Illinois Elite Basketball Club: My Site News

Congratulations to our ILLINOIS ELITE 17U team for winning back to back Illinois AAU 11th Grade State Championship !! Each girl performed brilliantly at Guerin Prep over the course of the three day tournament. Ultimately, our talented girls prevailed defeating Midwest Elite Platinum by scores of 82 – 75 and 63 – 56 in the State Finals

Despite losing Co- Captain Sophie Brunner to a knee injury in the second to last game, the team played inspiring, selfless, team oriented Basketball without Sophie in the Final game, defeating a very talented Midwest Elite Platinum team for the second time in the Finals and capturing our Second State Championship in a row!! The girls defeated a previously Undefeated Midwest Elite Platinum team twice in one day by scores of 82 – 75 and 63 – 56. Throughout the long, exhausting three day tournament the team defeated teams from all the Major AAU Programs in Illinois.

We proudly salute each and every member of our 17U team. Sophie Brunner (Freeport Aquin)……Maggie Dansdill (Wheaton Warrenville South)…..Haley Gorecki (Fremd)…..Ellie Harmeyer (Wisconsin Shoreland Lutheran)…..Jackie Kemph (Rolling Meadows)…..Bailey North (Buffalo Grove)…..Lena “The Magician” Munzer (Highland Park)…..Jenny Vliet (Rolling Meadows)……and Lauren “Spider” Webb (Vernon Hills ). Back to Back State Championships…way to go girls !!!!!

Congratulations to our talented 8th grade team for WINNING Third Place in the Illinois AAU State tournament. After an unfortunate tournament opening game loss, they rebounded to win Four games in a row over difficult competition, finally falling to the eventual State Champion Illinois Rush. Illinois AAU Director Jim Russo went out of his way to say how well our team played defensively, particularly complimenting Bryana Hopkins, Megan Talbot, Kathryn Pedi, Amore Wool, and Gracie Tworek for their commitment to relentless defense. Every one of our girls left everything they had on the floor and made quite an impression to all in attendance. Way to go girls!!

Congratulations to our very talented 2014 team for going undefeated and winning the Championship of the Hoops for the Game Spring Invitational in Wisconsin this past weekend !! FTG Director Jim Hentschel commented, “these girls are big, tall and very, very confident”. He remarked that Taylor Will and Jada Blackwell were particularly impressive in this tournament. All of the girls performed impressively and this team of players and parents, as well, has a unique spirit of camaraderie about them as they are always all together enjoying each other between games. Our 2014 team remains undefeated for the 2012 season. Friends on and off the court…..Special !!!

Congratulations to our impressive 2013 team for steamrolling through some good competition to the Championship at Carthage College in Wisconsin over the weekend!  Wow, these girls can play!  It is easy to see they have played together for some time; and truly do not care who scores as long as they score!  In the game over Wisconsin Playground Elite, who are a talented team rightly considered one of Wisconsin’s finest teams.  The 2013 girls had three fastbreaks in a row where all five players touched the ball but the BALL NEVER TOUCHED THE FLOOR!!! FTG Director commented that ”this team has ten stars and will be very difficult to beat”. He remarked that “Sophie Brunner and Destinee Young and Lena Munzer will make their future Collegiate Coaches very happy“ !!  Fans were incredulous at the selfless team play and closeness of this very talented group of future Collegiate Basketball players!!!  The girls closest game to date has been a 34 point victory and they remain undefeated in the 2012 season!  We are very proud of you girls!

MONDAY, APRIL 2

Our undefeated 2013 team won the Hoops For The Game Spring Invitational Championship in convincing fashion. All victories were by significant margins; and the team looked to be in mid season form.

Our very talented 2016 team went undefeated; and earned a spot in the Hoops For The Game Spring Invitational Championship game.  They eventually fell in a Championship game thriller to an experienced Illinois Celtics team.  The future is bright for this uniquely talented group of  7^th and 8^th grade players.

MONDAY, APRIL 9

Our 2014 team of Freshmen and Sophomores competed in the Blue Chip Easter Celebration Classic in the 17U Division; and went undefeated merging with the Tournament Championship Trophy. The Championship victory was over a good Illinois Magic team by a score of 42-35.

Our 2016 team was undefeated and sailed past everyone to the Championship Game where they eventually fell to a talented Pinkstreak team with many 9^th graders.  They finished as Runner Up in this challenging tournament’s 9^th Grade Division.

Illinois Elite is proud to announce that Meredith Boardman has announced her decision to attend Yale University and continue her stellar basketball career with the Bulldogs. Yale finished second in the Ivy League last year;and is thrilled to welcome Meredith to their very talented roster.

