Kaneland has easy time with DeKalb
How bad was it for DeKalb in Tuesday's Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference visit to Kaneland?
The Barbs technically scored more points with no time on the clock to end one quarter than they scored in the entirety of the next quarter.
Kaneland outscored its guest 14-1 in the third quarter en route to a 56-32 girls basketball triumph.
"They kicked our tails, plain and simple," DeKalb coach Heath Kent admitted. "Yes, we missed shots and had turnovers, but we lacked intensity. You can't come out flat like that, you definitely can't do that and expect to win, let alone against a good team like Kaneland."
The host Knights (19-3, 7-3) inched closer to a 20-win season and kept their mathematical hopes for a league title alive if loop leader Sycamore (9-1) loses its last four league games. Unfortunately for DeKalb, having a fourth-quarter lead slip away against Sycamore, missing a shot at the buzzer to beat South Elgin paled in comparison to a 20th loss (6-20, 3-7).
"The first quarter they shot pretty well and it was a back-and-forth game because they got some rebounds, their 33 (Jania Carver) got in the lane and kicked it to open shooters, plus they had a couple loose balls turn into three-pointers," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "But that third quarter, holding them to just one point was a great job by us; coupled with them missing a variety of shots."
DeKalb opened the game with an Alyassa Burgess basket but the next three buckets belonged to Kaneland and it became a lead that would never be relinquished. The Barbs pulled to within 1 (9-8) when Ajah Davis put back a rebound of her own miss and again with 54 seconds left in the first quarter when Raquel Mills hit consecutive 3-pointers to make it 15-14).
Kaneland's Camri Conley hit a pullup jumper for a 17-14 first quarter tally that carried over into a 7-0 run. DeKalb hit a pair midway through the second quarter only to have the Knights go on an 8-0 surge.
Davis was fouled as the first-half horn sounded and the DeKalb freshman hit both free throws to produce the 30-20 halftime score.
Then came the 8-minute span during which Carver hit 1 of 2 free throws for the Barbs' only points of the third quarter. Carver would finish with 5 to trail Mills' 6 and the team-best 10 from Davis.
Kaneland's Conley scored a game-high 16 while Jamie Martens, Vanessa Gould and Bailey Crimmins scored 7 each.
"We tried going inside early to get them in foul trouble and they caught us with a few screens, so we had to clean that up for the second half," Conley said.
"They had trouble when (Camri) got in the lane," Colombe added. "Glad to see us shooting a high percentage inside the free throw line because sometimes we settle, and just fall in love with 3s. Hopefully we'll play as well Friday (against Yorkville). We got them the first time in the Ottawa (tourney) championship and they beat us by one at their place."