Girls Basketball: Hinckley-Big Rock eyes redemption

Hinckley-Big Rock’s girls basketball team has something to prove heading into the Class 1A Indian Creek Regional this week.

The Royals are trying to shake off the sting of finishing fourth in the Little Ten Conference tournament after winning the title the past five years.

One-point losses to Serena and Somonauk marked the end of that tournament for the Royals, but they are feeling good going into regionals thanks to their tough nonconference slate. They beat larger schools like Lisle, Rosary and Stillman Valley and lost by only three to Class 2A power Aurora Central Catholic.

“We have had some up and down moments this year, but fortunately have been up more than down,” H-BR coach Greg Burks said. “We’ve had nonconference games against Lisle, Stillman Valley and St. Edward in the past two weeks. All of those teams will win 20 games this year, and we played pretty well against them.”

As H-BR and Newark — which won the Little Ten Conference title — have emerged as state powers in Class 1A girls basketball, their paths have rarely crossed in the postseason. H-BR had to get past Newark in the sectional final in 2009 to set up the first of consecutive state championships.

But this season, the rivals may see each other much sooner. They are the top two seeds in the regional, which kicks off Monday.

Newark will have to contend with No. 3 seed Somonauk — which knocked the Norsemen out of the playoffs last year — to set up a date with the Royals. Newark also has to play a quarterfinal game against No. 7 seed Mooseheart, while Hinckley-Big Rock awaits the Indian Creek/Paw Paw winner in the semifinals.

Class 2A

Aurora Central Catholic is in uncharted territory in more ways than one.

The Chargers are in the midst of the best season in the history of the program, setting a new record for wins this season with 20. They have also been dropped to Class 2A for the playoffs this season, which means they have to prepare for teams they are unfamiliar with.

At the Plano Regional, which starts Monday, the Chargers could see Joliet Catholic in the semifinals. A meeting with a familiar foe, Aurora Christian, could be waiting in the regional finals.

“Aurora Christian, we know them,” ACC coach Mark Fitzgerald said. “Joliet Catholic is lying in the weeds. They are a very good team. They play in an extremely tough conference. I know that they’re a tough out no matter what.”

But beyond that, there are a whole lot of unknowns the Chargers could face as they look to make a deep postseason run. The majority of the rest of the sectional are small schools from Chicago, schools that are hard to scout since the Chargers don’t see them often and don’t have many common opponents.

“That’s good and bad, because you have no idea,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s very difficult to scout. We don’t know much about them. We’ll be putting a lot of miles in scouting.”

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