Best Passing Performance- Divine Bourrage 5’11” Guard from Davenport North, Iowa. She is headed to LSU next year. I saw her vs. Bettendorf in December. It was obvious that she was a high major player. Like all great players, she made her teammates better. She is one of the most offensive skilled players that I have seen in years. With the combination of her height to see over the defense and her ball skills, she got the ball where it needed to be.
Best Shooting Performance-
Myley Longcor 5’8” Sophomore guard from Quincy, IL. I hate to say it, because her performance came vs. Galesburg. She could not miss from three in the fourth quarter leading a comeback. She hit the game winner with only seconds less. I have probably seen it before but I don’t remember it- her eFG% was 112.5%. She shot only threes in the game and was 6 for 8.
Most Improved Player- Madison Austin 6’3” post from Sterling, IL. She is headed to play at Illinois State next year. It tells you something when a player is good enough to be recruited by 15-20 D1 schools. Over the four years, she has gotten better each year.
She has been on the swim team each Fall so she starts basketball a week late. I saw her twice early in the season, and then saw her twice late in the season. She was a good player early in the year. By the end of the year, she was a dominate player that carried her team to the Elite 8.
The willingness to be coached, the commitment, and the work needed to improve as much as she improved is impressive. She is a good player who made herself into a great player.
Best Body Language- Ian Smikle 6’8” post for Tulsa University. Ian is a freshman. I have gotten to watch some of his practices and all of his games. He appears to be the most engaged player I saw this winter. When he comes off the floor, when a coach goes to say something, he stops moving, turns, listens, and interacts. He improved dramatically during the season, I am betting it is the coachability that he showed.
1- She was constant movement on offense. Defenders would fight to stay with her and couldn’t. She would bait defenders into overplays and go backdoor. Twice shots were taken by a teammate, she was 20 feet from the basket on the right side, and got the rebound 10 feet from the basket on the left side.
2- She did not take any plays off on offense or on defense. I watched other great players and commented,”When they turn it on, they can’t be stopped.” On this day, Mathurin “never had to turn it on,” because she never “turned it off.”
Her elite skills combined with her elite effort made her the most impressive player I saw this winter.
Best Clutch Performance- Coco Urlacher 5’10” Guard for Palatine Fremd, IL. Urlacher had 32 points and 17 rebounds in the 4A IHSA State Semis. Most of the points came in the fourth quarter and overtime. She made the clutch play that everyone dreamed of when playing in their driveway. Down 3, with seconds left, she rebounded a FT, went the length of the floor, drove, spun back and took a three that went in at the buzzer. What made her performance in State Semis even more impressive was that she averaged only 13ppg during the regular season.
High, High Energy Players- Keniya Todd (Fr, 5’11”, Dunlap), Joslynn James (So, 5’3”, Sterling), Lilly Furrow (Jr, 5’9” Galesburg) There were lots of players who play hard, but these three played harder than anyone.
They played hard every possession. When they were on the floor, they got the 50/50 balls. Their energy elevated their teammates and changed the games.
Best Press Defense- Without a doubt, Galesburg had the ability to create havoc with their full-court run and jump pressure. The combination of the players athleticism and the unpredictability of when the trap would come- made it a defense that rattled many of their opponents. This press allowed a team starting 4 sophomores to control many of their games.
Best Team Offensively- Washington, IL had shooters. While most teams may have only a couple real three point threats, Washington always was playing 4 or 5 three point shooters. Avery Tibbs (13.5ppg), Rebecca McDougall (10.2ppg), Danielle Guedet (11.2ppg), Mazzy O’Brien (10.7ppg)- all of these girls are juniors and their top seven players are juniors. Those four players would each have the ability to be scoring 20ppg on a less talented team.
Best Team Defense- Morton and Coach Becker always seem to have 4-5 half-court defenses in their pocket. It is a nightmare for opposing coaches to prepare to play them. How Coach Becker manages to teach 4-5 defenses and get the team to play them well- I have no idea. I just know that when the rest of us try to play 2-3 defense, we end up playing 2-3 poor defenses.
Best Team Energy- Both Galesburg and Sterling deserve this award. On the court both played with a high level of energy and enthusiasm. And both teams had benches that were truly engaged and brought energy.
Rookies of the Year- There were so many good young players this year.
Zaniyah Carter from Galesburg. She grew and grew during the season. As a point guard, she held composure and you could see her confidence growing. I am confident Zaniyah will get better and better. What I liked the most about her game was that she was locked into her coaches.
