2018 Tournament Tidbits: Day 1

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