Rockford Lutheran boys and girls hoops teams look to stay hot in the State Farm Classic

The Lutheran boys and girls basketball teams have gotten off to solid starts to the season, and they were both seeded in the top half of their brackets as they looked at this week's stacked State Farm Classic basketball tournament in Normal as a way to close out the year with some momentum.

And then they each tipped things off with solid wins in the tourney on Tuesday.

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"We've got so much work to do and we have so many big games coming," Lutheran girls head coach Joni Carlson said. "But this tournament is definitely going to get us battle-tested. To me, this is about seeing where we stand, and giving us a real true measure of where we are and where we want to be."

The girls, seeded eighth, knocked off Annawan 68-63 late Tuesday night in the Small School girls bracket, which came after the fourth-seeded Lutheran boys crushed Stanford Olympia 68-46 in an afternoon opener of the Small School boys bracket. The boys then went on to knock off Quincy Notre Dame 65-51 on Wednesday to advance to Thursday's semifinals, but the girls fell 55-35 to No. 1-seeded Paris in Wednesday's quarterfinals action. They will now battle for fifth.

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"We put together a really tough schedule...and this tournament fits right in there," Lutheran boys head coach Tom Guse said. His team was 10-4 headed into Thursday's semi. "And this one, well it's a time to bond, and it's a time to see what we have against some good teams that are going to make us better."

They were both looking to work their way through the tournament and build some momentum. Here's how each of them has done it so far, and what they look to get out of this tough tournament:

Boys are learning on the fly

The Lutheran boys dropped back-to-back game headed into the State Farm Classic, but that was to a pair of ranked Class 4A teams. Now the 2A Crusaders are playing against teams their own size in this tourney, but it happens to be some of the best in the state.

"That's why we're here," senior forward Blake Broege said. "This is such a great chance to hold everybody accountable and really see if we can finish games off against some really good teams... It's time to find out."

Broege scored 14 in the first half of Tuesday's game as the Crusaders pulled away quickly and efficiently. Lutheran has leaned a lot on senior point guard Walt Hill, Jr., who has averaged right around 20 points per game throughout the first half of the season. But they are deep.

Along with Hill — who drained 10 of his 12 free throws and scored 14 in the win Wednesday — and Broege, the Crusaders also have stars like Kyng Hughes, who Guse calls "our Mr. Go Guard Their Best Guy," and junior forward Vontez Dent, who has three 30-plus-point games in the past two weeks. Dent led all scorers with 21 points in Wednesday's victory.

Next up they were slated to get a shot at No. 1-seeded (and fifth-ranked in the state) St. Joseph-Ogden on Thursday in the semis.

Girls lean on senior-freshman tandem

The Lutheran girls have been clicking most of the year, winning 9 of 10 headed into their State Farm Classic bracket, including three in a row by 15 or more. And then they opened the tourney strong, earning their 12th win in the first 15 games.

They fell to the No. 1-seeded Paris team on Wednesday by 20 despite 18 points from freshman guard Soraya Parker. Still, they feel like they are headed in the right direction.

"From the first game to where we are now," Parker said, "we have come so far, and have built so much chemistry."

Parker and senior guard Sydney Carlson have been keys to the first-half-of-the-season run. Parker has bolted onto the scene, averaging 19.5 points per game headed into this week, while Carlson was at 14.5 points per game. Junior forwards Hannah Morgan and Kaylee Banks and senior Addie Richards, who "can play any position," according to Coach Carlson, have helped round out the scoring, and have given this team plenty of balance night in and night out.

"This team is so much fun to play on and we're all still learning what each other can do, a little bit," Sydney Carlson said. "We have a long way to go, for sure. But this tournament is going to help us get there."

Two of the Crusaders' three losses have come to Woodstock Marian Central, the last by one on Dec. 12 by one after a game-winner with six seconds left. Junior guard Madison Kenyon had a double-double in both games for Woodstock Marian Central.

"We're getting better and better every day out there, we know it," said Sydney Carlson, who also leads the team in assists and steals. "I love this team, and we want to keep this going for a long time this year."

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Lutheran boys and girls hoops teams look to stay hot