Harvest Christian rolls over Westminster Christian
Usually when a team only shoots 33 percent from the field its going to have a tough time winning. Unless of course that team takes 37 more shots than its opponent.
That was the case in Harvest Christian's 65-33 win over host Westminster Christian in second round action of the Elgin City Classic girls basketball tournament Friday night. The shot disparity of 76-39 for the Lions was in large part to a 25-7 advantage on the offensive boards along with a defense that forced 28 turnovers.
With the win the Lions improve to 2-0 in the tournament and will host Larkin for the title at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Lions' 6-foot-2 center Rachel Oostdyk was a force to be reckoned with as she scored a team-high 18 points to go with 12 rebounds.
"Some people vastly underestimate our inside game," Harvest coach Rich DeTamble said. "Early on so much of the focus on our team has been on our outstanding guards Paulina (Castro) and Alyssa (Iverson). But lately we are proving that you can't just worry about them. Rachel has really come on strong. She is the only 6-foot-2 girl I know will get on the floor faster for a loose ball than a guard. She is showing that she is not only an excellent rebounder but is becoming more and more of an offensive threat."
The Lions only led 26-13 at the half, but Oostdyk helped to put the game away in the second half when she scored 16 of her points.
"Our focus has been to incorporate more of our post game with our guards," Oostdyk said. "The more we can get involved the more it opens things up for the guards."
Oostdyk had 6 of the Lions' offensive rebounds.
"Rebounding has been a focus for us all year," Oostdyk said. "We want to limit the number of shots the other team gets and maximize how many we get. So we stress boxing out in practice all the time and today it really showed."
Iverson added 13 points for the Lions and Castro had 11. Maddie Versluys had 22 points to lead Westminster in scoring.