Check out the girls basketball power rankings for Rockford teams as playoffs begin
Rockford area girls basketball has never been deeper. Three teams in the NUIC North alone have been state-ranked this year. A fourth-ranked team joins them in their local Class 1A sub-sectional. All six top seeds in that sub-sectional have 20 wins.
"The talent in this area is unbelievable," said Eastland coach Nicole Brinkman, whose Cougars won the 1A state title in 2020. "And it's spread among the classes. It's not only good this year, it's going to be good for years."
Byron finished second in the state in Class 2A last year. Orangeville has been ranked No. 2 in Class 1A all year this season. Those are just two of many local contenders to reach state. With the regional semifinals and finals scheduled this week, here are my local power rankings of Rockford’s best girls basketball teams as rated by their chances of reaching the state semifinals in one of the four classes:
Orangeville (29-2)
Current ranking: 1
Preseason ranking: 2
Why: Orangeville has broken the school record for wins three years in a row, led by 6-3 Tulsa recruit Whitney Sullivan and star guards Laney Cahoun and Nadalee Doyle. The Broncos have 10 wins against 20-win teams, including 2A teams Byron, Stillman Valley and Woodstock Marian. They also have two wins by an average of 15 points over Eastland, which went 12-0 in the NUIC South.
Outlook: Orangeville is in the same sectional as No. 1-ranked Galena and plays in the same Class 1A regional as host No. 7 Rockford Lutheran, a 2A and 3A team in the past. The Broncos also lost decisively to Pecatonica in their last game. “It was due,” coach Jay Doyle said. “Sometimes you need to be brought to reality again and what brought you to that place to begin with. It didn’t cost us conference. It didn’t cost us anything. Hopefully, it regrouped our girls into refocusing.”
More: Girls basketball power rankings: Rockford's top 10 teams, listed in order
Stillman Valley (27-4)
Current ranking: 2
Preseason ranking: 8
Why: Stillman Valley finished second to Byron in the Big Northern but earned a No. 1 sub-sectional playoff seed to Byron’s No. 2 by carrying a 11-game win streak into the playoffs after winning its season finale against Little Ten champion Serena.
Outlook: Stillman is only 4-4 vs. 20-win teams and could face Aurora Central Catholic (22-8) in the regional finals, but brings back its top two players from last year’s sectional final squad. Taylor Davidson, a 5-10 junior, averages 24 points and 6-foot senior Mya Janssen averages 15 points and 11 rebounds. Those two players do a lot of the scoring, but the others play their role and do everything we want them to do,” coach Bobby Mellon said.
More: Could this be the greatest freshman basketball player the Rockford area has ever seen?
Freeport Aquin
Current ranking: 3
Preseason ranking: 5
Why: Aquin (22-6) has won at least 18 games for a dozen years in a row and has six wins over 20-win teams, including 2A Byron and 3A Dixon. The Bulldogs surround star freshman guard Paityn London (19.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 4.3 steals) with four senior three-year starters.
Outlook: Aquin recently lost to Lena-Winslow, is in the same regional as Le-Win and Pecatonica and would have to meet No. 1-ranked Galena in the sectional semifinals. “The big thing for us will be our defense,” coach Josh Glawe said. “When we can keep teams in the 40s or less, we do pretty well. Lena we let score 66. That seems to always be our downfall. We also have to rebound and take care of the basketball.”
Hononegah (27-4)
Current ranking: 4
Preseason ranking: 10
Why: Hononegah has won 58 consecutive NIC-10 games but moves up six spots in our rankings mostly because it is the only state-ranked team in the Class 4A McHenry sectional.
Outlook: Hononegah plays great defense but has a limited offense. It went 1-3 this year when opponents scored more than 42 points. Hononegah’s biggest win is over No. 2 seed Huntley in the second game of the season. Hono’s only other non-conference game against a top-five playoff seed was a 30-26 loss to No. 2 seed St. Charles North. Hononegah will probably play Lake Zurich (17-13 against a tough schedule) in the sectional finals and would be the underdog if it makes it to the sectional finals, most likely against Libertyville (25-5).
Byron (20-7)
Current ranking: 5
Preseason ranking: 1
Why: Nobody has a better girls basketball track record around Rockford than Big Northern champ Byron, which is 34-4 in the league the last four years. Byron won 2A state titles in 2016 and 2017 and brings back several key players from last year’s state runner-up.