Best Voices- WGIL’s Mitch McVey and Jason Wessels, who covered the girls games. They did a wonderful job and were great to listen to, even when I was in Tulsa. Their enthusiasm and passion was unmatched. It was obvious they totally invested in their job. And I would like to recognize Aaron Furrow for stepping up at Mattoon and doing a good job, but to do that would be a violation of a personal rule not to ever say anything good about an official!
You Know They Are FREE- In general, I was not impressed with free throw shooting this season. I know the FT rule that resets fouls each quarter has reduced the number of ft’s, and that refs seem to call fewer and fewer fouls. So free throws may be a less significant part of basketball.
Bad FT shooting wasn’t just in the games I watched. I looked at the 16 teams in the Illinois girls finals fours. For the season, here is what those teams shot from the line-
3 Teams shot over 70%.
1 Team shot 65-70%
8 Teams shot 60-65%
4 Teams shot 55-59%
These were the best teams in Illinois. Players need to be more committed to spend more time at the foul line in the off-season. It is a commitment issue. Your free throw percentage is a good reflection on your off-season commitment to basketball.
Best In-Game Motivation- Tulsa men’s basketball’s “Kill Poster.” Anytime they made three stops on defense, the poster goes up, and the students start barking.
Best Concession Pizza- Ottawa HS pizza was great. My third and fourth slices were just as good as the first.
Best Concession Hot Dog- Redbird Arena at the State Tourney had great hot dogs. If I could find them everywhere, I would restart my “hot dogs diet” today.
Best Pregame Stop- Marshall’s Brewery just down the block from our AirBnB, and about half mile from TU.
Best Postgame Stop- Casa Sierra in Galesburg, sadly you need a time machine to go back to when it was open. So for today, I go with Marshall Brewery for post game.
Parents- Part 1- Parents out of control were the most disappointing thing. In Iowa there was a dad sitting at half-court to coach throughout the game. At Charleston scouting, there was a dad who ran back and forth in the balcony, constantly yelling at his daughter and the ref until the ref ejected him.
Parents- Part 2- The ref at Charleston ejecting the parent from the game. Fans from both teams applauded.
Worst Bleachers- Richwoods bleachers are not in great shape. Once I got up to my seat, I thought I might stay there for a week. I am old but they were scary.
QR Code & No Program- At the State Tourney, I could not get a souvenir program, the program was on a QR Code. Not a great change!!
Pre-Game Prayer- At the Tulsa game in Chicago, they have Sister Jean give a pre-game prayer. The prayer was thoughtful and inspiring when she talked about world peace and keeping the players healthy. I didn’t like the ending, “Dear Lord, when the final horn sounds, give Loyola the W.”
Welcome Back & Good-Bye- It would appear that Peoria ND will be back in 3A in 2025. And it looks like Richwoods will bump up to 4A. We will have to wait for the final announcement from the IHSA later this Spring.
Time To Move- In today’s high school world, players/parents transfer to another school if they are unhappy vs. trying to compete and work thru it. During a three year period, we once played the same athlete at three different schools.
In January, I went to a game where they didn’t have any programs. So I asked a fan about some players. When the fan came to one player, their comment,”They won’t be back, they have already told people that they are looking to transfer next year.” What are we teaching kids??
Program Achievement- Brent McGinnis and Pekin girls basketball won the 4A Regional Championship. Where were you in 1980? Pekin’s last Regional Championship was in 1980. When a lot of coaches might have given up, Coach McGinnis got the championship in his 7th season at Pekin. So, so impressive!
The Streaks played with the same enthusiasm as their coach. Regularly 8-9 players rotated in and out of games, and just played hard. They seemed unselfish, not worried about stats but just worried about their team. The respect of the players for Coach Demott and her entire staff was so impressive!
Way Too Early Look at 2026
By my count in the WB6 and in Galesburg’s Regional/Sectional Complex there are 22 returning All-Conference players, and 14 of those underclassmen received All-State recognition. So there are a lot of teams who are going to have high goals for the 2026 season, and a lot of fans are obviously going to be excited.
We can’t predict who is going to work hardest and improve the most. And there are teams not on my list who will end up better than teams on this list. In alphabetical order, here is my list of teams with the most returnees:
Alleman- 2025- 24-10, losing to Byron in 2A Sectional.
