• American Youth Basketball Tour
• Illinois Girls Basketball Association -STATE TOURNAMENT
• IESA Girls' Basketball State Tournaments
• The IESA Report
• Girls State Softball Tournament Press Release
• Teneil Casady
• Carthage 6th Grade Bluegirls

STATE TOURNAMENT ACTION
For all the latest Elementary School State Tournament news and information go the the IESA website: http://www.iesa.org

AMERICAN  YOUTH BASKETBALL TOUR
District Tournament

Date: July 11 and July 12  (6/7th, 8/9th)
July 18 and July 19  (10/11th)

Where: Hononegah High School
Rockton, Illinois (12 miles north of Rockford)
Who: Girls  Teams
6th + 7th grade
8th + 9th grade
10th + 11th grade
"grades completed this year"

Hononegah High School has been selected to host the American Youth Basketball District Tournament From July 11 through July 19, 1998.  Each team will be given the option of playing (6) games for $300 entry fee, or choose the number of games they would li ke to play for $60 per game.

District Director Brian Evans expects over 40 teams to participate this year from various cities around the Midwest.  Last year teams from LaSalle, Galesberg, Moline, Dubuque, and Rockford, Illinois as well as Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kenosha, and Madison, Wisconsin participated in the weekend event.  "We are looking forward to a big turnout this year and are excited about the competition we'll be seeing," Evans stated. "We also need referees to work that weekend." Evans said that the refs will be paid between $13 and $15 per game with the opportunity to work multiple games.  Games will be approximately 1 hour in length.

If you are interested in entering a team ar officiating in the tournament, contact Brian Evans at 815-389-1937, or Jeff Harding at 815-282-0815.  The deadline for entering a team is July 4, 1998.

Attention: 6TH GRADE TEAM Coaches
Illinois Girls Basketball Association -STATE TOURNAMENT

You are invited to participate in the 3rd Annual 6th Grade Girls State Basketball Tournament.  This tournament was started in 1996 after several years of watching the 7th grade girls continue to be nervous and anxious about competing in a state tournament.  As the 7th grade coach, I wanted to start a 6th grade state tournament in an effort to give the girls the opportunity to participate at the state level a year earlier.  I decided that a 6th grade state tournament would be a way to introduce the girls to the excitement and experience of a higher level competition so that they would be better prepared for the State Tournament when they got to the 7th grade school level.

After a conversation with Dave Clark of Monmouth; the tournament got started. He sent out some letters and got the ball rolling in the northern part of the state.  Dave contacted Gary Vaughn from Rushville who put things together in the southern part of the state.  I have been taking care of Central Illinois.  Here we are in our 3rd year...and so far, Carthage has won the first two tournaments.  We started with 16 teams and have expanded every year.

The entry fee is $25.00 and the tournament will be run the same way the IESA runs their tournament.  All IESA rules apply.  All-star teams will not be permitted to participate. Plaques will be awarded to Regional and Sectional winners.  Trophies along with individual medallions will be awarded to the top 4 places in the state.

Regionals (sites TBA) will be held March 2nd through March 8th.  Sectionals (if needed) will be March 10th, and the State Tournament will be in Glasford on March 14th.

Entry fees and team rosters should be submitted to Gary Vaughn at RR #2. Box 228, Rushville, IL  62681 NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 21.

Should you have any questions or need any additional information please call Jim Robertson at 309-389-2148, Gary Vaughn at 217-322-4405; or Dave Clark at 309-734-3762.

Sincerely,
Jim Robertson
Head Girls Basketball Coach
Iliini Bluffs Middle School

7A Girls State Basketball Tournament

Sectional Scores
Concord Triopia 16, Winchester 15
Pana Scared Heart 19, Maroa-Forsyth 18
Roanoke-Benson 49, Ransom 19
Mazon-Verona-Kinsman 21, Cissna Park 17
Sigel St. Michael 55, Cerro Gordo 39
Champaing St. matthew 32, Sidell Jamaica 18
Carthage 62, Bushnell-Prairie City 27
Chillicothe 32, Dons Tri-Valley 21
State Pairings
Concord Triopia (18-3) vs Pana Sacred Heart (17-2)
Roanoke-Benson (19-0) vs. Mazon-Verona-Kinsman (21-2)
Sigel St. Michael (18-0) vs Champaign St. matthew (22-0)
Carthage (23-0) vs Chillicothe (20-1)

7AA Girls State Basketball Tournament

Sectional Scores
Champaign Edison 41, Monticello Washington 38 (OT)
Chatham Glenwood 30, Staunton 20
East Peoria Central 27, Green Valley Midwest Central 25
Mt. Zion 51, Paris Mayo 31
Ottawa Shepherd 29, Braidwood Reed-Custer 16
Urbana MS 31, Bourbonnais UGC 24 24
Lockport Homer 24, Dixmoor Rosa Parks 17
Springfield Grant 27, Rushville Schuyler County 21
State Pairings
Champaign Edison (18-3) vs Chatham Glenwood (20-2)
East Peoria Centra (16-4) vs Mt. Zion (17-3)
Ottawa Shepherd (22-1) vs Urbana MS (20-0)
Lockport Homer (22-3) vs Springfield Grant (19-0)

