Girls basketball: Here are storylines to watch across the Record Newspapers area this postseason

Illinois high school basketball has entered its most exciting month of the season. Girls basketball playoffs start next week, with the boys beginning the following week.

Here are postseason storylines to watch for Kendall County-area teams.

Can Plano add to its best season ever?

It has been a historic season for the Plano girls basketball program.

The Reapers surpassed the 2012-2013 team for the most wins in program history and are currently 25-4. Plano’s 14-game winning streak, which was snapped last week, is also a program record. Senior guard Josie Larson, the program’s all-time leading scorer, has rewritten the Plano record book. Quite a turnaround from Larson’s freshman season, when Plano went 3-28.

Can they keep it going?

Plano plays Sycamore on Monday in a Class 3A regional semifinal at Sterling. Plano is the higher-seeded team, fourth to seventh, and 8-21 Sycamore is having a very down season by its recent standards, but Plano’s former Interstate 8 rival is still a bigger school and a challenging first postseason game.

In addition Sycamore’s best player, sophomore Quinn Carrier, just returned from injury. Should Plano clear that hurdle, the Reapers would likely face Western Big 6 champion Sterling, ranked No. 5 in the final Class 3A statewide poll, in a regional final on Sterling’s home floor.

Plano’s last regional title came in 2006.

Will Oswego East’s hot streak continue?

Oswego East only drew the eighth seed in the Class 4A Benet Sectional – but that doesn’t reflect how well the Wolves have played since Christmas.

After a 3-7 start, Oswego East (17-10) ripped off an 11-game winning streak that started the day after Christmas and ended the second-to-last day in January.

In the last week, Oswego East handed Southwest Prairie Conference champion Bolingbrook its only conference loss, and avenged an earlier loss to Yorkville.

The Wolves boast a dynamic threesome in senior guard Maggie Lewandowski and juniors Aubrey Lamberti and Desiree Merritt. They get Naperville North (16-14) in Monday’s regional semifinal at Benet.

Should Oswego East win, it would likely face Benet (26-2), ranked second in the final Class 4A statewide poll, in Thursday’s regional final. The Oswego East program’s one and only regional title came in 2016.

Yorkville’s regional rematches

Yorkville (18-10), seeded sixth in the Class 4A Benet Sectional, has some familiar foes awaiting at a regional at Metea Valley next week.

The Foxes face Naperville Central in Tuesday’s regional semifinal. Yorkville beat Naperville Central 67-53 at Batavia’s MLK Shootout in January.

Should Yorkville advance to Friday’s regional final, it likely would face third-seeded Bolingbrook. Bolingbrook swept the season series in the SPC with Yorkville, 55-47 in December and 51-37 on Jan. 30.

Yorkville last won a regional title in 2019, but the Foxes have reached a regional final in each of the last two years and have experience from those games in seniors and three-year varsity players Brooke Spychalski, Madi Spychalski and Lainey Gussman.

Can Yorkville Christian win its first regional?

The young Yorkville Christian program is enjoying its best season to date, 18-8 on the year. Junior Payton Wallin leads the way with 16.1 points per game, and senior Grace Allgood this past week became the second girl in program history to reach 1,000 career points.

Yorkville Christian has never won a regional title, but that could change next week. The Mustangs open Class 1A Indian Creek Regional play Tuesday against the Newark vs. Hinckley-Big Rock winner.

Should the fourth-seeded Mustangs win that, they’d likely face top-seeded Serena – who Yorkville Christian beat 47-43 last week – in next Thursday’s regional final.