Meredith joins Megan Podkowa (DePaul University), Alyssa Dengler (Lewis University) and Grace Sanchez (Grand Valley State University) as Illinois Elite graduates from our 2011 AAU Illinois State Championship team who have gone on to receive full schlarships to continue their basketball careers at the collegiate level. We are proud to say we now have had 38 players in the last four years go on to play at the collegiate level. 

Our highly talented 2012 team won 5 games and lost 1 at the Nike USJN Summer Final Tournament. The girls completed their remarkable season with a record of 65 wins and 6 losses against the highest level of National Competition. Our 2012 Team was always in the top tier Pool or Pool B in every National tournament they played in facing the very finest teams from all over the country. Of their 65 wins, 58 were by double digits or more. The 2012 team won 7 of the 11 tournaments they played in;and never finished lower than Third Place in the other four tournaments!

Congratulations to ALL of our talented players, who are graduating from our program and going on to continue their basketball careers in College. At Press time, Megan Podkowa had committed to DePaul University, Alyssa Dengler committed to Lewis University, and Grace Sanchez committed to Grand Valley State University. All received full scholarships.  

We are very proud  to say ALL of the remaining players are returning for the 2012 Spring and Summer seasons.

Congratulations to the following players for being selected to the ALL Tournament team by opposing coaches at the Nike USJN Summer Final:

2012 Team

Sophie Brunner

Lena Munzer

Destinee Young 

2014 Team

Haley Gorecki

Amber Lindfors

Ellie Harmeyer 

Congratulations to our 2014 team who finished their tremendous 2011 season with a record of 55 wins and 8 losses! This group was comprised of seven 8th graders and 3 Freshmen. They played up at least one year in all tournaments;and in most tournaments the 8th graders were playing up 2 years at the 10th grade or 15U level. All of these players are returning to Illinois Elite for the spring and summer seasons in 2012! 

Congratulations to the following players who were selected by the opposing coaches to the USJN Premeire Invitational All Tournament Team in Cincinnatti.

2012 Team

Sophie Brunner

Alyssa Dengler

Megan Podkowa

Destinee Young 

 2014 Team

Ellie Harmeyer 

Congratulations to our 2012 Team for going undefeated (6-0) during the month of May over three separate weekends in the State of Illinois AAU Tournament;and being crowned State of Illinois 11th Grade AAU Champions! The Girls beat a good Illinois Hustle Red 16U Team 65-45 to capture the State Championship on Sunday, May 29,2011. No opposing team came within less than 20 points of our 2012 Team during the entire State Tournament!! Opponents from many solid programs were defeated on the way to the Championship victory over the Illinois Hustle. Included among them were victories over solid programs like Chicago Hoops Express I and the Illinois Wolverines Elite Team. The six State Tournament victories represented an impressive performance against many Top Tier programs that some Illinois AAU observers commented they had not  witnessed for quite some time.

We are proud of all of our fine players on the AAU State Champion 2012 Team.

Thank you very much to former Illinois Elite stars like Katlyn Payne, Taylor Skala and Susan Hohenadel for attending the State Championshp game. Thanks also to Haley Gorecki, Ellie Harmeyer, Hannah Harmeyer, Olivia Linebarger,and Ashley Montanez from our 2014 Team for attending the Championship Game. We were overwhelmed by all the loyal Illinois Elite fans who were there. When past players, current players and players on our younger team all hugged after the Championship victory, it was a very proud moment for the closeness of our Illinois Elite family!

 The 2012 Team now has a season record of 40 wins and 2 losses with both losses coming to Nationally ranked Teams! 

Congratulations to our 2012 team for going undefeated in the Illinois AAU Regionals and advancing to the State Finals on Memorial Day Weekend. The State Championship is one of our goals for this year;and with continued stellar play it is well within our reach. The 2012 team averaged 81 points per game offensively in the Regionals;and gave up an average of 26 points per game in the AAU Regionals. Greatjob, Girls, on both ends of the court!

 Our 2014 team also did well in the State Tournament suffering only two very close, heartbreaking lossess when a win in either of these "Down to the wire games" would have allowed them to advance to state.

 The season record for our 2012 team is now 30 wins and one loss. Our 2014 Team has a record of 22 wins and 5 losses while always playing up against older competition. Well Done Girls! 

Congratulations to our 2012 and 2014 teams who both went undefeated and won their first two tournaments of 2011. Both teams have a record of 11 wins and no losses as of April 11, 2011.