By Jeff Vorva
Manteno Middle School’s seventh-grade girls basketball team survived a semifinal upset en route to winning the Illinois Elementary School Association Class 3A Regional 6 title.
Manteno, the regional host, was seeded first and opened it up with a tough 21-20 victory over Kankakee Bishop McNamara on Nov. 18. The Panthers needed a basket in the final minute to avoid the upset.
They had an easier time two days later with a 41-23 win over Clifton Nash to secure the regional title.
The Panthers (18-3) face Westville (19-0) in Sectional 3 action at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 4 at home. Westville beat St. Joseph, 33-13, to advance.
In eighth-grade action, top-seeded Peotone and second-seeded Manteno were still alive in Region 6 action heading into this week.
Peotone received a first-round bye and was scheduled to face Clifton Nash on Nov. 25. Manteno shut out seventh-seeded Herscher Limestone, 30-0, as was scheduled to tangle with Bishop McNamara on Nov. 25.
The semifinal winners were slated to meet each other at Manteno Middle School for the championship on Nov. 26.
Tough start
The good news is that rivals Peotone and Manteno’s high school girls basketball teams were able to meet in the Beecher Fall Classic.
The bad news is that they were headed for a seventh-place showdown after finishing 0-3 in their respective pools.
The two were scheduled to lock horns on Nov. 25 in the final day of the tournament for seventh place in the eight-team event.
Oak Forest and Andrew were scheduled to meet in the fifth-place game, Bradley-Bourbonnnais was scheduled to meet Crete-Monee in the third-place game and Kankakee was set to face T.F. North in the championship battle.
Happy 50th
The Beecher girls basketball team is celebrating 50 years of participating in the sport.
The Bobcats have a rich history in the sport, including 21 conference championship, seven regional titles, 30 all-conference first-team players and eight Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-State selections.