IL Girls HS Basketball Rankings (11/29)

BENTON - That’s right, you read the headline correctly. Girls basketball rankings in Illinois. Not a Maxpreps Top 25, not a Top 50 players in the state list, not just covering the big schools. It’s time to level the playing field and give some of these programs the recognition they deserve. Without a second more to spare, let’s jump right into it with the 1A girls rankings.

1A

1.  Okawville (3-1)

2.  Elgin St. Edward (3-1)

3.  Abingdon-Avon (6-1)

4.  Brownstown/St.Elmo (6-1)

5.  Tremont (5-1)

6.  Father McGivney (3-1)

7.  Deer Creek-Mackinaw (4-0)

8.  Lanark (Eastland) (5-1)

9.  Cissna Park (4-1)

10.  Marissa/Coulterville (4-0)

The 1A side of things is very top heavy this season as there are a handful of teams that can compete with any 2A, 3A, or 4A group on these lists. Okawville is one of those teams, as they lost a nailbiter to 2A #10 Freeburg 61-58, but followed that up with two double-digit wins over 3A Mount Vernon and 4A Collinsville. St. Edward has beaten some good teams this far and their only loss has come to 3A Dixon. Solid 15 point win over defending state champions Pecatonica as well as wins over 4A Harlem and 3A Rochelle. Abingdon-Avon has a very talented group this year as they’re already 6-1 on the season. Their lone loss has come to 4A Metamora. Brownstown/St. Elmo is #4 on the list and deservingly so. The Bombers’ only loss has come to 3A Highland, while Brownstown has beaten some big opponents already such as 3A #10 Lincoln and a sleuth of 2A teams. Tremont comes in at #5 in our 1A list after starting out the season at 5-1. Their lone loss came to 1A #3 Abingdon-Avon earlier in the week in one that was wire-to-wire. The Turks will be right there in the mix come February. Father McGivney is off to a good start as they sit at 3-1 with their only loss coming to 3A Waterloo in overtime. The Lady Griffins have beaten some good ones in 2A Greenville, 2A Carlyle and 2A Roxana. Dee-Mack comes in at #7 in 1A after starting out the year 4-0. The Lady Chiefs won a close one 49-46 against a solid Cissna Park group that comes in at #9 in 1A. Eastland is off to a 5-1 start with some quality wins on their resume. Their lone loss came to 2A #7 Stillman Valley. Cissna Park comes in at #9 on the list and has some quality wins against bigger schools as well. Their only loss came to Dee-Mack in a one possession game. Marissa/Coulterville rounds out our list at #10 as they’ve started out the year at 4-0. They’ve picked up two wins against a tough Waterloo Gibault team, beat East Alton Wood River and had a solid win against Roxana. 

2A

1.  Nashville (4-0)

2.  Pleasant Plains (4-0)

3.  Aurora Central Catholic (6-0)

4.  Breese Mater Dei (5-1)

5.  Byron (1-0)

6.  Stillman Valley (5-0)

7.  Teutopolis (4-0)

8.  Eureka (3-0)

9.  Chicago (Phillips) (0-5)

10. Breese Central (3-1)

Back-to-back state championships have certainly happened before, and the Nashville Hornettes can smell blood in the water. Returning nearly all of their state championship team from a year ago, the Hornettes are going to be a problem for any 2A team in their way. 2A #10 Freeburg was the only team to come within 30 points of Nashville as the Hornettes have dismembered opponents like 3A Centralia, 2A Sacred Heart Griffin and 2A Wesclin by 40+ points apiece. We will probably see them at CEFCU arena down the road. Pleasant Plains will be another good one in the 2A mix as they are off to a 4-0 start. Big wins over 4A Normal West, 4A Edwardsville and a blowout win over 3A Peoria. Aurora Central Catholic is off to a scolding 7-0 record. The Chargers have blazed through a schedule of 4A Oswego, 4A Plainfield Central, 4A West Aurora, 3A Plano and 3A Lasalle-Peru. They will be a handful. Breese Mater Dei comes in at #4 on the 2A list as they’ve faced a tough schedule thus far and have started the year with a 4-1 record. The Lady Knights only loss has come to 4A O’Fallon while they have knocked off 4A Edwardsville and 3A Mattoon. The Lady Tigers of Byron come in at #5 on the 2A list. They started off the year with a 63-30 blowout win over Pearl City. Sneaking in at #6 is Stillman Valley whose loan loss came to 1A #8 Eastland. We won’t penalize the Lady Cardinals too much here though as Eastland will win a lot of basketball games against bigger schools. Teutopolis comes in at #7 on the list after a 4-0 start for the Lady Shoes. Blowout win over 3A Charleston and a solid win over 3A Olney. At #8 we’ve got the Eureka Lady Hornets who are 3-0 already on the season. Solid win over 3A Decatur MacArthur. At #9 on the 2A list is Chicago Phillips who is 0-5 but has played the best schedule on this list including multiple ranked 4A opponents. Their record at the end of the season will not indicate their high level of play. Rounding out our 2A list is Breese Central. The Cougars are 3-1 on the season with their only loss coming to 4A #10 Alton. Solid wins against Effingham, Lockport and Highland.

