39, in the quarterfinals of the Komaromy Classic at Dundee-Crown.

After hitting 50 percent of its shots from beyond the arc in the first half Monday, St. Charles North’s 3-point shooting went cold in the second half of the North Stars’ opening round game of the 38th Annual Komaromy Classic at Dundee-Crown. St. Charles North (8-5) only drained three of 15 3-point shots in the last 16 minutes of the contest with Moline but the third one came at critical moment. With 12.9 seconds left on the clock and the North Stars trailing by two, junior guard Alyssa Hughes let one fly from the left wing that found nothing but net to put North Stars up, 55-54.

Eden Pearson is evidently not afraid of being knocked over in the paint.Pearson, Wheaton North junior’s guard, said “it’s all about hustle” when considering her role defensively.“All our players are out there just anticipating every pass. Just being able to put our bodies on the line every play is just a way we’re successful,” Pearson said following the Falcons’ 50-42 victory over St. Charles North on Monday.Pearson had 10 rebounds to complement her eight points. She also made her presence felt defensively, taking a charge in the third quarter.“The feeling of getting a charge and having all four teammates there to lift you up, it was just the best feeling in the world,” Pearson said. “You just do it for them. It’s awesome.”

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.

Torrie Kortan’s shot hasn’t been falling at its usual rate lately, but she said her teammates keep her going.Kortan, St. Charles East’s four-year varsity player, had only one point at the half of Friday’s game with St. Charles North.But she hit one of the game’s biggest shots in the Saints’ eventual 46-38 win, their second over the North Stars this season.

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.

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.

Lake Zurich senior point guard Alayna Soukup saw a slight opening to take advantage of a small window on Saturday. Soukup used her strength to get some space, driving past a group of St. Charles North defenders to score on a strong drive to the basket early in the fourth quarter. From that moment, Lake Zurich’s girls basketball team regained control of the game, pulling out a 50-41 victory in the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Fremd.

Erin Stack knew St. Charles North needed a momentum boost entering the locker room down 3 points at the half.

With a 52-41 victory over St. Charles North, St. Charles East claimed the York Thanksgiving tournament title on Friday. “I feel like we’ve all matured a lot more. We just kind of all have trust in each other [that] we can come back no matter what, as long as we work together,” said Saints senior Torrie Kortan who had 19 points and four rebounds. “Honestly, this game wasn‘t even a very good one. We didn’t execute as well as we should’ve. We’re just very fortunate that we were able to pull it out.”

St. Charles North coach Mike Tomczak said it’s Alyssa Hughes’ show this winter and the rest of the North Stars are following her lead. On Thursday night, the junior point guard proved she is more than capable of handling that responsibility. Pouring in a game-high 25 points, Hughes led her team into the championship of the York Thanksgiving Tournament with a 53-44 win over the host Dukes.

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

With eight consecutive winning seasons, the St. Charles North girls basketball program has put together a nice little string of success. Behind a strong core of players returning to the court this winter, the North Stars are expecting nothing less than continuing that. They started off on the right foot Monday in their season opener, knocking down 11-three pointers in a 58-39 win over Downers Grove South as part of the York Thanksgiving Tournament in Elmhurst.