There was a Hanson on both ends of the St. Bede Bruins bench Friday night at Princeton.

St. Bede coach Brian Hanson welcomed his dad, Willie, for a prime seat at the end of the Bruins bench when they took on the host Tigers. The coach’s dad also sat in on Bruins’ games at the Marseilles Tournament.

Coach Hanson said his dad knows a lot more about basketball than he does. The elder Hanson was varsity coach at Rochelle from 1967-72 and Rockton Hononegah from 1973-82. When he stopped coaching varsity, he was Brian’s sixth-eighth grade and sophomore coach.

Dad certainly knew how to play, too. He scored 1,712 points from 1959-63 at Mendota, ranking third all-time for the Trojans only behind Don Hamel, who scored 2,158 from 1965-69, and Joe LaShonse, who netted 1,732 from 2013-17.

• Lady Bruins notch 600th victory: The St. Bede girls recently notched the program’s 600th win when they beat Durand in the second game of the day at the Byron MLK Tournament on Jan. 17. They’ve added three more, including Saturday’s 56-34 win at Kewanee, and Monday’s 53-27 victory over Mendota and now have 603 wins.

434 of those wins came under former head coach Tom McGunnigal from 1998 through the 2021 spring season.

• Rolling a 300: Ottawa coach Mark Cooper notched his 300th career victory when his Pirates beat rival La Salle-Peru 55-54 Friday night. With two more wins since, he now stands 302-171 in 18 seasons, all at Ottawa.

“This is a program milestone,” Cooper said. “Our staffs have worked with some of the best kids to come through Ottawa High School. Our district, student body and community very passionately support our program. We get to coach in Kingman Gym, one of the best facilities in the state, so I’m very fortunate just to put my hand in the huddle and be a small part of what this program stands for.

“I think back to people like coach [Gil] Love, coach [Dean] Riley, coach [Gary] Vancil who set the footing for what this program is about, and I realize I have a responsibility to lead in the proper way. As long as I’m around, the kids are going to hear about our past. I have a great job, one that I don’t take lightly.

“I have been blessed.”

• Boiling over: Princeton will travel to Kewanee in a key Three Rivers East showdown Tuesday night. The Boilers stand 6-1 in the league, 13-8 overall, including a 50-40 win at Princeton on Jan. 4. The Tigers are one game back at 4-1, improving to 11-7 with Friday’s win over St. Bede,

• New scoring leader: Earlville senior Elizabeth Browder became the program’s all-time leading scorer with 10 points Friday in a 58-30 loss to Newark in the third-place game of the Little Ten Conference Tournament in Serena.

Browder now has 1,072 career points, surpassing the mark of 1,065 set by 2008 graduate Stephanie Benninger.

• Crunching the numbers Princeton has won 9 of their last 11 games since a 2-5 start. … St. Bede (11-10) is 10-7 with Paul Hart, its all-time leading scorer in the lineup, and 1-3 without him. … Bureau Valley is 2-0 since the return of senior Brock Foster from injury.