The IHSA girls basketball season tips off Monday, with 21 Daily Journal area schools set to embark on their 2025-26 journeys. Four of those teams enter the season as defending regional champions, led by Cissna Park, which finished third at last year’s Class 1A state tournament.

Here are five of the biggest storylines to watch this year.

Bishop McNamara looks to continue upswing

When former Bishop McNamara all-state guard Khadaizha Sanders returned to her alma mater as head coach in 2023, she wasn’t shy about her ultimate goal of bringing the program back to where she left it as a senior in 2015 – hosting a state championship trophy.

After two seasons, the Fightin’ Irish are trending toward that goal. They snapped a four-year regional title drought two years ago and upped the ante with a Class 2A sectional championship plaque, all while going undefeated in their first two years of Chicagoland Christian Conference play.

They’ve got key pieces to replace, namely Trinity Davis, last year’s Daily Journal Player of the Year. After losing her junior season to a knee injury, senior guard Kanai Jackson suffered a repeat injury and is devastatingly out again. But with a pair of talented senior forwards back in seniors Trinitee Thompson and Jaide Burse, defensive mastermind Eliana Isom back in the backcourt alongside sophomore guard Layla Lafayette, and a wave of young talent, the Fightin’ Irish are keeping expectations high.

Cissna Park eyes return trip to state

They’re getting a later start to their season than most, as most of the roster is playing in the Class 1A girls volleyball state tournament for the third straight year this weekend, but once they do tip off, Cissna Park will start another season with hopes of a repeat state bid.

The Timberwolves boast a pair of all-state seniors in guard Addison Lucht and forward Lauryn Hamrick as the leading forces on a team that returns 12 members of last year’s 14-player roster and a total of four starters, with Sophie Duis and Josie Neukomm also back in the starting five.

With a state run at the IESA level as well last year, the Timberwolves know the future is bright. But with their once-in-a-lifetime group now seniors, they also know there’s no time like the present.

Ava Johnson leads Kankakee into new era

Kankakee only saw three seniors graduate last spring, but all three of them – TaLeah Turner, Kendyl Christon and Benkwasha Stroud – all had made contributions since their freshmen seasons, with Turner graduating as the heart and soul of a program that went 18-13, the sixth season at .500 or better since 2017-18 after the Kays hadn’t broken that barrier in the 21st century.

Fortunately, they boast one of the top returning forwards in the state in junior Ava Johnson, who averaged 15.4 points and eight rebounds per game on her way to a Class 3A all-state sophomore campaign.

And the fun doesn’t stop with Johnson, who’s one piece of a loaded junior class. Guard Malea Harrison has started since her freshman year, while point guard Ki’Asia Wilson and wings London Stroud and Lamarayah Smith made splashes a year ago.

Manteno prepared to take the next step

The Manteno girls basketball program has reached rare air the past couple of seasons. Two years ago, the Panthers snapped a 33-year regional championship drought and followed it up with a 24-5 record last year, the program’s first season with 20-plus wins.

But their 2024-25 campaign ended on a sour note, a regional championship loss to Seneca that’s added fuel to the fire of a Panthers team that is high on returning talent. Junior forward Maddie Gesky was an honorable mention all-stater in Class 2A after averaging a double-double (11.7 points, 12.2 rebounds per game).

Along with senior forward Emily Horath (9.9 ppg) and senior guard Lila Prindeville (9.2 ppg), the Panthers return their top three leading scorers from a year ago. The defending Illinois Central Eight Conference champions eye a conference repeat, but with Coal City always a threat, Wilmington and Herscher returning a ton of talent along with a defending regional champion that’s doing the same in Reed-Custer, the conference looks to be quite challenging.

Bradley-Bourbonnais’ familiar faces ready for program turnaround

There’s no doubt that over the course of their 4-23 campaign last winter, a young Bradley-Bourbonnais roster took some growing pains along the way.

Now a year better and wiser, the Boilermakers are eager to start their upswing. Junior guard Abby Bonilla was a Daily Journal All-Area second-team pick last year and has senior guard Naturel Coday and junior forwards Leila Middlebrook and Teegan Reddy amongst a slew of girls back in the fold this year.

Since their reign of four Class 4A regional titles in five years ended after their 23-8 campaign in 2017-18, the Boilers have four seasons of single-digit wins and haven’t been .500 since they went 14-14 in 2018-19. They might not quite be ready to return to the plaque-winning level quite yet, but their athletic core gives them hope that’s not far off.