8A Girls State Basketball Tournament

Sectional Scores
Seneca 42, Toluca Fieldcrest West 27
Bismarck-Henning 46, Cissna Park 20
Bowen Southeastern 38, London Mills Valley 23
Maroa-Forsyth 44, Champaign St. Matthew 25
Jerseyville St. Francis 29, Mt. Sterling Brown County 20
Sigel St. Michael 35, Arcola 12
Gillespie St. Simon & Jude 44, Chester East Lincoln 37 (OT)
Mossville 25, Roanoke-Benson 18
State Pairings
Seneca (21-1) vs Bismarck-Henning (21-1)
Bowen Southeastern (23-1) vs Maroa-Forsyth (20-0)
Jerseyville St. Francis (20-3) vs Sigel St. Michael (21-1)
Gillespie St. Simon & Jude (17-7) vs Mossville (21-0)

8AA Girls State Basketball Tournament

Sectional Scores
Bolingbrook Humphrey 20, Lockport Homer 13
Lincoln 33, Green Valley Midwest Central 13
Urbana 38, Champaign Jefferson 20
Gillespie MS 43, Nokomis 35 (OT)
Mattoon 43, Sullivan 35
Pleasant Plains 37, Rushville Schuyler County 34
Rantoul Eater 47, Bourbonnais 24
Channahon 23, Dwight 20
State Pairing
Bolingbrook Humphrey (14-2) vs Lincoln JHS (17-4)
Urbana MS (19-2) vs Mattoon (21-1)
Pleasant Plains (21-1) vs Rantoul Eater (21-0)
Gillespie MS (22-1) vs Channahon (20-3)

The following are excerpts from the IESA Report

Cross Country State Championships

Tolono Unity
1997 Class A Champions

"With five runners placing in the top twenty (3rd, 4th, 11th, 17th, and 19th), Tolono Unity ran away with the first IESA Class A Girls Cross Country Team Title at Maxwell Park in Normal. It is the first state championship for the Unity girls as their 54 points outdistanced runner-up St. Joseph (79), third place Shelbyville Moulton (85), and South Pekin (128) who finished in fourth. Moulton's Sara Selby conquered the Maxwell Park course in 12:02 to become the 1997 Class A Girls Individual State Champion. She is the first individual girls cross country titlist in school history. Stephanie Simms of South Wilmington (12:09), Brimfield's Maggie Carrol (12:29), and Tolono Unity's Maggie Hauser (12:43) finished 2nd through 4th respectively. This is the 18th year of the Girls Cross Country State Series and the first year that the IESA has split the activity in classes (A & AA)."

Shorewood Troy
1997 "AA" Champions

"The Harriers of Shorewood Troy placed six runners in the top twenty and five in the top fifteen (4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 14th, and 19th) to capture the first IESA Class AA Girls Cross Country Team Title at Maxwell Park in Normal. This is the fourth overall title for Troy as they captured the single class state crown in '86, '87, and '93. Try finished with 41points. Placing second was 13 time state champion Prospect Hts. MacArthur (66 points) while Nnormal Chiddix (158) and McHenry JHS (162) finished third and fourth respectively. The Class AA individual title went to Meghan Braffet of Normal Parkside as she tamed her home course in 11:54. She is her School's first individual cross country state champion. Finishing behind her were Katie Alvarado of MacArthur (12:07), Lora Lindoerer of Bloomington JHS (12:09), and Natalie Benton of Jacksonville Turner (12:19). This is the 18th year of the Girls Cross Country State Series and the first year that the IESA has split the activity into classes (A & AA)."

Softball Championship

Casey-Westfield
1997 State Champions

"Behind the two-hit pitching of ace Lora Fisher, Casey-Westfield captured its 7th IESA state Softball crown (fourth title in five years) with a 4-1 victory over the Chargers of Normal Chiddix (21-5) at the Complex at Maxwell Park in Normal. The Braves mustered only 4 hits off Chiddix pitcher Ali Arnold but capitalized on five errors to notch the win. After Casey took a 2-1 1st inning lead, Fisher and Arnold matched scoreless innings until the seventh when Katie Honselman's two run single ended the scoring and ensured Casey (19-0) of its fourth title in five years. It was Honselman's fourth inning three run homer that helped her team overcome a 5-1 deficit to defending state champion East Peoria Central in the semifinals. This marks the fifth time the Braves have finished undefeated. Normal Chiddix was making its first appearance in the state finals since its fourth place finish in 1979. In the third place game, Grant Park (23-4) rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh to erase a one-run deficit and hand the Wildcats of East Peoria Central a 6-5 setback. It was the first ever state finals appearance for the Pirates while Central (17-3) was making its 7th. Central has won four IESA Softball state championships."

