Editor’s note: The Illinois-Basketball.com girls basketball rankings are an attempt to contextualize just how every team in the state stacks up with one another, regardless of the size of the school.
The week ending Feb. 13 is the sixth week of rankings. It features more movement than any other edition. It took a lot of mental back-and-forth and plenty of switching around to try and get it all to feel right. With postseason play underway, now more than ever, these rankings don’t mean anything in terms of actual games being played.
This is a long way of saying, some will not be particularly fond of this week’s rankings.
With that preamble: Things got weird last week. When considering last week’s rankings, No. 1 Stevenson lost to No. 9 Nazareth. No. 4 Naperville North lost to Fenwick. No. 6 Sycamore lost to No. 14 Geneva. No. 19 Whitney Young beat No. 3 Kenwood in the Chicago City Championship game and that changed a ton about the rankings. No. 17 Okawville was beaten by unranked Breese Central. No. 25 Quincy Notre Dame was blasted by unranked 1A power Brimfield.
It was the most agonizing ranking process I’ve undertaken since the first time we put these rankings out.
1. Benet (25-3, +1)
Beat Montini this past week. No. 1 seed in Aurora (East) Sectional. Recent loss to Carmel not enough to keep Benet from the top spot. Has a great overall body of work and will be a strong favorite to make a run to the state title.
2. Nazareth Academy (27-2, +5)
Huge leap for Nazareth, which went from No. 15 the second week of January all the way up to No. 2 after a victory that ended Stevenson’s 26-game win streak. It honestly was hard to have Stevenson drop, but I believe heavily in the importance of head-to-head matchups when it comes to teams. 3A favorite.
3. Stevenson (29-2,-2)
It was not without great contemplation that Stevenson fell from its top ranking (for the first time) after a loss to previously-seventh-ranked Nazareth (now No. 3). Benet has beaten Nazareth 45-31 (Feb. 24), and Nazareth beat Stevenson. Stevenson had won 26-consecutive games before the Feb. 9 loss to Nazareth. Is battle-tested and should make a run to Redbird Arena.
4. Loyola Academy (27-3, +1)
Defeated Hersey in overtime, at Hersey.
5. Naperville North (27-3, -1)
Beat Waubonsie Valley, lost to Fenwick.
6. Barrington (24-5, +6)
Defeated Prospect in the MSL title game.
7. Geneseo (29-1, +1)
Won over Moline.
8. Bolingbrook (19-5, +2)
Defeated Sandburg, finished unbeaten in conference.
9. Geneva (23-4, +5)
Defeated Sycamore on the road and won against Lake Park.
10. Whitney Young (18-5, +9)
Won the city championship over Kenwood.
11. Kenwood (19-6, -8)
Lost to Whitney Young in the city title game.
12. Sycamore (28-2, -6)
Fell at home to Geneva. Beat Plano.
13. Joliet West (24-3, –2)
Lost to Providence Catholic, defeated West Aurora.