Girls basketball notes: Marian Central builds off record-breaking year

Marian Central fell short of winning back-to-back Johnsburg Thanksgiving Tournament titles to start the year but put together a complete tournament to capture the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic for the first time in five years.

The Hurricanes overcame a 42-point performance from Crystal Lake Central senior point guard Katie Hamill in the championship game and beat the Tigers 56-54 in overtime Dec. 21, going 4-0 to win the 15-team tournament.

Marian, which won a program-record 25 games last season, is off to a sizzling start at 16-4. No other area team has more than 11 wins (Huntley, Hampshire, Alden-Hebron).

“They were so excited and everybody was really happy to win after losing (at Johnsburg),” Hurricanes coach Lee Brown said. “There were some tough teams in there. Prairie Ridge played us tough, and obviously Crystal Lake (Central) is a real solid team.

“There were some tough games in there, but our girls never quit. There’s been a real collectiveness about this group since last year.

Brown said the Hurricanes haven’t relied on any one player to carry the team, which has led to their success. In recent games, Madison Kenyon, Abbey Miner, Juliette Huff, Adriana Wrzos and Ella Notaro have all hit double digits in scoring.

“That’s extremely important for us. For us, our success comes from our collective effort and attack,” Brown said. “Any night we can have any number of girls in double-digit scoring. There’s been times where we have two, three or four. We go eight, nine deep, and it’s our collective approach that makes us stand out.

“That’s kind of been our recipe, our collective attack.”

Marian is hoping to set a record for wins this season, while it is also is aiming to finish at the top of the Chicagoland Christian Conference in the league’s first year.

Brown feels that the Hurricanes have been up to the challenge.

“What we took from last year was to find success, it has to be a collective effort. That’s what brought us success last year,” Brown said. “What we’re also finding out is we’re not off the radar as much anymore. That second year back, we have somewhat of a target on our back. We’re not sneaking up on people, but that’s only going to help us.”

Woodstock on top in KRC: Woodstock, which struggled to an 8-19 record last season, currently is leading the Kishwaukee River Conference about halfway into the conference schedule. Through six games, the Blue Streaks (9-6) are the only KRC team to not lose a conference game.

Woodstock, which finished third in the KRC last season, finishes the first half of the conference schedule at Woodstock North at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

The Streaks, led by Natalie Morrow, Allie O’Brien, Anna Crenshaw and Keira Bogott, defeated last year’s KRC champion Marengo 46-40 in a close game Dec. 1. Marengo and Johnsburg are next closest to Woodstock in the KRC race with one loss each.

Huntley continues to roll in FVC: The Red Raiders earned their 34th straight Fox Valley Conference victory with a 56-36 win against Burlington Central on Dec. 15. Huntley last lost in conference play Jan. 21, 2022 (a 47-39 loss to Prairie Ridge).

Huntley (11-4, 6-0 FVC) is the only team in the FVC without a loss. Hampshire is 6-1, followed by Prairie Ridge at 4-2. Burlington Central, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central and Dundee-Crown all have three losses.

All-tournament selections: Huntley’s Anna Campanelli and Paula Strzelecki and Hampshire’s Avery Cartee and Whitney Thompson and were named to the Dundee-Crown Charger-Komaromy Classic All-Tournament team.

Cary-Grove’s Ellie Mjaanes and Malaina Kurth were named to the all-tournament team at Libertyville’s Winter Classic, while Marian Central’s Madison Kenyon and Juliette Huff earned all-tournament honors at the Boylan Reindeer Games.