Basketball notebook: Annawan boys, girls crowned at new tournaments

The Annawan boys and girls basketball teams both won new Christmas tournaments this year.

The Braves won in their debut at the LaMoille Holiday Classic boys tournament while the Bravettes shined in their first appearance at the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic at St. Bede.

The Annawan girls had played in the State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington-Normal since 2009, going 29-23 overall with a first-place finish in 2017 and fourths in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The Annawan boys went 9-23 in the State Farm Holiday Classic dating back to 2014.

Here’s a rundown of area tournament winners and all-tournament selections.

BOYS TOURNAMENTS

At LaMoille: The Braves defeated Lowpoint-Washburn 51-45 in Friday’s championship game. Annawan opened with a 64-26 win over Hiawatha and beat the host Lions 74-20 in the semifinals.

The Lions bounced back for a 50-47 win over Galva to claim third place. LaMoille went 2-1, also defeating Normal Calvary Baptist 50-47.

All-tournament selections included LaMoille’s Brayden Klein, Annawan’s Gabe Sims and DePue’s Brock Coates along with Lowpoint-Washburn’s Baylor Steffen and Kody Knight, Hiawatha’s Cameron Emerich and Leland’s Gunnar Nelson.

At Marquette: No. 2 Lexington knocked off No. 1 Serena 51-33 for the championship of the Marquette Christmas Classic in Friday’s finals. It was the second straight night the Minuteman upended an undefeated team, having defeated Earlville 67-32 in the semifinals.

Also Friday, Earlville beat Flanagan-Cornell 47-45 for third place, No. 4 Marquette topped Hall 68-57 for fifth place while St. Bede beat Putnam County 53-46 for its first win of the tournament in the 15th-place game.

Hall’s Max Bryant was named to the all-tournament team along with Ethan Storm and Griffin Hari of Lexington, Connor Telford of Dwight, Ryan Browder of Earlville, Kesler Collins of Flanagan-Cornell, Denver Trainor of Marquette, Carson Baker and Tannor Faivre of Serena, Carson Bahrey of Somonauk and Reid Juster of Wilmington.

Storm was the tournament scoring leader with 92 points.

At Erie: Beecher defeated Mercer County 49-42 to claim the championship of the boys’ Warkins Classic at Erie on Saturday.

Kewanee beat Riverdale 69-54 in a Three Rivers showdown for third place.

Adyn McGinley of tournament champ Beecher was named as the tournament MVP, joined on the all-tournament team by Brady Clark of Kewanee and Lucas Simpson of Newman.

At Plano: Kaneland lived up to its top billing with a 55-53 win over the host Reapers, who were unseeded, in Saturday’s championship game.

In other finals games, No. 5 Streator beat No. 6 Marmion 52-37 for third place, No. 3 L-P beat No. 8 HBR 71-40 for fifth place, Ottawa defeated Oregon 72-50 for the consolation championship (9th place) and Mendota beat Sandwich 76-54 for 13th place.

All-tournament selections included Josh Senica of L-P, Cooper Knoll of Ottawa and Christian Benning of Streator.

At Bloomington: Rock Falls beat Bishop McNamara 51-45 to place seventh in the State Farm Classic.

At Taylorville: Sterling fell to undefeated Mt. Zion 63-42 to finish second in the Taylorville Holiday Tournament.

GIRLS TOURNAMENTS

At St. Bede: No. 4 Class 1A ranked Annawan defeated Serena 42-35 for the championship of the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic in its tournament debut.

In other finals, Fieldcrest beat St. Bede 51-43 for third place, Putnam County downed Newark 38-24 for fifth place while Kewanee beat Sandwich 50-26 for seventh place.

Annawan’s Olivia Goodley and Clara VanOpdorp were both named to the all-tournament first team while teammates Kaylee Celus and Elaina Manuel were named to the second team.

Three St. Bede players received all-tournament recognition Ali Bosnich (first team), Ella Hermes (second team) and Ashlyn Ehm (honorable mention).

Also selected to the first-team were Ava Hatton of Putnam County, Paisley Twait of Serena and Kaitlyn White of Fieldcrest.

At Amboy: The Clippers, who survived an earlier scare by Hall, claimed the championship of its Amboy Holiday Tournament by defeating Newman 43-36 in Friday’s finals.

Hall doubled up Mendota 62-31 for third place while Somonauk beat Hiawatha 50-7 for fifth place.

Hall senior McKenna Christiansen was named to the all-tournament team. She had two double doubles in the tournament, averaging 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and a steal.

Other selections were Elly Jones and Maeve Larson of Amboy, Jess Johns and Elaina Allen of Newman, Grace Wasmer of Mendota, Haley McCoy of Somonauk and Delaney Wood of Hiawatha.

At Prophetstown: Wethersfield edged Lena-Winslow 49-46 for the championship of the Warkins Memorial Classic on Saturday.

Bureau Valley finished 3-1 with a 37-27 win Saturday over Rockridge.

Kennady Anderson of Wethersfield was named as the tournament MVP with Kennedy Buck of host E-P joining her on the all-tournament team.