Key returnees- Adalynn Voss (Junior, First Team All-Conference, Second Team All-State). Megan Hulke (Junior, Second Team All-Conference, Special Mention All-State).
My Thoughts-Voss and Hulke are both three point threats, and have been varsity starters for 2-3 years. With combination of ability to drive and her range, Voss is one of the hardest to guard players. And one thing is guaranteed, Coach Ford’s teams ALWAYS come to compete.
Dunlap- 2025- 20-13, losing to Galesburg in 3A Regional championship game.
Key Returnees- Keniya Todd (Freshman, 5’11, Forward, First Team- All-Conference, Second Team- All-State), Keyaira Haywood (Freshman, Guard, First Team- All-Conference, Third Team- All-State), Amiya Gulley (Freshman, Guard).
My Thoughts- It will be very interesting to see how much Dunlap’s young players grow. Any team that returns two players who were First Team All-Conference is headed for great things. When the two players (Todd and Haywood) were only freshmen that is impressive.
Galesburg- 2025- 24-8, losing to Washington in Sectional.
Key Returnees- Ella Herchenroder (Sophomore, 5’7”, Guard, First Team- All-Conference, Third Team- All-State), Joz Kilgore (Sophomore, 5’11” Forward, Second Team- All-Conference, Special Mention- All-State), Grace Herchenroder (Sophomore, 5’7” Guard), Taylor Herchenroder (Sophomore, 5’7” Guard), Zaniyah Carter (Freshman, 5’6” Guard), Lily Furrow (Junior, 5’9” Forward), Khloe May (Junior, 5’4” Guard)
My Thoughts- They return 7 of their top 8 players. If they commit to improving, good things are ahead.
Morton- 2025- 25-7, losing to Washington in Super-Sectional
Key Returnees- Paige Selke (Sophomore, 5’11” Forward, First Team- All-Conference, Second Team- All-State), Abby Vanmeenan (Sophomore, 5’1l”, Forward, Second Team- All-Conference).
My Thoughts- The Potters return two very good players who will only be juniors and have good young players coming up. Everyone is wondering where the Potters will go to replace Coach Bob Becker.
Peoria Notre Dame- 2025- 33-5, losing to Nashville in 2A State Championship game.
Key Returnees- Emy Wardle (Sophomore, 5’10” Guard, First Team- All-State), Lexi Baer (Junior, 6’2”, Forward, First Team- All-State), Cora Heinz (Sophomore, 6’2”, Forward, Special Mention- All-State).
My Thoughts- They return three players who have played in multiple State Championship games. Their length makes them hard to guard. Anyone thinks that PND’s move to 3A will be tough on PND is not understanding. PND’s move to 3A will be tough on everyone in 3A.
Quincy- 2025- 20-11, losing to Alton in Regional championship game.
Key Rturnees- Jada Brown (Sophomore, 5’11” Post, First Team/MVP- All-Conference, Special Mention All-State), Myley Longcor (Sophomore, 5’8”, Guard, Second Team- All-Conference), Khloe Nicholson (Freshman, 5’10” Guard, Special Mention- All-Conference)
My Thoughts- Quincy entered last season with a lot of hype surrounding Brown, Longcor, and Nicholson. Early they were inconsistent. No team improved more as the season went on. They will be a very scary team next year.
Sterling- 2025- 30-6, losing to Washington in 3A Super-Sectional.
Key Returnees- Josslyn James (Sophomore, 5’5” Guard, First Team- All-Conference, Third Team- All-State), Jae James (Junior, 5’5” Guard, Honorable Mention- All-Conference).
My Thoughts- Austin will be tough to replace but the Golden Warriors have so many players coming back. The James sisters are a nightmare for opponents. Offensively they are lightning quick and great three point shooters, and defensively they create havoc.
Washington- 2025- 36-2, winning vs Quincy Notre Dame in 3A State Third Place game.
Key Returnees- Avery Tibbs (5’8”, Junior, Guard, First Team- All-Conference, First Team All-State), Becca McDougall (5’11”, Junior, Forward, First Team All-Conference, First Team- All-State), Danielle Guedet (6’0”, Junior Forward, First Team- All-Conference, Third Team- All-State), Mazzy O’Brien (5’8”, Junior Guard, Second Team- All-Conference).
My Thoughts- There is only one thing better than having a great team, it having all of a great team back again. That is Washington.
Wow! There are going to be some exciting players and exciting teams to watch in 2025. It will be exciting to see which players work and improve the most!!
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