Bartlett tops West Aurora to keep UEC Valley lead

The conference schedule has reached the halfway point in the Upstate Eight Valley Division and after making it through the first half undefeated following a 59-50 win over visiting West Aurora on Tuesday, the Bartlett girls basketball team now heads down the back stretch with a 2-game lead.

Kaitlin Brohan led the Hawks in scoring with 15 points. Kayla Hare added 13 points and Shelley Lyjak finished with 11.

"It's nice to have a little cushion heading into the second half of the conference season," Bartlett coach Dave Mello said. "But we know we can't let up. This is a tough conference. There are no off nights. Every game is a battle. So we just have to take matters into our own hands and come ready to play every night."

After a bit of a slow start Jamie Kenna hit a 3-pointer in the closing moments of the first quarter to put Bartlett ahead 15-12. The Hawks took flight from there outscoring West Aurora 18-9 in the second quarter to extend the lead to 33-21 at halftime.

Kelly Harris was a force in the second quarter with 8 points, including 3 putback baskets off offensive rebounds. She finished with a team-high 10 boards.

"After scouting them a couple weeks ago we felt we might have some opportunities inside," Mello said. "Kelly was able to take advantage of some of those opportunities. They were switching a lot on defense so when they were in their zone we wanted to work it to the middle and dump it down low to try and get some easy baskets instead of setting for outside jumpers."

The Hawks (13-8, 5-0) led by as many as 16 points before West Aurora made a late push to get to within 53-48 with just under a minute left. However, the Hawks held off the rally by hitting 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

"It's a great accomplishment to be in the lead in the conference," Brohan said. "But we are not done yet. We still have to keep working hard."

West Aurora (9-10, 3-2) was led in scoring by Ashley Williams, who had 15 points. Carley Frauenhoff added 13 points and Kayla Battle had 11.

"We had some problems boxing out tonight and it cost us," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. "We did a better job in the second half but you can't give a good team like Bartlett that many extra chances and fall behind by that many points and expect to comeback."