Defense saves the day for Addison Trail

Addison Trail learned on Tuesday night at Hinsdale South what good defense can do for a girls basketball team.

The Blazers opened a 14-point first-half lead, then leaned on their defense when their scoring touch left them in the second half, hanging on for a 39-33 West Suburban Gold victory at Darien.

"Our defensive effort is what got us the win here tonight," said Blazers coach Rob Schader, who called the first half the team's best of the season. "We've preached it, we've preached it from Day One. I wasn't happy over Thanksgiving with our defensive effort. ... To hold them to 14 in the first half and 33 for the game. I can handle 33. You hold them to 33 you're going to give yourself a chance to win no matter how bad offensively you play, which we did in the second half."

The Blazers (4-1, 1-0) opened a 12-5 lead after the first quarter thanks to two 3-pointers from senior Alyssa Pham and another from senior Marie Baumgartner. A pair of Diamond Pikulyk baskets in the low post gave the Blazers a 21-7 lead with 2:27 left in the second period, and they led by 13 at halftime.

"The first half we really pushed the ball," said Addison Trail senior Jasmin Mehmeti. "Our defense got a lot better. We practice a lot on our defense, and our defense pushed us through."

The second half was another matter offensively.

The Blazers managed just three Pikulyk free throws in the third quarter. Nicci Scorza's two fourth-quarter baskets were Addison Trail's only field goals in the second half as the Hornets (0-6, 0-1) cut the lead down to 4 midway through the final period.

"The second half we had a couple of turnovers, we had a tough time getting it back," Mehmeti said, "but the defense stepped up and we got a 'W.'"

The Blazers held the Hornets to 11-of-48 shooting for the game.

Pham, Scorza and Pikulyk each scored 9 points to lead the Blazers, and Pikulyk added 15 rebounds.

Senior Erin Collins led the Hornets with 8 points.

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