Girls basketball in our area ... this is one of the things that happens when the major sport during that season, in this case, boys basketball, is in the midst of its glory days. The other sports become an afterthought.
Sarah Boothe and Zion/Waukegan standout Bianca Jarrett gave the sport some buzz for the last couple of years, but for 2008-2009, we are hurtin' for certain in terms of teams with any kind of shot at all of contending for even a sectional title.
Danasha Jenkins at Waukegan High .... I've seen her play and she has potential to be a very good one ... and Round Lake's LaBrenthia Murdock has game. But in terms of our big-school programs -- Stevenson, Warren, Lake Zurich, Grant -- will all be down and way down this coming winter.
Lake Zurich will NOT be way down. In fact, they should be contenders in the Lake division of the NSC.
Grant will probably be down due to major losses to graduation.
Warren and Stevenson will be competitive. In fact, the whole Lake division should be interesting to watch this year. There will be a lot of close games. Count on it!
I actually saw LZ play several times last year and it seems like they were senior-dominated. I think of them as having completed their two-year run.
Obviously, the returning seniors know what it takes in terms of hard work to succeed, I just don't know if the horses are there. Their soph team didn't knock my socks off.
NSC Lake grid ... people tell me Libertyville is going to have a bounce-back year and win the league. Seems to me Warren has about 16 starting positions back from a 6-3 squad. Plus, team has bunch of home games this fall. Only problem is that Mohapp is old-school, 3 yards/cloud of dust in an era when everybody is passing.
Anonymous is correct: Lake Zurich's girls will be very good this year. My guess is that when you saw them, their top player (Bauer), who is a returning senior was out with an injury. Her little sis is also good, as is a guard named Allen. They also have a couple decent shooters back. They'll be tough.
Mundelein has players back from last year and Libertyville is also having a good summer.
Hey Anonymous II,
I think Jeff mistakeningly posted about LZ's football team in his response. He could not be talking about their girls basketball team. I agree with your take on the Lake division. All of those teams are having good summers and will be tough this year. I heard that Libertyville suffered a major injury this summer, so we'll see how that affects them.
Outside of Waukegan and Zion-Benton, I'm not sure how closely the News Sun follows girls basketball in this area. Attention in the past has always gone to those teams and Warren (when they have been dominant). The other local teams don't get much pub. I understand coverage is based on the circulation area, but it would be nice to see this paper be a little more informed. I say that knowing that they DO pay a lot of attention to a # of boys hoops teams that aren't in areas where they get a ton of subscribers.
I'm not trying to complain. It just would be nice if the amount of coverage between the boys and girls games was a *little* more balanced. Everything is always about boys basketball. There is more to prep athletics than that.
Yeah, the News Sun has almost not bothered putting up a fight for readership of sports since DH has expanded about ten years ago. NewsSun almost seems content on focusing on boys' hoops in NE LC. That's too bad.
Yeah, it will be interesting to see how Warren deals with the loss of their seniors. I heard about the L'ville injury. Stevenson was young last year. It will be interesting to see if they have enough to contend with Mund, LZ, and L'ville.