Elgin senior Lakiya Harvey could not contain her excitement. She described it as “the best thing ever.”
Was it about a win?
Not at all.
Earlier this month, Elgin was honored by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky as its team of the week.
While wins have been hard to come by for several years for the Maroons, they have one of the largest programs in the state, with over 80 girls playing on all levels. They were also honored for their academics and working with kids in the community.
This summer, the Maroons will be invited to a Sky game, where they will be honored at center court. Elgin also hopes to have representatives from the Sky come out for a game or an assembly, although there are only two home games remaining.
“Honestly, to me, that is the best thing ever,” Harvey said. “Elgin High School being the team of the week, it means so much to me. All the girls are very excited to be honored.”
In a press release, the Sky spotlighted the Maroons’ cumulative 3.0 GPA. The girls also were praised for working with the school’s Mighty Acorns program, which teaches students about environmental science, and the U-46 Reading Nights, where the team reads books to younger students.
“We are a program that has struggled to win games over the past several years,” Elgin coach Nick Bumbales said. “But I feel that the ladies that represent our program are the greatest ambassadors that Elgin High School has.
“We are incredibly proud of the numbers we produce each year. We had 87 girls sign up for basketball this year. My goal for next year is to get over 100 girls out.”
The honor seemed to spark the team. After following a season-opening win over Fenton by losing 17 straight, the Maroons have won two out of three, with a 12-point win over Westminster Christian and Friday’s win over Larkin.
Elgin snapped an eight-game losing streak in the rivalry series with Larkin.
Rosenfeldt rising: In an up-and-down season for St. Charles East, 6-foot sophomore Sara Rosenfeldt has been a steadying force.
Playing primarily in the post, Rosenfeldt has scored in double figures in all but a handful of games, while doing solid work on the boards.
“She’s been ‘Miss Consistency,'” East coach Lori Drumtra said. “She works so hard.”
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Last week against Larkin, Drumtra tried Rosenfeldt out on the wing and liked the results.
“She’s not afraid to penetrate, she’s got some nice moves,” Drumtra said. “If she could play the wing, she’d be a hard matchup for teams, I think. I really like how she moves and crashed the boards from the outside. We’ll see. We may try that again.”
Ross’ milestone: Honoring 1,000-point scorers is becoming regular thing these days for Burlington Central.
Shelby Holt and Western Illinois-bound Sam Pryor already reached the plateau. On Jan. 19, in a 60-17 win over North Boone, senior Kayla Ross joined the 1,000-point club.
The Rockets recently won their 47th straight Big Northern East game, a 79-41 victory Saturday against Genoa-Kingston.
Paul Johnson is a freelance writer for The Courier-News.