Prep sports

And we thought the Western Sun Conference boys basketball race in 2009 was wild and woolly, with Geneva, DeKalb and Glenbard South finishing in a three-way tie for the championship, and Batavia just one game behind the pack.

Sean Carter said the jovial trash-talking between himself and Quinn Buschbacher will begin “probably in like a week.”

MAPLE PARK –The Kaneland girls basketball team was out of its comfort zone at the start of Tuesday’s non-conference game with Marengo, and it showed.

WEST CHICAGO – The Wheaton Academy girls basketball team was eliminated on Tuesday in an IHSA Class 2A Wheaton Academy Regional semifinal, falling to Walther Lutheran, 33-28.

While Geneva players await word of which Valley girls basketball team they’ll host in Friday’s inaugural Upstate Eight Conference playoff crossover, they’re also fighting the urge to call the game what it’s not.

Saturday’s 51-42 Kaneland home loss to Sycamore qualifies as one of the most surprising results of the season.

Kaneland football senior wide receivers Quinn Buschbacher and Sean Carter both have made their college decisions within the past week, each choosing a Wisconsin school.

WEST CHICAGO – A length of blue fabric buffered fans from the wrestling mats on one side of West Chicago's gym on Saturday.

BATAVIA – Fulfilling or not, this was unmistakable progress.

AURORA – St. Charles North swimmers dominated the Upstate Eight Conference Meet Saturday at Metea Valley, finishing with first place in five of the 11 events en route to the North Stars' second straight conference title and new pool records in four races.

NAPERVILLE – Revenge can be rewarding. Just ask Batavia’s Anthony Scaccia and Connor McKeehan.

WHEATON – St. Francis senior Ryan Coyle isn’t much for individual accomplishments.  With his family by his side, Coyle was honored before the Spartans’ game against Marmion after scoring his 1,000th career point last month.

DeKALB – Seven Kaneland wrestlers advanced from Saturday's IHSA Class 2A DeKalb Regional to the Sterling Sectional next week.

GENEVA – For the Geneva boys basketball team, a thing of beauty is when the opponent’s flow turns ugly.

ST. CHARLES – One is exhilaratingly explosive. The other, silky smooth.

BATAVIA – The Geneva girls basketball team had one more piece of business to take care of as it played its final conference game Friday night against rival Batavia.

In good times and bad – and there certainly have been more good – Jim Roberts has been a live-in-the-moment kind of basketball coach.

DeKALB – In recent conversations with P.J. Fleck, former Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak said his former receiver “hinted” hesitation with his readiness to become a first-time offensive coordinator, but never told him he felt unprepared.

MAPLE PARK – The lure of the three-pointer kept the Kaneland and Yorkville girls basketball teams playing a game of darts, each team trying stick the needle point closest to the bulls-eye on Friday.

St. Charles East freshman girls basketball player Kyra Washington entered Friday’s road game against Larkin averaging 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 25 games. The post has started for the Saints for much of the season, and recently has formed a formidable inside defensive tandem with sophomore Jordan Shead, who also stands 6-foot-1. Kane County Chronicle sports reporter Kevin Druley gives up about three inches to Washington, but that didn’t keep him from catching up with East’s emerging star for this week’s edition of the Weekend Chit-Chat. Washington discussed her growing comfort level as well as another notable roundball lover in her family. The following is an edited transcript.

PALOS HEIGHTS – The Marmion boys basketball team tallied almost half its points on Friday with Chicago Christian going dormant – and scoreless.

GENEVA – Geneva junior gymnast Ashley Puff switched her floor exercise song from a piece called "When I'm Gone" to "Atlantis" entering the season.

ST. CHARLES – With just one more strike needed to bowl a perfect 300 game, St. Charles East senior Allison Heuer turned to the crowd behind her and requested some noise.

DeKALB – Even 850 miles from home on the campus of Rutgers University, reminders of DeKalb and his Northern Illinois alma mater weren’t hard to find for P.J. Fleck.

GENEVA – Wrestlers named Rambo are arguably less tough than the Green Berets, but a little imagination helped Geneva’s Mark Henriksen enhance a recent challenge.

BATAVIA – The ties between the Batavia and North Central College football programs are not weakening any time soon.

GENEVA – Catherine Allon, Kristin Rodriguez and Kailey Rote trekked to the foyer outside Geneva’s contest gymnasium on Wednesday afternoon in what was one of their shortest shared trips on record.

ST. CHARLES – An assistant coach from West Point was in the house for the St. Charles North boys basketball team’s game against Streamwood on Wednesday, but the target of his attention, North center Kyle Nelson, took it in stride.

ELGIN – The Batavia boys basketball team hardly put a scare in host Larkin on Wednesday night as the Bulldogs suffered their 10th straight loss, 67-40.

A pocket of Geneva’s student section went out of its way to applaud Ashley Santos for retrieving a ball out of bounds on Tuesday.