Girls' Sectional Assignment Analysis

by Aaron Brown

The following our some thoughts about the girls' sectional assignments revealed by the IHSA on Monday afternoon:

• Mid-Suburban League West rivals #14 Fremd and #18 Barrington appear to be the favorites at the Barrington sectional. The rest of the challengers hail from the MSL as well...Conant, Elk Grove, Hoffman, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Schaumburg.

• #1 Fenwick, #11 Oak Park, and #21 York are the three Top 25 teams featured at the Fenwick sectional. Resurrection, Morton, Maine East and Maine South are also included in the sectional.

• The Glenbrook North sectional is loaded with ranked teams, as #6 Loyola, #9 New Trier, #15 Evanston, #22 Hersey, #23 Glenbrook South, and #33 Glenbrook North landed here. Prospect and St Viator are also on the list, making the GBN sectional one of the toughest places to play from top-to-bottom.

• #10 Homewood-Flossmoor will look to return to state by winning the Lincoln-Way Central sectional. To do so, they will have to outlast area teams like #16 Lincoln-Way East, #17 Bremen, #20 Andrew, and #34 Lincoln-Way Central. Marian, Lincoln-Way North, and Bradley round out the sectional lineup at LWC.

• The two favorites at the Lyons sectional appear to be the hosts, #5 Lyons, and #8 Sandburg. They are joined by ranked competitors #26 Richards, #27 Hinsdale Central, and #31 R-B. Hinsdale South and Stagg also play at LT.

• With the Hinsdale teams sent to Lyons for the playoffs, #4 Naperville Central will have to deal with other Naperville-area teams at the Neuqua Valley sectional, including #25 Naperville North, #29 Waubonsie Valley, and #30 Neuqua Valley. Lockport, St Charles East, and St Charles North also play at the NV sectional.

• The most surprising and in many ways the most unfair assignment of the 2009 sectionals is at UIC, where #2 St Ignatius hosts #3 Mother McAuley, with only one team granted the chance to advance to state. Both teams can make a claim as a title contender, but one team will be left out at the end of the season. #12 Young, #28 Latin, #32 Curie, and #35 Lane are the other ranked teams involved at the St Ignatius sectional, while Northside, Payton, and Von Steuben also play here.

• #7 Stevenson, #13 Mundelein, #19 Wheeling, and #24 Libertyville line up as the top teams in the Vernon Hills Sectional, where the Patriots look to repeat as sectional champions. Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Highland Park, Lake Forest and Vernon Hills will also play at the VH sectional.