Outlook: Byron has won 10 of its last 12 games and will probably meet Woodstock Marian (25-4) in the regional finals at Rockford Christian. Marian already beat Byron by 11 and Guilford by 36, but also lost to Boylan by eight and Orangeville by 28. “We play a tougher schedule than anybody in the area,” Byron coach Eric Yerly said. “We’re just hoping that makes us ready for the postseason. We were a young team at the beginning of the year and it took awhile to figure out whose role was going to be what and how to play defense at the varsity level.”
Rockford Lutheran (23-8)
Current ranking: 6
Preseason ranking: 4
Why: Sophomore guard Soraya Parker, who averages 21 points, four assists and five steals, is the fastest Lutheran player ever to 1,000 points. Lutheran finished only fourth in the Big Northern, but drops down to 1A for the first time.
Outlook: While Lutheran drops down in class, it will actually move up in competition — at least at the beginning. The Crusaders share a regional with No. 2-ranked Orangeville — but that game is at Lutheran. The Crusaders would be favored in the sectional semifinals if they can get that far. A young team with three freshmen and only two seniors among its top 10 players was on an 8-1 run, including a 15-point win over Boylan, before losing at No. 1-ranked Galena by 23 in its season finale.
Pecatonica (25-6)
Current ranking: 7
Preseason ranking: 7
Why: Pecatonica broke the school record for wins after tying it with 22 the two previous years. Pec did not have a signature win until rolling over Orangeville 54-35 but then lost its season finale two days later to River Ridge/Scales Mound by 24.
Outlook: Odds are Pec will have to beat Lena-Winslow for a fourth time just to reach the regional finals against Aquin, a team it has lost to twice. “It’s crazy. You could make the argument that the top five teams in the state are in our sectional,” coach Daniel Rosenstiel said. “It’s going to be like a regional championship every night. Defense is our calling card. We need to hold teams under 40 points.”
Boylan (24-6)
Current ranking: 8
Preseason ranking: 5
Why: NIC-10 runner-up Boylan is a No. 2 seed in the Class 3A Sycamore sub-sectional and should play Dixon (23-6), the third-place finisher in the Big Northern, in the Rochelle Regional finals.
Outlook: The Titans and Maple Park Kaneland (22-9) are the only 20-win teams in the sectional, but Boylan is only 3-4 in its last seven games, including 15- and 16-point losses to Lutheran and sub-sectional No. 1 seed Sycamore. Lily Esparza (20.6 points, 11.1 rebounds), Alayna Petalber (8.9 points) and Kaylee Harter (8.2) lead the Titans, but no one else averages more than 4.2 points.
Lena-Winslow (21-9)
Current ranking: 9
Preseason ranking: 6
Why: Le-Win is the fourth 20-win team in the NUIC North, with the three teams above (Orangeville, Aquin and Pecatonica) all being state-ranked at one time. “Man, it’s a struggle,” coach Dennis Huttenlocher said. “Every game, you are preparing for one of the best teams in the state. It’s fun, but it’s draining as well.”
Outlook: Grace Groezinger, a 6-1 senior center who recently broke the school scoring record, leads a team that has lost three times to Pecatonica, which it could meet in the regional finals, but split with regional top seed Aquin. “She is very athletic, quick for her size and runs the floor very well,” Huttenlocher said.
Eastland (18-12)
Current ranking: 10
Preseason ranking: Not ranked
Why: Eastland just won its fifth NUIC South title in six years and is 60-4 in the league over that span. Ironically, the last time the Cougars didn’t win the division title, finishing two games behind Amboy, they won state in 2020 after eliminating Amboy in one of the greatest sectional games in area history. The Cougars are led by what coach Nicole Brinkman calls their “three-headed monster” of Trixie Carroll, Lily Mullen and Olivia Klinefelter, who all average around 10 points.
Outlook: Eastland should win its regional, but is only 6-12 outside the NUIC South with an 18-point win over River Ridge/Scales Mound as a signature win outside its own league.
Honorable mention
Guilford (18-12, 13-5 NIC-10) reached the Class 4A sectional finals for the first time in history last year and has split with Boylan and given Hononegah its two closest games in the NIC-10. … River Ridge/Scales Mound (22-7) has wins over Byron and Pecatonica and is in the same regional as Eastland, who it lost to by 18 in mid-December. … Christian Life (21-8) won the NAC title but is only a No. 6 seed in the stacked Lena-Winslow sub-sectional. Senior guards Jaden Szymonik (20 points, 5 assists, 5 steals) and Mya VanEtten (13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals) lead the Eagles.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford girls basketball power rankings include several state powers
