1- Peoria Central
2- Morton
3- Galesburg
4- Richwoods
5- Limestone
Holiday tournaments are a break from the weekly routine but can also be a barometer of where a team stands six or seven weeks into the season.
That intense stretch of games often separates the contenders from the pretenders, to borrow the phrase used to describe Central by East St. Louis coach Hubert Butler.
The big winners this year?
Central definitely was one.
The Lions beat powerhouse Moline in the opening game at the Manual Tournament and came back from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to win the championship game against East St. Louis — and played much of that game with Denisha Womack on the bench.
Since suffering back-to-back losses — a 20-point defeat at the hands of Richwoods on Nov. 29 (rematch Jan. 17) and a two-point loss to Proviso West on Dec. 3 — the Lions have won eight in a row.
Central’s young and/or inexperienced guards are finally catching up to the play of seniors Womack, Jemia Carpenter, Arianna Robinson and LaCorsica Metts, who was MVP of the championship game.
Galesburg also came out ahead after winning the Charleston Tournament for the second year in a row, although this wasn’t the most challenging field in the history of Christmas tournaments.
The Silver Streaks won their four games by an average margin of nearly 26 points. And, as I suspected at the beginning of the season, Jessica Lieber and Sharron Diggins are starting to fill the roles vacated by Jessica Howard and Jamie Johnson from last year.
Galesburg also has two losses, both to Western Big Six Conference foes (Moline, 62-57, and Rock Island, 69-60), and is on a seven-game winning streak.
Also finishing on a positive note was Richwoods, which lost one game each at the Sterling Shootout and State Farm Holiday Classic.
At Sterling, the Knights got a huge win over Class 3A preseason No. 1 Lombard Montini (new polls come out Jan. 10) and lost to unbeaten Rockton Hononegah.
At State Farm, their lone loss was to Springfield, 64-59, in a game where they had led much of the way and held Zahna Medley to 13 points (she averaged 24.3 for the tournament). But because that game was in the quarterfinals, the Knights got shuffled to the consolation bracket and finished fifth.
Notre Dame also fared well — reaching the consolation championship game before losing to Georgetown (Ky.) Scott County.
Perhaps because the Irish were in the consolation bracket, freshman Olivia Elger was overlooked for the all-tournament team. She averaged 22 points per game over the four-day event.
Morton finished fourth at State Farm, suffering its first two losses of the season to Champaign Centennial (46-36) and Springfield (66-60).
Junior forward Sarah Livingston was the only Journal Star-area athlete in the 3A field to make the all-tournament team.
Washington, despite finishing fourth at Manual, looks like it has its mojo back after wins over Lincoln and Manual and competitive losses to Central and Springfield Southeast.
The Panthers came into the tournament on a five-game losing streak.
Count Pekin in the good news-bad news category.
The Dragons battled East St. Louis to a 57-52 loss, beat Springfield Lanphier by 17 points and battled Limestone to a 53-46 loss before losing to Manual 42-31.
But the biggest losses may have been to their personnel — Katie Powell and Erika Johnson both suffered injuries on the final day of the Manual Tournament.
RANKING? REALLY? I hate to whine about how hard it is to rank teams right now, but I will.
Here’s my dilemma. Morton has defeated Moline and Rock Island but lost to Springfield.
Galesburg beat Springfield but lost to Moline and Rock Island.
Richwoods lost to Morton and Springfield but beat Moline and Rock Island and preseason No. 1 Montini.
Central lost to Richwoods but beat Moline and East St. Louis.
Can we just agree that the top four teams in the area are Central, Galesburg, Morton and Richwoods and leave it at that?
DON’T FORGET: Former Washington standout Maggie Krick will have her number retired Friday when the Panthers play host to Limestone. Krick is in her first year as the sophomore coach of the Rockets.
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