3A

1.  Washington (2-0)

2.  River Forest (Trinity) (4-0)

3.  Quincy Notre Dame (2-0)

4.  Galesburg (5-0)

5.  St. Ignatius (1-1)

6.  Morton (2-0)

7.  Montini Catholic (1-1)

8. Peoria Notre Dame (5-0)

9.  Sterling (0-1)

10.  Peoria Richwoods (3-1)

On the 3A side of things, this list is absolutely loaded. If any of the Top 7 play against each other, flip a coin. Yes, it’s that close. Coming in at #1 on the 2A rankings is Washington at 2-0. Their 42-point win over 3A Glenwood and a 20 point victory over the #9 team on this list have shown just how dominant the Lady Panthers can be. Trinity has started their season off in dominating fashion and comes in at #2 in 3A. The Blazers are 4-0 with massive victories over 4A Marian Catholic, 4A Evanston and a 52-point blowout win over 3A IC Catholic. Trinity will be a problem for anyone in their way. Quincy Notre Dame is no stranger to dominating 3A Girls Basketball. They come in at #3 on the 3A list as they’ve started the year off 2-0 with a quality victory over Lift for Life Academy. They should be a tough out in the 3A postseason. #4 on our 3A list goes to the Galesburg Silver Streaks. They’re off to a 5-0 start with some big wins including a 59-43 victory over 4A Metamora. St. Ignatius comes in at a close #5 as they’ve started their season off 1-2. Don’t let their record fool you as those two losses have come to 4A #3 Chicago Kenwood and 4A #8 Lyons Township. They will be battle tested come February. The Morton Lady Potters have kicked the year off at 2-0 with a blowout win over 3A Peoria and a quality victory over 4A Rock Island. Montini Catholic seems to always be in the 3A mix and this year is no different. The Lady Broncos have started the year at 1-1 after a tough loss to 4A #10 Lincoln-Way East and a victory over 4A Conant. Peoria Notre Dame, last year’s 2A state runner up, jumps up to 3A and brings back a solid group yet again as they are off to a 5-0 start. Wins over 3A Springfield, 3A Mahomet-Seymour and 3A Limestone. Sterling comes in at #9 in 3A. Sterling’s loan loss has come to 4A Rock Island. Peoria Richwoods may be one of the grittiest groups in this bunch. Quality win against a very good 4A Whitney Young team. The Lady Knights’ only loss has come to the #1 team on this list, Washington. Lincoln rounds out our 3A rankings as they snag the #10 spot. The Railsplitters’ loan loss came against 1A #4 Brownstown/St. Elmo. They have some good wins against 3A Highland and Bloomington Central Catholic.

4A

1.  Loyola Academy (5-0)

2.  Lyons Township (3-0)

3.  Benet Academy (4-1)

4.  Nazareth Academy (4-0)

5.  Naperville Central (4-1)

6.  Chicago Kenwood (4-1)

7.  Mundelein (Carmel) (4-1)

8.  Palatine (Fremd) (5-0)

9.  Waubonsie Valley (5-0)

10.  Alton (2-0)

The 4A rankings might as well be called the Academy awards, given half of the teams on here are private schools. All jokes aside though, there are some extremely talented ball clubs in this group. Starting it off with the #1 spot, the Loyola Academy Lady Ramblers are off to a 5-0 start with blowout wins over New Trier, Chicago Fenwick, Stevenson and Chicago Phillips. Their only single-digit game yet was a 9-point victory over 4A #5 Carmel. Coming in at #2 is Lyons Townships. The Lyons are 3-0 on the season and picked up a massive win on the road against Benet Academy. Speaking of Benet, they’re #3 on our list with their only loss coming to Lyons 54-53. They will be a tough squad to knock out come February. Nazareth Academy is next on the list as they sit at 4-0 on the young season. Blowout wins over Huntley, Boylan Catholic, Hononegah and Dundee-Crown have propelled the Lady Roadrunners into the #4 spot. Not far behind is Naperville Central with a 4-1 record thus far. Their lone loss was to Benet Academy. Quality wins over 4A #6 Chicago Kenwood and Burbank St. Laurence. Chicago Kenwood has a great group back and will look to make some postseason noise as they’ve gotten off to a 4-1 start. The Lady Broncos lost 72-71 on the road at Naperville Central but have beat some good opponents in Homewood-Flossmoor and Batavia. The Carmel Lady Corsairs are off to a hot start at 4-1 as their only loss has come to 4A #1 Loyola Academy in a close one. They played in the same tournament as they have also beaten New Trier, Fenwick, Stevenson and Phillips. Fremd enters the discussion at #8 on the 4A list. They’ve started the year at 5-0 with quality wins over Mother McCauley, Geneva, Lake Zurich and Lane Tech. Waubonsie Valley is another talented group deserving to be on this list as they come in at #9. Already 5-0 on the season, the Lady Warriors hope to remain perfect the rest of the season. Solid wins over Glenbrook South and Batavia. The Alton Lady Redbirds round out our 4A list at #10. At 2-0, they've beaten some quality opponents in 2A #10 Breese Central and Springfield Southeast.