Girls Basketball: Aurora Central sets school record for wins

Updated: January 30, 2012 8:09PM

There was a time not all that long ago when Rosary’s girls basketball team relished seeing its rival from down Edgelawn Drive, Aurora Central Catholic, on the schedule.

“The average (margin of victory) used to be around 34 points,” Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. “Obviously, they have turned that around.”

That is the understatement of the year.

The Chargers, who beat Rosary Saturday, roll into the final game of the regular season with a sparkling 20-5 record, setting the school record for wins Monday against Walther Lutheran. ACC hosts St. Edward Friday for senior night before it takes its game to the postseason. ACC is the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A Plano Regional, which will feed into the Chicago Christian Sectional.

“I’m extremely proud of what these kids have done,” ACC coach Mark Fitzgerald said.

The beginning of the transformation of the Chargers program was Fitzgerald taking over four years ago. With the help of homegrown stars like all-time leading scorer Jackie Cardona and Katilyn Rosa, ACC went 19-10 last year. This year, that group was bolstered by the transfers of Tesa Alderman (Kaneland) and Lisa Rodriguez (Aurora Christian) into the fold.

“He’s got a good squad, and I’m glad for them,” Beebe said. “They can win all of their games, except for when they play us. I told him that when he took over the program. It’s good for the area.”

The result is a season the likes of which hasn’t been seen at ACC in some time, with what the Chargers hope is a deep postseason run still to come.

“We’re looking forward to hopefully getting downstate,” Cardona said. “We’re trying to set our goals high.”

Metea Valley climbs over .500

Metea Valley completed the long climb over .500 Friday with a 56-45 win over Lake Park. The win left the Mustangs, playing their first season with a senior class, at 12-11 — already five wins better than last year’s inaugural season for the program.

The remarkable thing about this season is the fact that coach Kris Kalivas is doing it with a varsity roster of only eight girls. Granted, the nucleus of Megan Geldernick, Lori Obendorf, Anna Petersen, Amira Turner and Bria Walker is a great place to start, but the lack of depth has not slowed Metea down.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but honestly, they welcomed it,” Kalivas said. “This is a great group of kids and they’ve become very close. They know that it’s the eight of them. They work hard in practice and they know they have to be conditioned and have to be ready to go. Fortunately, they’re all competitive enough that they don’t really want to come off the floor. I compliment them for that competitive attitude.”

Postseason seeds announced

The postseason seeds for Class 3A and 4A were announced Friday and the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional is littered with local teams.

Waubonsie Valley earned the No. 3 seed and will host a regional. Three-time defending state champion Bolingbrook is the top seed, followed by Benet.

In the Hoffman Estates Sectional, Geneva earned the No. 2 seed behind Bartlett, which fell from the ranks of the unbeaten Friday at the hands of Waubonsie Valley. Geneva will also host a regional.

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