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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Champaign Central’s Babette Bradley starts off the 50-yard freestyle during a meet against rival Centennial in September at Unit 4 Pool in Champaign. The News-Gazette’s 21st All-Area girls’ swimming and diving team will be in Thursday’s paper.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Our high school fall sports All-Area packages continue Thursday with girls’ swimming and diving. Still to come: volleyball this Saturday and football on Dec. 28.
➜ 2. Voting continues until noon on Thursday right here at our website for our latest high school Athletes of the Week.
➜ 3. The four boys’ finalists are Noah Fowler (Schlarman basketball), Emmett Kearns (Mahomet-Seymour swimming), Kam Sweetnam (Tuscola basketball) and Darius Williams (Rantoul wrestling). The four girls’ finalists are Claire Dixon (Hoopeston Area basketball), Addisen Ellis (Georgetown-Ridge Farm basketball), Taylor Gordon (Tuscola basketball) and Alex Parastaran (Champaign Central basketball).
Adalia McKenzie and the Illini are 9-2 this season.
Numbers game: 10
wins is what the Illinois women’s basketball team could get to on Friday when it hosts a struggling Southern team that is only 2-9 before the noon tip at State Farm Center. Why is this significant? Because only two other times in the program’s 51-year history — the 2006-07 season and the 2022-23 season — have the Illini reached double-digit wins before Christmas.
Former Illini All-American Ayo Dosunmu and the Bulls head to Boston to square off against the Celtics on Thursday night.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Chicago Bulls at Boston Celtics. Former Illini Ayo Dosunmu is averaging 12.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists for the Bulls before their 6 p.m. tip on Thursday against the reigning NBA champs.
➜ 2. Parkland at Glen Oaks men’s basketball. The fifth-ranked Cobras (11-1) are back in action at 3 p.m. Wednesday against the Vikings (6-6) in Centreville, Mich.
➜ 3. Lincoln at Mahomet-Seymour boys’ basketball. Neil Alexander, Lincoln’s Hall of Fame coach and father of Illini men’s basketball assistant coach Geoff Alexander, recently won his 800th game in charge of the Railsplitters. Should be a good Apollo Conference game when it tips off at 7 p.m. Friday in Mahomet.
From left, Brian, Dajia and Daniel Dalluge at an Illinois soccer match in Champaign.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Argenta-Oreana boys’ soccer coach Daniel Dalluge:
➜ 1. My favorite sports team is … the Wolverhampton Wanderers.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … arrogance.