Girls Hoops Wrap | Stagg stuns Bloom to take Hillcrest Holiday Classic

By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent

Stagg’s girls basketball team heads into the 2024 portion of the season with a good-but-not-great 10-7 record.

But the way the Chargers closed out the 2023 portion of the campaign was spectacular.

The Chargers won the 16-team Hillcrest Holiday Classic, held Dec. 27-29 in Country Club Hills.

They earned a 45-44 semifinal victory over Marian Catholic, then came back from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Bloom, 56-51, in the title game. Stagg put together one of its best eight minutes of play this season in that final quarter, outscoring the Blazing Trojans 20-3.

The Chargers’ Ameli Sanchez was named the tournament MVP and teammate Abbey Hobart was named to the all-tournament team.

Sanchez recently committed to play college basketball at North Central in Naperville.

Stagg opened the season by dropping three of their first four games before putting a four-game winning streak together against Shepard, Reavis, Romeoville and Andrew. The Chargers then dropped four in a row, but after their success at Hillcrest head into a Jan. 6 matchup against Richards with a five-game winning streak.

Stagg’s Ameli Sanchez, shooting against Bloom in the title game of the Hillcrest Holiday Classic, was named MVP of the tournament. Photo by Jeff Vorva

Sandburg Holiday Classic
Sandburg hosted its fourth Holiday Classic tournament and placed second out of 16 teams, dropping the championship game to Lincoln-Way East, 52-33, on Dec. 29.

To get to the title game, the Eagles staged a monumental comeback to beat Minooka, 63-56 in overtime, in the quarterfinals. Sandburg trailed by 16 at halftime.

In the semifinals, the Eagles beat Downers Grove South, 62-54, as sophomore Ellie Driscoll broke loose with 29 points. With sophomore twins Zoe and Olivia Trunk already enjoying success on the varsity level, Driscoll’s outburst bodes well for the future.

“We saw Ellie grow up here; she had a great tournament,” Sandburg coach Nick Fotopoulos said. “We had a lot of good positives come out of the tournament.”

Driscoll was named to the all-tournament team.

Richards, Oak Lawn, Riverside-Brookfield and Argo were other area teams that participated.

Sandburg (11-7) have already lost to Lincoln-Way East twice, having dropped a game, 46-29, in a tournament at Hinsdale South in November. The SouthWest Suburban Blue rivals play twice more — in Frankfort on Friday, Jan. 4 and in Orland Park on Feb. 6 — and could potentially hook up in the postseason.

Sophomore Ellie Driscoll of Sandburg scored 29 points in a semifinal win over Downers Grove South at the Sandburg Holiday Classic. Photo by Jeff Vorva

Florida fun
Nazareth went all the way to Florida to play in the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational and ran into one of Illinois’ top teams.

The Roadrunners beat Bolingbrook, 55-53, on Dec. 3 to finish third in the tournament. Ama Dray had 17 points and Danielle Scully scored 16. The Roadrunners improved to 11-3.

Nazareth beat Miami Country Day, 56-44, and lost to IMG Academy, 65-63 in overtime.

Mustangs second
Evergreen Park took second in the Perspectives Holiday Tournament, dropping a 65-31 decision to Westinghouse in the final.

The Mustangs almost didn’t get that far, as they sweated out a 61-53 double overtime win over Perspectives in the first round.

Evergreen Park’s Kyziah Lewis and Trinity Jones were named to the All-Tournament team.