Hoefer closing in on 1,000

Freeport forward Kelsey Hoefer is just 13 points away from scoring 1,000 -- the fourth player on the team to reach that milestone.

Katie Norman, Suporia Dickens and Courtney Shiffer each have gone over the 1,000-mark this season.

Tonight, the Pretzels (19-2, 10-0 NIC-10) take on Belvidere North (7-12, 6-6) and the senior is very capable of reaching that mark against a struggling Blue Thunder.

Personally, I think she's going to hit that milestone tonight, making her the only player of the four players not to reach the benchmark at home.

That's also the only drama talked about, likely in what will probably be uncompetitive.

Pretz in conference play tonight

The Freeport boys basketball team squares off in about an hour-and-a-half against Belvidere North.

The Pretzels (9-7, 4-4) has already played the Blue Thunder this season on the road, and the result wasn't pretty for Belvidere North. Freeport should be careful not to let this team crawl back into the game like it did against Guilford Tuesday.

Should be a good game, and more importantly, a confidence builder as the Pretzels look to get back into the conference race.

Highland wins sixth straight

The Cougars have won their 18th game of the season, including its sixth straight win to conclude the end of January. Highland beat Illinois Valley, 76-63.

Jackie Barton again finds ways score and had a double-double with 17 points and 13 boards.

How about this freshman class though? Mallory Magee also scored 17 points, which was a team-high.

The Cougars are just two wins away from tying the win total Highland had a year ago in the regular season. Magee, Renee Deuth and Alexi Tann all have had plenty to do with Highland's success and why Highland is currently tied for second place in the Arrowhead Conference.

Also, Highland received four votes this week in the NJCAA Div. I Women's Basketball Poll

MenPretz feature

I'd just like to say Monday was fun spending time out with the MenPretz. They're a fun group of guys that have done a great job of helping the Freeport girls basketball team reach state heights last season and this year as well.

Hope they didn't take a couple of my jabs to heart though.

Here's the wonderful footage on the team done by Joe Tamborello, a great photographer and web editor for the Journal-Standard.

Buckwalter's first win vs. Carl Sandburg, Highland tied for first

Highland womens basketball coach Dean Buckwalter beat Carl Sandburg for the first time in his career.

The Cougars are now in prime position, as they are tied with the Chargers for first place. As it stands now, Highland would have the tiebreaker. The two teams meet again Feb. 19.

Highland could win its first Arrowhead Conference title since 1996.

Highland and Carl Sandburg tied at half

At the end of the first half, Highland's womens basketball team and Carl Sandburg are tied 31-all.

This Arrowhead Conference and Region IV battle has serious implications. Stay tuned.

Freeport boys looking to bounce back

The Freeport boys basketball team is in a downward spiral in the NIC-10 conference.

The Pretzels were 3-0 in conference to start the season, but have lost the last four contests, including tough defeats to Auburn, Jefferson, Harlem and Hononegah. In that time frame, Freeport went from 6-2 to 8-7 and look to bounce back tonight against Guilford (5 - 14, 1-6).

Can Freeport turn the season around, or fall to an even .500 record after a fast start?

Pretzels move back up to No. 2

The Freeport girls basketball team is now ranked No. 2 in Class 3A in the Associated Press poll.

This is the Pretzels' highest ranking since the home loss against then-No. 2 Montini, when Freeport was No. 1 in the state.

Since then, Freeport has lost a game against Peoria Richwoods in the two teams' second meeting, but have won eight straight games since. No. 3 ranked Montini is reeling from the absence of two key players, with both Michala Johnson and Whitney Adams both out with season-ending injuries.

Richwoods is ranked fifth in the state and Marshall, the defending state champions, are No. 7 in the Top 10.

Big test for Cougars tonight in Arrowhead Conference play

Highland has a big test tonight against Carl Sandburg (13-6, 4-0 Arrowhead Conference).
The Cougars (16-4, 4-1) look to take control over the conference with the win, but the Chargers have been impressive despite its 2-6 record against ranked teams.

Carl Sandburg is ranked No. 16 in the NJCAA Division II poll last week and Highland received one vote in the Division I poll — four less than what it received a week before. Last week, the Chargers defeated Kishwaukee, 73-62 — the same opponent lost to in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

However, Kankakee Community College (15-4), a Region IV opponent, beat Carl Sandburg, 81-74, at the Chargers home floor. Ironically, Highland beat Kankakee at home with a Jackie Barton buzzer-beater for a 44-42 win.

The Chargers have been conference champs for five years and counting. Highland has yet to win the Arrowhead since 1996.

This game also has Region IV implications, so plenty is at stake tonight.

Shiffer scores 1,000th point, ninth all-time

Read the story on Shiffer's historic day.

