Girls basketball: 5 storylines to watch in the Herald-News area in 2023-24

With the 2023-24 girls basketball season underway with tournaments this week, here are five intriguing storylines to watch this winter.

Can Bolingbrook return to the state finals?

Bolingbrook finished third in the state in Class 4A in both 2020-21 and 2021-22 before falling one step short of the state finals last season with a loss in the supersectional to O’Fallon.

The Raiders are typically one of the top teams in the state, and with a returning trio of Angelina Smith, Persais Williams and Yahaira Bueno, they are poised to make another run at a state trophy this season. They will face plenty of competition, though, as they play a grueling nonconference schedule, along with a difficult SouthWest Suburban Conference schedule.

One thing is for sure: Bolingbrook will be battle-tested by the time the postsesaon rolls around.

New faces on the bench

There are several new coaches around the area this season, and it will be fun to see how they fare with their new clubs.

Among the first-year coaches are Joliet Catholic Academy’s George Shimko, Joliet West’s Breanna Blackmon, Minooka’s Shannon Kleczka, Plainfield North’s Matt Major, Plainfield South’s Alana Warren and Seneca’s Josh Myers.

Minooka topped Joliet West 72-59 in the opening round of the WJOL Girls Basketball Tournament in a battle of first-time head coaches, while Plainfield North beat Lincoln-Way West 54-51 in the same tournament. JCA lost a 68-22 decision to Lincoln-Way Central as well.

A tight race in the SouthWest Suburban

For years, Bolingbrook has been the standard-bearer for the SouthWest Suburban Conference, and the Raiders may again have the upper hand this season. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be plenty of challengers to Bolingbrook’s throne, as teams jockey for position as the league’s best in the Raiders’ last season before joining the Southwest Prairie.

Look for perennial power Homewood-Flossmoor, coached by former Bolingbrook coach Anthony Smith, to be chief among the rivals for the SWSC crown, with stiff competition coming from all three Lincoln-Way schools as well as Lockport and Sandburg.

With the amount of talent on display in the SWSC, it seems certain that no team will run away with the championship without some tough games.

Logjam in the Southwest Prairie

Bolingbrook’s new conference, the Southwest Prairie, also promises to be top-heavy this season. Minooka made an early statement with its 72-59 win over Joliet West in the opener at the WJOL Tournament, but don’t count out the Tigers as the season wears on. Plainfield East is the defending conference champ and the Bengals are still the champs until someone beats them.

Besides Minooka and Joliet West, look for Romeoville and Plainfield North to be among the contenders for the SPC crown.

Who will be the Herald-News Player of the Year?

With last season’s Player of the Year, Ava Gugliuzza of Lincoln-Way West, gone due to graduation, the race for this year’s Player of the Year is wide open.

Any of Bolingbrook’s big three of Angelina Smith, Persais Williams and Yahaira Bueno have to be in consideration, along with 6-foot-5 University of Illinois-bound Hayven Smith of Lincoln-Way East, Lexi Sepulveda of Plainfield East and Maziah Shelton of Joliet West flashing that kind of potential as well.

Looking for a dark-horse candidate? Look no further than Gardner-South Wilmington’s Addi Fair. Fair set the GSW single-season record with 637 points last season and has already eclipsed 1,000 for her career. She averaged 23.5 points a game last season and hit 61 3-pointers. She has the potential to put up numbers that can’t be ignored.