By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
The Shepard girls basketball program has been around for close to a half century.
The team has had a handful of 20-win seasons and four regional championships.
But until this season, the Astros had never won a conference title.
A wild celebration took place in the Shepard gym after the Astros beat Evergreen Park, 57-38, on Feb. 8 to earn a share of the South Suburban Red crown.
On the same night, Oak Lawn took care of business with a 56-32 road win over Tinley Park to earn a share of the Red championship. Not only did the Spartans (17-13, 11-2) win their fourth straight conference title, junior Teagan Krzystof broke the single-season school record with her 72nd 3-point basket.
For Shepard, sophomore Jessica Manley had 18 points, junior guard Brianna Spain came up with 13 and Emma Greene had 12.
The Astros (19-9) picked up the 14th seed in the Joliet West Sectional and opened the postseason on Feb. 10 with a 68-38 win over Thornwood in the Lincoln-Way West Regional.
They are scheduled to face No. 1 Homewood-Flossmoor on Feb. 12.
Ready for baseball/softball?
The high school baseball and softball seasons are a month or so away from starting up, but Saint Xavier’s teams got a jump on the season over the weekend.
The baseball team opened the season Feb. 9 with a doubleheader sweep of Spring Arbor University in Millington, Tennessee. The Cougars won 8-2 and 7-2. Justin Massingale had a pair of hits from the leadoff spot in the first game to back winning pitcher Noah Scott. Massingale had two doubles in the nightcap to help winning pitcher Julian Vargas.
The softball team played four games in the Roosevelt University Dome Tournament in Rosemont and went 3-1.
Former Marist player Kaitlyn Wright was 4-for-4 with three RBI in the 8-3 season- opening win over William Penn. Haley Matlock and Aubrey Wroble had huge hits in the top of the seventh in a 2-1 win over Madonna to end the tournament.
Sports notes
• Mother McAuley basketball player Grace Gambotz became the second player on her team to pass the 1,000-point mark for her career Feb. 7 against Simeon. In January, Morgan Feil accomplished the milestone.
• Sarah Burton’s 27-point performance vaulted the Moraine Valley Community College women’s basketball to a 74-63 won over South Suburban on Feb. 10.
• The Morton College women’s basketball team has been ranked nationally for years, but the Panthers women’s wrestling team just cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place showing in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll released on Feb 10.