Also, here's the video of the Freeport girls basketball game against Hononegah Friday night.



For more video and stories, visit the Journal-Standard Web site for the best coverage and updates on your favorite teams in the area.

How Highland did it

Here's a Highland womens notebook on how the Cougars allowed just nine points in the second half.

Tonight's the night

Courtney Shiffer will become the ninth player in team history to score 1,000 career points if she scores just five points tonight at home against Hononegah.

The Indians could provide a decent challenge to the Pretzels this time around, but we'll see tonight at roughly 7:30 p.m.

Highland shuts down Black Hawk East in second half

Maybe it was the halftime speech by Highland womens coach Dean Buckwalter. Perhaps that “lid” coaches and sometimes players talk about was over the rim Thursday night.
Whatever happened between halftime and the next 20 minutes of the game, it certainly helped Highland out.
The Cougars allowed just nine points in the second half and scored 33 in a 50-42 win on the road.

Highland is now 16-4 -- a record that is better than the one the Cougars had last year.

Don't steal this. I'm using this lead for a notebook for Saturday's paper.

Anyway, this was a bit of a statement from the Cougars in some regards. Granted it's Black Hawk East and all, but Highland finally played a bit of defense.

They needed this for the remainder of the season, believe that.

More on this in Saturday's edition of the J-S.

Freeport survived NIC-10 test Tuesday

Though the score might not indicate it, Freeport had a little bit of a struggle against Auburn Tuesday night, but won 56-37.

As I said about a week ago, the Pretzels have had difficulty at times with pressure defense.

Auburn found some success in cutting Freeport's lead, but managed to win by a large margin at the end of it.

Shiffer again stepped up
There's a reason why Shiffer is just five points away from earning her 1,000th point of her career in a short amount of time. Considering the balance on the team -- four players were in double figures Tuesday night -- Shiffer has stood out in two games and continues to get better in the post.

The senior forward was just 41 points away from reaching the milestone after Suporia Dickens did two weeks ago. Now all she needs is five.
It's more than likely Shiffer will become the ninth player in program history to score 1,000 against Hononegah Friday night.

Hoefer is 39 points away from becoming 10th player in school history to reach 1,000
Kelsey Hoefer is 39 points away from 1,000 as well. She hasn't scored quite as much as Shiffer, Dickens or Katie Norman -- the first player this season to reach the benchmark -- but will have plenty of opportunities in the coming games to get closer.

After two straight home contests, including Friday's game against Hononegah and Saturday's game against Rockford East, the Pretzels will be on the road against Belvidere and Belvidere North Tuesday and Saturday of next week.

Hoefer will have one last chance to reach the accolade at home Feb. 6 if she doesn't average 19.5 ppg at home Friday and Saturday and doesn't reach the feat on the road.

Freeport girls regional and sectional info

Last week, Freeport learned of its regional, sectional and Super-sectional assignments. Looking at the info at ihsa.com
the Pretzels won't have too much trouble getting past the regional or even sectional play.

Should Freeport advance to the Super-sectional, I'm not sure who they'll face. None of the teams in the North Chicago Sectional have been ranked, to my knowledge, this year. That doesn't mean neither of the teams will be good ... it's just Freeport hasn't played any of them.

Last year, the Pretzels have played teams like Peoria Richwoods, Galesburg, Montini and Rock Island Alleman ... teams that Freeport have played in tournament play this season and could very well be downstate.

Interesting. ...

Edwards one heck of a freshman at WC, Scholl one heck of a senior at Polo

A 31-point performance against River Ridge has to have West Carroll's fan base buzzing just a little bit about freshman Brady Edwards.

Coach Josh Knuth told me his was one of the better finishers he has on the team this year -- that's something considering Luke Ingersoll and Jaron Ferguson are on the roster -- and scored in bunches against Forreston last week.

Don't be surprised if he scores 1,000 points early in his prep career.

Scholl scores 1,000
Speaking of which, Monday night Matt Scholl scored his 1,000th career point. Read the rest of the roundups at the Journal-Standard Web site

Highland women, Dakota girls headline tonight

The Highland women's basketball team squares off against Sauk Valley in about 30 minutes.

The Cougars will rematch the team that beat them in the Region IV championship game a season ago. Though the makeup of Highland's team has changed, Jackie Barton surely hasn't forgotten about the bitter loss that night last year.

Dakota looks to continue its undefeated streak
The Indians play Durand tonight. At times, Dakota has played to the levels of their opponents and Durand is far from an elite team this year.

But who knows? Anything can happen in prep girls basketball, right?

Assessments on Pretz from last Saturday

Remember that list of five things that Freeport could improve on?

Well, looks like the Pretzels took note of my story somewhat on the same issues prior to this blog reloading. Well, here's what I've observed since then.


