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First place map centered along Route 72
By Christopher Johnson
At this point first place in the Big Northern is found along Route 72 across Ogle County as Byron and Stillman Valley remain undefeated in head-to-head battles.
The Lady Tigers moved to 11-2 on the season as they worked through a nine game stretch, losing only once since the final month of the first half of the winter campaign began.
Even when Byron found its season run stunted, rebound efforts have proven to be highly rewarding.
Beginning Dec. 3, 2021, Byron went on a streak that returned victories over every team that stood against them, with the exception of one highly-familiar opponent.
Dixon came out on top, 52-43, during Invitational Championship action on the final day of play this past month.
The Lady Tigers responded to the double-digit loss with a much more refined focus. Byron held down the Duchesses in conference style, 36-30, moving to 2-0 in the early season.
This week featured scheduled conference matches against North Boone, on the road on Tuesday, Jan. 11 ahead of a Thursday home game against Rockford Christian.
Byron opens invitational tournament play on Saturday, Jan. 15, against Northern Illinois resident Durand and western-suburban representative Aurora Rosary.
A Wednesday, Dec. 19 meet up with Winnebago in Byron precedes a Saturday conference closer against 12-5 Rockford Lutheran on Saturday, Jan. 22.
The Stillman Valley Lady Cardinals schedule will also feature tournament appointments as they help welcome in the mid-January games.
With the first half of the winter campaign in the books, the Lady Cardinals improved to 13-5 on the season and stand with Byron at the top of the Big Northern with the 2-0 record.
On Dec. 7, 2021, the Lady Cardinals moved to the front of the Big Northern Conference, joining with the many others already in position as they took out northern neighbor North Boone.
The stretch of success in the Big Northern was put on hold as the season turned to non-conference and tournament action through most of the month of December.
Non-conference influencing matches helped build the Lady Cardinals season mark to nearly 10 games over .500 with about a half of a season to go.
This week though, wins will matter more as Stillman Valley takes on 1-0 Rockford Christian on the road in the season’s only Big Northern showdown on Tuesday, Jan.11.
Details of the early week meeting with Rockford Christian are unavoidably unavailable in this week’s edition of the Tempo Newspaper.
The Lady Royal Lions averaged just under 50 points a night on offense through the first half of the 2021-2022 winter session.
Stillman Valley carried a 55 points per game scoring mark in Big Northern play into the week’s opening match.
On Friday night Stillman Valley stays on the road and will have to figure out a way to muck up the plans of Genoa-Kingston.
The Lady Cogs are 11-6 this season and sit two games behind Stillman Valley, Byron, Rockford Christian and Winnebago in the Big Northern.
A loss by Genoa-Kingston will put them no better than three full games behind no worse than three different teams in the chase for the conference crown.
