2019 Tournament Tidbits: Day 1

Tidbits from Day 1 Action at the 2019 State Farm Holiday Classic

Sister Act

Not one, not two, but three. In the Large School Girl’s bracket, New Lenox Lincoln-Way West featured three sisters on the floor much of the game in the Warriors’ 76-63 win over Springfield. Senior Taylor Gugliuzza (Lewis University) led the way with 23 points, followed closely by freshman Ava with 20. The third sister, junior Tara, added 14 points in the winning effort.

At the Buzzer

Two games were decided in overtime (LSB Normal University High over Chicago Kenwood and SSG St. Joseph-Ogden over Kankakee Bishop McNamara), but one game ended on a buzzer beater with SSB Quincy Notre Dame downing Peoria Christian 56-54.

Something’s Gotta Give

In the Large School Girls bracket, two quarterfinal games will pit currently unbeaten teams. Morton (12-0) will face Geneseo (12-0) in the 4:00pm matchup at Normal Community, while Chicago Kenwood (14-0) faces Bethalto Civic Memorial (13-0) in the final game of the evening (8:30pm) at NCHS.

Seedings

Other than the 8 vs 9 games, the higher seeded team won every game on day one except #11 Sherrard downing #6 Elmhurst IC Catholic, 38-28, in the Small School Girls bracket.

The Newcomers

First-year entrants Kankakee, New Lenox Lincoln-Way West and Chicago Marist all won their opening-round matchups in the Large School Girls bracket. On the boys side (Large School), Gary, Indiana Calumet New Tech wasn’t as fortunate, falling to Machesney Park Harlem, 73-70.

Leading Scorers – Day 1 (20 or more points)

Small School Boys

Cole Davis – Bloomington Central Catholic | 24
Taaj Davis – Aurora Christian| 20
Jack Weber – El Paso-Gridley | 20

Large School Boys
Gabe Mason – Metamora | 28
Daequan Davis – Chicago North Lawndale | 26
Braden Finch – Mahomet-Seymour | 24

Small School Girls
Katelyn Young – Fithian Oakwood | 29
Katie Steinman – Bloomington Central Catholic | 21

Large School Girls
Ambranette Storr – Kankakee | 35
Lauren McDonald – Chicago St. Ignatius | 28
Sarah Byrd – Springfield | 23
Taylor Gugliuzza – New Lenox Lincoln-Way West | 23
Abbi Barickman – Geneseo | 20
Ava Gugliuzza – New Lenox Lincoln-Way West | 20
Tori Oaks – Canton | 20
Whitney Dunn – Chicago Kenwood | 20