Pre-tournament happenings….
Matt Long of Camp Pt. Central/Augusta SE won his 500th game as a high school coach in a December 13th victory over West Hancock.
Lauren Shanks of Bloomington Central Catholic became the school’s all-time steals leader December 22nd in a 60-54 victory over Decatur St. Teresa.
Brea Beal of Rock Island became the career scoring leader at Rock Island High School on December 15th in a close win over Classic opponent Normal Community. Beal entered the Classic 72 points shy of the career Western Big 6 Conference scoring mark.
Maddie Scherr of Union (KY) Ryle became the career assist leader in school history in December.
Road Warriors
Normal Community’s girls traveled to Phoenix for the Nike Tournament of Champions Shootout to Christmas, posting a 3-1 mark to win the consolation bracket.
Road Warriors 2
Rochester’s girls traveled to the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana on December 20th, falling in a closely contested matchup with Paris High School.
Record Watch
St. Joseph-Ogden girls posted the seventh best score (tied with Rock Island in 2016) in an 80-10 win over Peoria Christian. In the same game, SJO set a new Classic record with the largest winning margin (70) in a girls game.
Laney Lantz of Camp Pt. Central/Augusta SE pushed her Classic career scoring total to 235 with a 21-point performance in a win over Fithian Oakwood. Lantz trails former Springfield HS/TCU player Zahna Medley by 27 points for fifth place in Classic career scoring and is 39 points shy of third-place. The top two spots are held by Annawan’s Jayde VanHyfte (389) and Celina VanHyfte (358).
Giving Back
Zion-Benton provided a donation to the Illinois Heart Association to aid AED’s in high schools prior to their matchup with University High School. The game that followed went down to the wire, with U-High winning 54-52.
Honoring Charlie
Charlie Crabtree was honored as the Classic Volunteer of the Year between the Normal West/Simeon and Normal Community/St. Ignatius game. Crabtree was a long-time volunteer and committee member who lost his life in a bus accident with the Normal West freshman team earlier in December.
Upset Alert
The seeds held in most cases on Day 1, with the exception being 13th-seeded El Paso-Gridley downing #4-seed Annawan in the Small School Girls Bracket.
Top Individual Scoring Performances
Small School Boys
30 – Teron Fairchild – El Paso-Gridley
27 – Eric Nystrom – Rockford Lutheran
27 – Jack Cook – St. Joseph-Ogden
24 – Will Wolfe – Aurora Christian
22 -Deion Jackson – Providence St. Mel
21 – Luke Yoder – Bloomington Central Catholic
21 – Riley Morris – Champaign St.Thomas More
Large School Boys
29 – Christian Wilbourn – Normal Community
26 – JaMir Price – Rock Island
23 – Damontae Taylor – Zion-Benton
21 – Demetrius Douglas – Chicago North Lawndale
20 – Nate Torres – Normal U-High
20 – Christopher Williams – Peoria High
Small School Girls
23 – Sierra Carr – El Paso-Gridley
21 – Maddie Kauffman – Rochester
21 – Bree Trimble – St. Joseph-Odgen
21 – Katelyn Young – Fithian Oakwood
21 – Laney Lantz – Camp Pt. Central/Augusta SE
20 – Bailey Coffman – Bloomington Central Catholic
Large School Girls
26 – Lauren Schwartz – Union (KY) Ryle
24 – Anna Hall – Bethalto Civic Memorial
22 – Brianna McDaniel – Chicago Kenwood
