Zeitz tallies 23 leading West Aurora past Yorkville
Taylor Jacobsen and the rest of the experienced West Aurora starters have been in enough tense moments the past four years not to panic when a game gets tight.
On Tuesday night in Yorkville, the Blackhawks saw their 13-point lead sliced to 4 with six minutes left in the game.
Jacobsen and her sister Erin made sure the Foxes got no closer. First, Taylor drained a 3-pointer on a pass from Abryia Zeitz, then Erin followed with a 3 of her own, and Erin’s steal and assist to Taylor for a layup put 8 unanswered Jacobsen points on the scoreboard.
That 8-0 run put West Aurora back on top with breathing room at 50-38, and the Blackhawks kept control from there for a 57-46 victory to improve their fast start this season to 8-1.
“You can’t really get those (3-point shots) without your teammates setting you up,” Taylor Jacobsen said. “It looks good on you but it’s all the work others were doing.”
Taylor Jacobsen finished with 15 points, second to Zeitz who got off to a sizzling start with 12 first-quarter points and finished with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting at the line.
Zeitz also connected on a pair of 3-pointers while scoring 12 of West Aurora’s first 14 points. The teams traded the lead four times early. But once Zeitz drained her first 3 to put the Blackhawks ahead 9-7, they never trailed again.
“My shot has kind of been off in 3-point range in previous games,” Zeitz said. “After the first 3 I made they left me open and I kept on hitting them. Luckily my teammates noticed that and kept getting me the ball.”
Yorkville (4-3) trailed 16-11 after one quarter and 28-21 at halftime. Senior Rachael Owens kept her team close with 14 first-half points on her way to a team-high 19, including five 3-pointers.
“Rachel did what she can do and knocked down a couple big ones,” Yorkville coach Luke Engelhardt said. “We need those girls to score, we don’t have the most size in the world. For us to be successful we have to knock down some shots.”
West Aurora did dominate the glass, with Liz Skaggs puling down 14 rebounds and Zeitz 7 to lead a 37-23 advantage.
Zeitz also opened the second half hot with a pair of free throws and a putback basket before Skaggs scored inside on a feed from point guard Alexis Wiggins. West Aurora scored the first 6 points of the third quarter to open up their biggest lead of the night, 34-21.
That cushion proved helpful when Owens, Lindsey Schlichting (10 points) and Corrine Rowe (8 points) led Yorkville’s comeback. A second-chance basket by Owens cut West Aurora’s lead to 42-38 before the Jacobsens teamed up for their 8 straight points.
“You take so many moral victories,” Englehardt said. “I thought our girls played extremely hard. They didn’t quit. They had a 2-minute spurt in the second half where the energy level went down but we took a timeout and they bounced right back. West Aurora is a really good team. They made big shots when we did cut the gap. (A) 4A opponent, we don’t play too many of them. We want to step up when we do have these games.”
West Aurora, which like Yorkville got all of its points from its starters, has a week off until playing East Aurora next Tuesday.
Skaggs added 9 points Tuesday and Wiggins 6.
“They made us do some things we didn’t want to do tonight,” West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said of Yorkville. “(Abryia) came out hot. They didn’t anticipate she could hit those 3s but she went downstate on 3s, she is very comfortable out there with those 3-point shots.”