Aurora Central's fast start sinks Aurora Ch.

Following a come-from-behind win at Guerin Friday, Aurora Central was feeling pretty good about itself when the Chargers took the court Saturday against Aurora Christian.

And it showed.

Aurora Central drained five 3-pointers in the opening quarter, had 9 assists on its 10 baskets, forced turnovers on the Eagles' first 7 possessions and raced to a 25-2 lead.

While Aurora Christian fought back the rest of the night, the early deficit was too much to overcome. The Chargers won 56-38, their third straight win.

“That was awesome,” ACC sophomore forward Ashley Wilk said. “We were just running and everything was going smooth.”

Jacquie Cardona opened the scoring for Aurora Central (5-4, 2-1) with a 3-pointer. She assisted Wilk on the next possession and then Katilyn Rosa worked the high-low game by finding Wilk for another basket and a 7-0 lead with 1:46 elapsed.

Sophomore Alex DeCraene also hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter, a sizzling shooting display that Cardona ended with another 3-pointer.

While the Chargers were hot from outside, they also dominated Aurora Christian (1-9, 0-3) on the boards, 42-19. Wilk led the way with 17 rebounds and Rosa grabbed 11.

The Eagles fought back in the third quarter, trimming what had been a 30-5 deficit in the second quarter to 31-19 with a 14-1 run. They eventually got within 11 on three occasions, the final 38-27 on Mackenzie Bollinger's jumper.

The Chargers worked the clock on their first possession of the final quarter, eventually finding Wilk free underneath for an easy bucket. They led by at least 15 points the rest of the way.

Cardona (18 points), Wilk (14), Rosa (11) and DeCraene (10) all scored in double figures for the Chargers, whose four losses are all by less than 6 points.

“They finally learned how to finish (Friday) night and the momentum kept going right through the first quarter,” Chargers coach Mark Fitzgerald said. “I'm very happy with the way we are going right now. I'm very pleased with the progress.”

Bollinger scored 16 to lead the Eagles, Yvette Lira added 10 and freshman Alyssa Andersen scored 9 in her first varsity game.

“They responded. We didn't give up,” AC coach Jerry Tokars said. “We're playing pretty good defense. The ball is not dropping as much as it needs to.”

“A lot of good lessons learned.”