Crystal Lake South bounces back from injuries, rough 2024: Northwest Herald girls basketball notes

Crystal Lake South was dealt a tough blow when sophomore guard Gracey LePage tore her ACL during a national soccer showcase in early December, wiping out her high school basketball season.

It was eerily similar to a year ago when LePage’s sister, Laken, suffered a torn ACL in August, which also forced her to miss her sophomore season after averaging 11.1 points as a freshman.

South coach Mark Mucha called Gracey LePage “a heart of the team” and one of the team’s top defenders and offensive facilitators. She had successful surgery earlier this month and has occupied a regular spot near the Gators' bench while cheering on her teammates.

“She’s just a natural leader with the way she works and her encouragement of others,” Mucha said. “One of the first things she asked when she got her surgery was if she can be at the game the next day. Her not out on the floor, I think that the kids all miss her, but they know she’s still out there.”

Gracey LePage, who plays for the Rockford Raptors soccer club, led the Northwest Herald area in scoring last season as a freshman with 38 goals while earning Illinois High School Coaches Association All-State honors. LePage, who also competes in track and field, did not play basketball as a freshman.

Others have had to step up in Gracey LePage’s absence.

Sophomore Makena Cleary has played more point guard since Gracey LePage has been out, and is among the Gators' top scorers with Laken LePage and freshman wing Gaby Dzik.

“With Gracey being out, it was definitely hard on us at first,” Cleary said. “But I think it was good for everyone else to kind of learn how to play without her. Not having one of our better defensive players, I think it motivated us to be better on that end.”

Fellow sophomore Tessa Melhuish agrees.

“Obviously, with Gracey being out, was a big loss for us,” Melhuish said. “I think it made us all step up as players. We all had to step up defensively to fill her role.”

South, without Laken LePage last winter because of injury, struggled to a 3-25 record.

So far this season, the Gators are 12-9 and among the top teams in the Fox Valley Conference. It’s the team’s most wins since going 16-17 in 2019-20.

Mucha has been encouraged by his team’s progress.

“We had some lulls, as the season normally does, because it’s a long season,” Mucha said after his team’s 56-47 win over Jacobs on Jan. 17. “We just came off a tough week of Huntley, Belvidere and [Cary-Grove] and we saw glimpses and we saw good quarters.

“But we kept asking them for four good quarters, and I think we finally got that today.”

Can anyone beat the Raiders?: With a 49-34 win against Cary-Grove on Friday, Huntley improved to 23-0 overall and 10-0 in the FVC. With eight games remaining, the Red Raiders are well on their way to winning a fourth consecutive conference championship. Since the start of 2021-22, they’re now 62-2 in FVC play.

Huntley coach Steve Raethz has led some dominant Raiders' teams in the past, including the 2013 team that took fourth in Class 4A. But none of his previous teams or teams in the school’s history have started out with this many wins.

McHenry County’s all-time leading scorer, 2016 graduate Ali Andrews who went on to play at Illinois, has been at a number of the team’s games this year. The Raiders are getting lots of attention and ranked No. 6 in the latest Associated Press Class 4A state poll.

“It’s definitely awesome,” said Huntley leading scorer Anna Campanelli, a senior guard committed to Division I Kent State. “We work really hard as a team and we go into every game like it’s our last, and I feel that’s the motive we have to have for the rest of the season.”

That winning feeling: Burlington Central’s 67-48 win over Jacobs last Tuesday ended a six-game losing streak and gave the Rockets their first victory in 2025.

Central’s last win previously came against St. Francis on Dec. 27 at the Montini Christmas Tournament – a 61-59 thriller in which sophomore Audrey LaFleur sank a buzzer-beating 35-footer in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime.

The 67 points the Rockets (5-16) scored against Jacobs were a season high.

Second-year coach Mike Carani said Central is slowly coming around to better understanding game situations. He hopes that translates to more wins as the postseason nears.

“I think we’ve got a lot of raw talent,” Carani said. “They just need some of that game experience and to be able to understand the situation better – and even understand the speed of the game. Nights like this really help their confidence.

“I’m really proud of them. I thought it was a really well-balanced team effort all around. Everybody found a way to contribute and add value. It was a great team win.”

Lewis steps up for Eagles: Jacobs’ Zara Lewis scored a team-high 14 points in her team’s loss to Burlington Central last week. But even with the game’s outcome in hand, the Eagles junior guard continued to play hard for all 32 minutes.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed by coach Jonathon Reibel.

“She’s really raised her level of play,” Reibel said. “Even with where the game was going you could see that she was still trying to make the most of whatever was left. Her energy was still high – maybe even higher at the end of the game than it was at the beginning.

“It was great to see that she was still in attack, got to the foul line, got some easy buckets. She’s done a spectacular job over the last couple of months. We’ve been using her as a model for the rest of the team. She’s staying with it until the end, and that’s how it should be.”