Hononegah Handles Challenges in Sterling

By Chris Johnson, REPORTER

 Heading to Sterling for the pre-Christmas invitational, the Hononegah Lady Indians took care of business within the NIC-10 and improved their season mark to 9-1. During the recent stretch of success, the Lady Indians have defeated Auburn, Jefferson and Harlem High Schools. In the Dec. 9 win over Jefferson, the margin was 28 points, 78-50. In the Tuesday, Dec. 13 win over Auburn, the differential was 27 points. Hononegah got even better when they took on area rival Harlem, winning convincingly 78-25. The margin of 53 points marked a high point of the season for the Lady Indians.

Hononegah’s offense has been proficient. But, it has been noted that most teams that have come across the Lady Indians are dropped back a step by the speed of the team defense. Hononegah will do everything it can to put things in order in a hurry. After the first quarter of play in the Harlem match, Hononegah had already scored one less than what the Lady Huskies would achieve three periods later. After one quarter Hononegah held the 24-8 advantage. The Lady Indians added 18 points in the second period and saw their halftime lead edge up to 22 points, 40-18. There wouldn’t be much else Harlem would be able to do as they scored seven points over the final two frames and lost by the 50 plus point margin. Jordan King scored 24 points to pace Hononegah with Freshman Julia Burns adding eleven.

In the win over Auburn, King scored 26 points and got a lot of support on the boards by Cali Schmitz as she claimed ten. Berkley Byron led the team with seven assists. Schmitz scored 13 points in the victory over Jefferson. The first half of the winter sports season has drawn near to a close and the Lady Indians continue to ride a December-long win streak that hopefully will carry them into the early portion of the 2017 winter sports season.

Hononegah looks at a schedule that features upcoming games circling the Christmas Holiday. On Dec. 23 the Lady Indians take on Rock Falls in tournament play. Naperville Central stands by and after Christmas, Hononegah faces the Prospect Lady Knights.

2017 begins with back-to-back home games against Guilford on Jan. 6 and a very important match-up with the East E-Rabs in Rockton, on Jan. 10. Freeport, Boylan and a return visit from Harlem help wind down January for the Hononegah Lady Indians. On Jan. 26 the Lady Indians begin a two-game positioning swing in the NIC-10 with a game at Belvidere. The Boone County match precedes a Jan. 31 meeting with the Guilford Lady Vikings on the road.

By the Feb.3 meeting with the Jefferson Lady J-Hawks, the Hononegah Lady Indians will probably be being considered for a high seed position in the upcoming February playoffs. A hot streak to start January 2017 will help the IHSA Selection Committee see that Hononegah has to be considered one of the premier teams in its class, thus awarding it no worse than a possible four-seed in the regional-sectional complex.

Wins over Belvidere North on Feb. 7 and at Auburn on Feb. 9 might help Hononegah slide up even higher than the four-seed.