A take-charge effort from Dundee-Crown
With starters senior Kennedy White and freshman Gianine Boado sidelined, coupled with a huge win at McHenry last Saturday, you might think Dundee-Crown's girls basketball team would struggle in a Fox Valley Conference matchup at Crystal Lake Central on Wednesday night.
Think again.
The short-handed Chargers took care of business in cruising to a 50-24 win against the host Tigers. White, who has a torn ligament in her foot, may be ready for postseason play in two weeks. Boado, out with the flu, should be ready for Tuesday's Fox Valley Conference contest at Hampshire.
"Kennedy and Gianine are two key players and starters for us and I am really happy and proud with the way everybody stepped up and contributed," said Dundee-Crown coach Sarah Miller. "We did a great job on defense and we were able to get easy baskets on transition. We came off the big win against McHenry and took a lot of positive steps tonight."
After scoring the first 7 points of the game, the Chargers (15-8, 10-4) never looked back.
A 3-pointer by Anna Kieltyka, a putback from freshman Alyssa Crenshaw and a 15-footer from Payton Schmidt gave D-C an early 7-0 advantage.
Crystal Lake Central (12-13, 5-9), which missed its first 8 shots, didn't score until the 2:18 mark on a 3-pointer by Madison Haslow to make the score 7-3.
Leading 11-7 after 1 quarter, Dundee-Crown seized control of the game with a 9-2 run to start the second quarter.
Four points from Crenshaw, a layup from Kendall Kieltyka and a 3 from the corner by Payton Schmidt helped the Chargers extend a 4-point first quarter lead to 11, at 20-9 with 2:48 left before intermission.
D-C's biggest lead of the game was 28, 49-21 on a 12-footer in the lane by Katelyn Skibinski with 2:11 left in the contest.
Crenshaw, with 11 rebounds, led D-C with 12 points. Payton Schmidt scored 10 while Kendall Kieltyka and Maddy Tripp (12 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) tallied 8 apiece.
"Kennedy and Gianine are certainly 2 of our best players and we miss them, but we have so many players who can contribute to the team," said Tripp. "The adversity makes us stronger. We gained so much confidence with the win at McHenry. Everybody stepped up and contributed to the win. We don't look at the people on the team as seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshman. We are one team. This is a big win with the pairings for the regionals coming up."
Central, which made only 8-of-40 shots from the field, committed 27 turnovers.
"We got good shots from our offense but the lid was on," said Tigers coach Derek Crabill. "D-C's defense was tough and they did a great job of mixing up their defenses. Their defense helped them get easy transition baskets. We simply have to shoot better."
Corrine Hamill was the lone Tiger in double digits with 10 points.