Press Release
Illinois Elementary School Association
October 1, 1997 - Brad Lucey, IESA - 309-829-0114 - fax 309-829-0625

Girls State Softball Tournament

Teneil Casady

Dallas City Grade School

She's not a Quitter

"Teneil's coach, Chris Altgilbers, said it somewhat coincidental how this 5th grader came out for track. "We had talked to Teneil about coming out for track. She hated the first day of practice. The next day she didn't show up for practice. About 20 minutes later here came her dad with his hand around Teneil to tell us that we had a little bit of a misunderstanding and she's not quitting track. She's not a quitter and were not allowing her to quite."

Raw Talent in the 5th Grade

"She had speed but we didn't know what event she would be good at. We encourage all of our girl's to try the longer distances first. So she tried those and she was one of those that would just give it her all the first two laps and end up tired in the last two laps. So we decided that her distances would be the 800 and 400. We threw her into the 400 for the first time and she ran a 1.10 so we knew with a little bit of work she may do very well in this event. Finally got her in shape and she's averaging a 1.07 running against 7th and 8th graders."

State Champion as a 5th Grader

" We didn't know how she would do in the 400m so we put her into the regional and she won pretty conveniently as she did in the sectional ending up with the best time going into the 7th grade State meet. We didn't know if this would be to over whelming for her being at a state meet as a little 5th grader while the older girls were bragging about their times and so on. She didn't have much for clothes, her warm up outfit was a pair of blue jeans with Bugs Bunny patches on them. We didn't know what kind of pressure the other kids were putting on her so we ran down there to check on her. She was all smiles and telling us to leave because she socializing with the other girls getting to know them. So we told her don't be intimidated about anything but she didn't even know what that word meant. It worked out will and she ended up winning it with a time of about 1.04:87."

Second State Championships as a 6th Grader

"Next year as a 6th grader, we got her in shape knowing that she could do well in the 400 but also we decided to put her in the 800. She again repeated at the 7th grade level and won the 400 in 1.03 and finished 2nd in the 800 losing by maybe a ˝ second. She didn't know how to really run the 800 because we hadn't put here in that race enough."

Third State Championship as a 7th Grader

"I had a decent 8th grade team her 7th grade year so I moved her up to run with that team. She won the State 400 taking another second off, running a 1.02:78 then turned around and winning the 800."

Fourth State Championship as a 8th Grader

"This year, as it usually happens with girls in junior high, she got a little bit bigger and matured a little bit so we weren't sure how that would effect her 400 time. Then the week before State she got bronchitis. At the State meet she was behind another girl 10 to 15 meters going into that fourth turn. As we expected, it all came down to her parents not allowing her to quite anything. She didn't quit, she just kicked it into that other gear we knew she had and won it in her best time ever at 1.01:87. She later told me that when she saw that girl in front of her it just flashed that there was no way I was going to give up all those thing I had worked for the last four years and let this moment slip away and quite."

The irony of this story is that this girl, who competed so hard the last four years winning the 400m four times, two on State Championship teams, can't compete in track when she enters Dallas City High School because there isn't a track program. "Our kids work so hard in the junior high years with nothing to look forward to once they get to high school . Her parents are looking to move if the right situation arises."

Illinois Girl's Biddy Basketball Association
Carthage 6th Grade Bluegirls
State Champions

Basketball's important in Carthage Illinois. "Were just crazy about our girls basketball" says Sci Hickenbottom, Coach of the elementary girls program. Back in the early '90's this program was started to introduces basketball to girls in the 5th and 6th grades. This past November 50 girls from those two grades began the process of learning the game. "We do quite a bit of practice because we feel the practice does a lot more good than the games and it's hard to get 25 girls into a game. Through December we work on teaching and learning the basic." However, in January and February the girls get to have some fun and test out those basics they've been working on. " We try to schedule 10 to 12 games plus 3 or 4 tournaments during that period." Games present a logistic challenge for Sci as he tries to get 12 to 15 girls into each game from a group of 25 girls. His approach is to get everyone into the regular games as possible. "We would rather have more regular season games because when you go to a tournament you put to much pressure on winning for this age group and what we try to do is teach the fundamentals and try to teach the kids how to do things right so they can win later on and not necessarily so much winning now. Most of the kids when they play at this level are scared to death when they go on the floor. These games help with their confidence."

This years 6th grade team topped off the season by winning the "Biddy Basketball State Championship". "We took 12 girls to this tournament." The starting lineup consisted of Cari Twaddle at point, Andrea Robinson and Ashley Nagel at guard, Bethany Pettit at forward and Samantha Kleopfer in the post. Remaining girls on the roster were Danielle Jordan G, Amanda Miller G, Erica Caldwell F, Britany Nelson C, Tara Camran G and Amy Belshaw G. Starting P player Danielle Hibbard wasn't able to attend the games. The competition was Silvis, a community in the Quad Cities area. "They were a big ball club and I didn't know if we could handle them. We work hard on our defense, doing a lot of pressing, and I think that 's what got us the championship. We don't have much size but our little bitty guards are quick as lighting and can really handle to ball." Those days of practicing in November and December paid off because the Carthage 6th graders held their opponents to 4 field goals in the 1st game, 3 in the second, 5 in the third and 8 in the championship game winning 30-20.

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