Harazin, Aurora CC battle past St. Edward
Aurora Central Catholic girls basketball coach Mark Fitzgerald knows his team's advantage is its height, and a lot of that has to do with 6-foot-3 center Taylor Harazin leading the way.
And when the Chargers take advantage of said size as they did against a smaller St. Edward team in Thursday's 51-39 Metro Suburban West win over the Green Wave in Elgin, Fitzgerald has a tough team that's tough to beat.
Harazin registered a game-high 24 points to go with 8 rebounds, including 8 points in the third when the Chargers (5-2, 2-1) broke stride with the Wave, and St. Edward (6-2, 2-2), with its tallest player listed at 5-11, had no answer on its home court for the crafty junior in the post the final 2 quarters.
"We found a way to get it to the bigs and good things happened," Fitzgerald said. "Taylor just put it in a different gear and she said she wasn't going to let this happen, and this is the second great game in a row for her. She was not going to be denied tonight."
Harazin, who had 8 points in the first half but missed 3 easy layups and scored half of that total from the free-throw line, came out strong to start the third. She muscled her way for a basket from the right block to break a 20-20 tie and she continued her onslaught to give ACC a 28-25 lead with her own putback with 5:42 left.
Harazin wasn't alone. Shakira Del Toro had 10 points off the bench in the final 16 minutes, all in the paint, as 2 of her buckets late in the third helped the Chargers to 35-29 lead after 3.
But Harazin paced the fourth like she did the third, went strong twice to put the Chargers ahead 41-33 with 6 minutes left.
"I felt more comfortable posting up," said Harazin, who helped ACC score 36 points in the paint. "We've been struggling to get the ball in the post but now that we see that once we do, it can make a difference on the team."
St. Edward started hot, as a 7-for-15 clip in the first quarter gave the Wave a 17-12 lead with Katelyn Castoro's 8 points leading the way. But 6 turnovers and a 1-for-7 second got ACC back in it, and the Wave sank 4 shots in the second half to finish 12 of 37 from the field. Castoro finished with 18 points but the turnovers piled up in the second half, as the Wave totaled 19 and the isolation of Harazin was just too much.
"We had trouble stopping their post play," Wave coach Michelle Dawson said, despite her team scoring 14 points off 18 ACC turnovers. "They worked to isolate her more; she was just bigger and stronger."