1. Rebounding/blocking out improved last Saturday
Courtney Shiffer, Kelsey Hoefer were the leading rebounders over the weekend. Both went above their averages, according to Register Star. This, along with Suporia Dickens' continuing to lead Freeport in rebounds, will make this team look more like the state bound Pretzels from a year ago.

2. Patience on offense
I didn't get the vibe from either Ryan Pierce (Freeport coach) or Shiffer that the offense was more patient, but the offense had changed a bit to open some things up for the team.
"Against man-to-man, we put in a new dribble-read offense," Pierce said. "(Kelsey Hoefer and Caitlin Greene) their job was to be active on the backside and when their defenders turned their heads, they cut to the rim. Caitlin was a beneficiary of that."

3. Free-throw shooting still leaves a bit to be desired
Of the starting rotation, Freeport shot 14-of-25 (56 percent) from the line. That's not going to get it done in crucial games. Dickens went 0-for-6 and she's struggled there at times this season. There's no doubt that will have to improve.

4. Defensive help wasn't an issue
I think the above says it all. The Pretz had maybe two lapses tops, but seemed just fine.

5. Freeport still needs some comp
Freeport could see that tomorrow against Auburn, which owns a 6-1 record in the NIC-10. The Pretzels will be on the road, but something tells me they will do just fine.

Call me crazy.

Full story on Highland women

Here's the full story on Highland women's win vs. Kennedy-King by Jeremy Anders

Freeport girls coming up in less than three hours

Freeport (14 - 2, 6 - 0 NIC-10) will host Belvidere North (5 - 11, 4-5) in less than an hour.

Let's see how the Pretzels respond to the Ryan Pierce's challenge for the team to box out more effectively.

Courtney Shiffer and Kelsey Hoefer, while likely won't make history tonight, are inching closer and closer to that 1,000-point mark.

Pray that I'm not the last to know about it again, though.

Highland women wins, 64-59

For more info on the game, visit The Journal-Standard Web site tonight for the full game story.

Ladies night

Freeport's girls basketball team will square off against Belvidere North tonight at, roughly, 7:15 p.m.

Hope there's no quintuple overtime jv game before the varsity shows up. The Pretzels should make short work of the Blue Thunder ... the only sound that has a hue.

Highland womens basketball has a big matchup at 1 p.m. against Kennedy-King. It's a big regional contest and could be a potential Region IV championship preview. The Cougars have taken a two-year hiatus from that championship, falling short in the last two title games.

Speaking of which, Highland will play Sauk Valley Tuesday at 5 p.m. Sauk Valley, if you recall, beat the Cougars for championship in a heartbreaking 55-50 loss.

One of the greatest JV games of all-time

LOL, that's the hook, anyway.

Seriously, the Dakota/Pecatonica fresh/soph game last night, that went to FIVE overtimes, turned out to be pretty exciting — all things considered.

There'll be a notebook soon on the game that created more of a buzz than the varsity game (sorry guys).

Five things Freeport girls can improve to return to Normal (a reporter's point-of-view)

1. Rebounding
To this point, Freeport has done a decent job of rebounding. But it can do better, especially against some of the smaller teams its faced recently.

I was shocked when I saw Montini outrebound the Pretzels on Freeport's home court and that contributed to why Richwoods won in Sterling by nearly 20 points (I wasn't privy to see said game).

Richwoods won the battle of the boards, 38-25.

Freeport coach Ryan Pierce might have said it best: "Things come too easily for them sometimes." If the Pretzels box out, they'll be that much tougher to defeat

2. Patience on offense
I'm not sure what it is, but sometimes the Pretzels appear to be rushing shots. At other times, the offense just doesn't look as crisp as it has been in the past.

3. Free-throw shooting
I'm knit-picking here but I'm pretty sure everyone won't mind Freeport shooting 100 percent from the charity stripe, right?

4. Defensive help
It's rare, but it does happen. For the most part, Freeport is about as defensively-sound as any team in the area. I'm going to sound a bit like Pierce here, but, they're not a team that forces a lot of turnovers but will stay in front throughout.

But when there's a lapse, there's been some layups given up. Most teams find it hard it difficult to find said layups though.

5. Better competition
Is Freeport slipping?

In a word: no.

The Pretzels could very well finish the season with one of the best records in program history, because I don't see them losing another game unless Monroe plays a heck of a game.

They'll finish undefeated in conference play for the second straight year, no matter how much any other team in the NIC-10 pretends it can do otherwise.

By the end of the year, it's likely Freeport will bolster four players each with more than 1,000 points.

To this point, the Pretzels have only eight in school history. Besides Marshall, maybe, the only two teams in the state in Class 3A capable of defeating Freeport are the two that have beaten them this season.