As the Girls Varsity Basketball team began their 2025-2026 season, they faced heated competition in their annual Vernon Hills Cougar Classic tournament. Despite not placing first, they had promising showings against tough opponents. In this first game against Vernon Hills, they lost narrowly in double overtime 60-57, with junior Blanka Devai putting up impressive numbers of 16 points, 13 rebounds, and four steals. As the North Shore News put it, “a tough stomach loss can be a good thing, especially if it occurs early in the season.” Following this indigestible loss, the girls came back in an impressive 41-31 win over Niles West. Devai once again showed off with a resounding 14 rebounds, assisted by senior Lindsay Farbman’s 14 points to secure the victory.
The Spectator’s Player-of-the-Month, Farbman earned her title in the following game against Antioch High School, where she scored 27 points in 28 minutes, shooting over 70% from the floor. Combined once again with Devai’s 10 rebounds and 11 assists, this duo has shown immense promise as they enter their regular season. Stomaching another tough 62-47 loss to Rockford Guilford and then savoring a decisive 54-32 win against Lake Forest High School, the girls ended the tournament with a 3-2 record to start their season. As Farbman stated in an interview with The Spectator, “I think it was a successful first tournament as we had some disappointing losses, but I am very hopeful for the rest of the upcoming season.”
Despite not coming out of the weekend with a 5-0 record, the girls gained an understanding of how to move forward to build on both their losses and successes of the tournament to become stronger as a team as their season goes on. A few more notable players from this tournament were sophomore forward Akshara Ginjupalli, sophomore guard Lyla Fuery, and junior post Beatrice Franklin, who all helped establish the team’s skilled and connected young core. Coming out of the weekend, Ginjupalli earned the All-Tournament Team award, averaging 11.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 2.6 STXPG, as well as Farbman with 16.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 3.4 STXPG.