Kaneland shows progress in season opener
Last-second drama and victories two of the best parts of basketball and two things the Kaneland girls basketball team didn't get to experience much last year.
The Knights nearly went 2-for-2 in those categories Tuesday night in their season opener at the IMSA/Aurora Christian Hoop Happenings Tournament.
Down 3 points to Rock Island in the closing seconds, Kaneland junior Tesa Alderman drained a clutch 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the game at 48.
Unfortunately for Kaneland, Rock Island's Whitney Hoover followed with her only basket of the game, a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left for a 51-48 victory. Emily Heimerdinger had a half-court heave at the buzzer that came up short.
Despite the loss there was a lot to like for Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe getting his first look at the strides his players have made after a 5-23 season in 2009.
“They (Rock Island) made a great play in transition,” Colombe said of the winning shot. “We are not happy we lost in any shape or form but there is a lot of improvement tonight and stuff we can build on.
“That's what we have been working hard all summer and spring on, just individual improvement. We played real well in spurts. We had a couple lapses, a couple stretches we lost composure but that's a good team (Rock Island).”
One of those stretches came in the game's opening seven minutes. Junior Kelly Evers got Kaneland (0-1) going inside, scoring on a feed from Emma Bradford and then a stickback for a 4-0 lead.
McKinzie Mangers drilled a 3, Heimerdinger split free throws, Evers scored from close range and Kaneland had a 10-0 lead to open its season. Two minutes later Cori Harrison came off the bench for a basket and the Knights held their biggest lead of the night, 14-1.
“That is one of the things we are happy about,” Colombe said. “We have been talking about how important it is to come out and start strong I think especially after the year we had last year we wanted to start strong for confidence reasons. We did. We were pleasantly surprised with that. We surprised them a little bit.”
Rock Island (1-0), who returns most of its lineup from a team that lost by a point in the regional finals last year, got back into the game when the Knights went through one of those lapses. The Lady Rocks outscored Kaneland 18-4 from the end of the first quarter until a Colombe timeout with 2:59 remaining the second to take their first lead of the game, 19-18. They led 23-21 at halftime.
Kaneland (0-1) came back strong in the third quarter. Heimerdinger swished a pair of 3-pointers, the first regaining the lead 28-27 and the second extending the lead to 33-30. Rock Island sophomore Shavonne Brewer, a reserve who led all scorers with 20 points, connected on one of her three 3-pointers with 5 seconds left in the quarter to trim the Knights' lead to 37-36 going to the fourth.
Kaneland also lost reserve forward Trinae Coachman to an ankle injury in the quarter.
The teams traded the lead three times in the final eight minutes. Down 42-39, Kaneland stayed poised and scored three straight baskets on sharp passing.
Mangers found Evers inside, Heimerdinger drove and drew two defenders which led to an assist to Evers and then Bradford found Heimerdinger on a backdoor cut to make it 45-44 Kaneland with 2:13 left.
After Rock Island went back ahead, Kaneland missed a pair of free throws. The Knights were just 6 of 16 at the line.
“We have to hit free throws,” Colombe said. “We have been shooting the ball pretty well in practice but there's a difference between shooting the ball under pressure and in practice.”
Amunique Washington joined Powers in double figures with 13 points and paced the Lady Rocks' 42-33 rebounding advantage with 9 boards.
“I liked the way we fought,” Rock Island coach Thad Hoover said. “We didn't get our heads down when things didn't go our way. Those are things we have been working on. I thought we did a real nice job all together.”
Evers led the Knights with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Heimerdinger scored 9 points with 3 steals and 3 assists, and Andie Strang added 5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
“It was a real good opener to see what we need to work on,” Colombe said. “We have to rebound the ball better, the defense has to keep the ball out of the middle, and free throws.”