Big weekend ahead for Elgin area

Updated: March 24, 2011 3:54PM

Granted, it's not the same as when the Upstate Eight Conference was one big league, but winning the UEC River Division title would nonetheless be a noteworthy accomplishment for Elgin, St. Charles North or St. Charles East.

Those are the three teams currently tied for first in the division going into this weekend's action, and the championship picture should be cleared up a bit Friday night when the Maroons host the North Stars and the Saints host Geneva.

Conference titles have been hard to come by lately for Elgin (15-5, 6-2), St. Charles North (11-9, 6-2) and St. Charles East (9-10, 5-2). The Maroons haven't finished atop the UEC since 2001, the North Stars have no league championships in their 10-year program history and the Saints last won a UEC title in 2000 back before old St. Charles High split into East and North.

With just over three weeks left in the regular season, the conference race is the primary focus for all three squads.

"We're really concentrating on these River Division games," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "Our first goal was to win the Thanksgiving tournament, the second was to win Christmas and the third was to win conference. The kids have that goal that they set for themselves in front of them and hopefully they can achieve it. This Friday will be a big step towards that."

Winners of three straight and six of its past seven games, Elgin has plenty of momentum going into its showdown against North at Chesbrough Field House. The Maroons also have ample confidence after going into St. Charles and earning a 65-59 victory against the North Stars on Jan. 7.

In that contest Elgin got 20 points from junior Kory Brown and 18 points from sophomore Arie Williams. The undersized Maroons also did an effective job limiting North's 6-foot-7 junior Kyle Nelson and 6-4 senior Josh Mikes while rallying from a 16-7 deficit in the first quarter.

"What was impressive in that first game was we got up big and Elgin didn't panic," North coach Tom Poulin said. "They continued to play the remainder of the game and competed every possession. That was a win that they earned and they deserved.

"We felt like we could have done things differently and maybe followed the game plan a bit better on both ends, but Elgin beat us on that day. Now we have the same task. They were up to the challenge of coming into our house and getting a big conference win, and now we have to do the same thing."

St. Charles East, which earlier this season beat Elgin but lost to St. Charles North, can do itself a big favor by topping Geneva on Friday. The Saints notched a 52-48 win on the road against the Vikings on Jan. 7. East has rematches looming against the Maroons on Feb. 11 and the North Stars on Feb. 18.

In other UEC River action, Streamwood will try to follow up last week's upset win against Geneva with another strong showing when it hosts Batavia on Friday.

Hawks, Storm meet again

A pair of District U46 rivals collide Friday when Bartlett (13-13, 3-6) hosts South Elgin (11-9, 4-4) in a UEC Valley clash of two teams that appear to be rounding into form.

The Storm notched a 44-36 victory against the Hawks on Jan. 7, which marked only the second win for South Elgin in seven meetings against Bartlett. For the Hawks, that defeat was part of a seven-game losing streak, but since then they've righted the ship with five wins in six games, including three in a row against Lake Park, Waubonsie Valley and East Aurora.

Storm senior Sammy Sutter leads the area with 19.3 points per game, and he's helped lead his team to three victories in its past four outings.

Whips shoot for 10 in a row

Hampshire returns to action Saturday with a Big Northern Conference East Division road game at Richmond-Burton. Winners of nine straight, the Whip-Purs (15-4, 6-0) will look to keep their grip on first place in the conference standings.

In other BNC East action, Burlington Central hosts North Boone on Saturday. The Rockets needed overtime to beat the Vikings last month in Poplar Grove.

Big weekend for Warriors

Westminster Christian wraps up its home schedule with a pair of Northeast Athletic Conference games against Alden-Hebron on Friday and IMSA on Saturday.

Winners of eight games in a row, the Warriors will honor Ian Dutcher, Brandon Cork, Andrew Mason, Luke Carani, Arturo Gallegas and Steve Hoeflich prior to Saturday's game as part of senior night festivities. Westminster (17-4, 5-1) will also look to continue its strong play against in-state opponents as it is 16-1 against teams from Illinois.

Night of Hoops on tap

Two local teams will take the court at the Batavia Night of Hoops on Saturday. St. Charles North will play St. Joseph in the first game at 4:30 p.m., followed by Jacobs squaring off with West Aurora at 6. The host Bulldogs play Simeon in the nightcap.

Elsewhere, a tough Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division test awaits St. Edward (6-14, 2-5) on Saturday when it travels to play powerhouse Wheaton Academy. In non-conference action, Dundee-Crown (10-8) looks to snap a two-game skid when it hosts Fremd on Saturday.

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