THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1. Six-foot-2 junior Hannah Frazier became just the fifth player in Batavia history to reach 1,000 career points after she scored 31 in Saturday’s 47-42 loss to Rich South. Frazier is averaging 23 points, 11 rebounds and nearly two blocks for Batavia. At her current pace, Frazier should pass Katie Issel (1,593 career points) sometime next season. But she has a long way to go to catch Liza Fruendt. Fruendt, a freshman starter at Missouri State, scored 1,921 points in her four-year career at Batavia.
2. The Montini Christmas Tournament is six years old, but it’s already arguably the best girls holiday tournament in Illinois. The field includes seven members of the Sun-Times’ Super 25. First-round games on December 26 feature Geneva vs. St. Joseph at 8 a.m., Benet vs. Zion-Benton at 9:45 a.m., Huntley vs. Batavia at 11:30 a.m., Montini vs. DeKalb at 1:15 p.m., Marian Catholic vs. Oak Park River Forest at 3 p.m., Kenwood vs. South Elgin at 4:45 p.m., Trinity vs. Plainfield East at 6:30 p.m. and Neuqua Valley vs. Bolingbrook at 8:15 p.m.
3. Fred Kroner, the legendary Champaign News-Gazette sports writer who is headed for retirement at the end of this school year, rolled the peas at the IHSA offices last week to determine the winter sports brackets, and if you like the idea of a Montini and Joliet Catholic in the Class 3A championship, you can thank him. In Class 4A, the peas determined a possible semifinal between Benet and Young or Bloom on the top half of the bracket and a semifinal featuring Fremd and New Trier on the lower half.