Raiders win title at Glenbard E.
Glenbard South overcame an abysmal shooting performance in the first half and ended up running away from Glenbard East in the second as the Raiders went on to win 52-41 and capture the Rachel Bach Memorial Basketball Tournament at Glenbard East.
Glenbard South's Danielle Pipal, who won the girls basketball tournament's MVP honors, scored 10 points in the first quarter on 5-of-7 shooting but picked up her third foul early in the second, prompting coach Julie Fonda to sit her down the rest of the half.
With Pipal on the bench, the offense struggled and the rest of the team went on to shoot 1 of 21 from the floor for the remainder of the half.
"The first half was very frustrating," Fonda said. "That was very uncharacteristic of us to do that. I'm glad we were able to turn it around in the second half."
The Raiders (6-1) also couldn't stop Kelsey Taylor in the first half. Taylor scored 12 points as the Rams went into the break with a 25-19 lead.
Taylor hit 5 of 6 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers.
"We couldn't find No. 5 in the first half," Pipal said. "She was hitting all of her shots and she really hurt us. In the second half we made it a point to find where she was and try to deny her the ball."
In the second half, with Pipal still on the bench with those three fouls, Nikki Simpson regained her shooting touch exactly when the Raiders needed it. Simpson ended up hitting three 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Glenbard South matched its first-half output, scoring 19 third-quarter points.
"Nikki did a great job for us tonight," Fonda said. "She was in a little bit of a slump where her confidence was hurting. She turned it around and I am proud of her. She showed a lot of character tonight."
Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller thought the shooting stroke of Simpson was the turning point of the game.
"They came out and got momentum right away with some 3s," Miller said. "They really came out in the second half and brought it to us early on. In the first half they didn't make many but that changed in the second."
Pipal, who also sat out the entire third quarter, ended up scoring a game-high 17 points, while Simpson chipped in with 15. Maja Despot pitched in with 2 points but had a game-high 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Taylor scored a team-high 14 points for the Rams (3-2), and Olivia Trefilek scored 7 points and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds off the bench.
-- Jason Watt
Lake Park 62, Fenton 39:ŒThe toughest part of the day for Lake Park came before its final game in the Fenton-Elk Grove-Lake Park Thanksgiving Tournament.
Waiting in the wings for their home court to clear so they could warm up, the Lancers watched Hoffman Estates accept the first-place trophy after its victory against Elk Grove.
"That was painful," Lake Park coach Lisa Smith said.
Smith's club did the only thing it could do at that point. The host Lancers proceeded to beat Fenton 62-39 to take second place in the round-robin tourney in Roselle.
"We came into the tournament really wanting to get first place," Lake Park junior forward Samantha Arnold said.
Smith feared her squad would suffer a letdown, but the opposite happened.
"We came out strong with intensity," she said.
"We fought our way back," Arnold said of her team's emotional state. "We knew we wanted nothing less than second since first was taken away from us."
Lake Park (4-1) made it clear from the start it had no interest in suffering a letdown. The Lancers scored the game's first 10 points and opened a 33-9 lead late in the second quarter.
Fenton coach Tim Anderson said his team fell victim to "superior firepower."
"They got off to a start and we got frustrated," Anderson said. "They shot real well. We know what Sam's going to bring, but the rest of the team shot extremely well."
The Lancers shot 56 percent from the field as all 11 players scored.
Arnold led the winners in scoring with 13 points on the way to receiving all-tourney honors.
Fellow all-tourney selection Devin Johnson made all 5 of her field-goal attempts on the way to 11 points for the Lancers. Teammate Lynsey Ciezki added 8 points.
Fenton (2-3) received a game-high 17 points from all-tourney pick Samantha Rubright. The junior forward shot 8 of 14 from the field.
Lake Park had to settle for second thanks to a 54-50 loss to Hoffman Estates on Nov. 17.
"That won't go away for a long time," Smith said.
Smith was asked what the second-place plaque she was holding looks like.
"It's ugly," she joked. "It says 'second' on it."
-- Dave Miller
Wheaton Academy 41, Rosary 39: Judging by the way the Warriors were cheering after Saturday's game, one could tell they were happy with third place after topping the Royals at Geneva's Thanksgiving tournament.
"I'm really proud of the way the girls played," Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell said. "This was a great win for us."
Throughout the entire game, neither team led by more than 6 points. There were 9 ties, with the final one arriving at 39-39 with 1:47 remaining in the game after Rosary's Katie Eckberg's second consecutive putback.
The Royals (4-2), however, would not score again, as Kristine Egebrecht's bucket with 35.6 left in the game would eventually turn into the game-winner for the Warriors (3-2).
Alexa Sharkey, who led all scorers with 13 points, also had a key steal with less than five seconds in the game. She finished with 4 steals and also made the all-tournament team.
"Our defense really helped us tremendously down the stretch," Mitchell said. "We did a good job of switching things up."
Rosary was able to get one final shot off, but the 3-point attempt hit the backboard as the buzzer sounded.
"We were very tentative, and I don't know why," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "We should have done much better."
The Royals were led by Victoria Alvarez, who finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Katie Petrando led all players with 12 rebounds to go with her 7 points and Faith Jones, who was selected to the all-tournament team, scored 7.
-- Christine Bolin
Queen of Peace 44, West Chicago 35:ŒWest Chicago coach Kim Wallner didn't mince words following her team's 44-35 loss to Queen of Peace in the Lyons Twp. Thanksgiving Tournament in Western Springs.
"They outplayed us, especially in the second quarter," Wallner said. "We are just not consistent with our play and didn't shoot the ball real well."
The Wildcats (0-5) tied the score at 9 early in the second quarter, but the Pride (3-2) pulled ahead for good by scoring 17 unanswered points. Queen of Peace guard Tammy Taylor had a pair of buckets during that stretch and finished with a game-high 15 points. West Chicago shot 1 of 12 from the field in that quarter and trailed 26-10 at halftime.
Despite the early struggles the Wildcats played good defense in the third quarter and held the Pride to only 4 points. However, they weren't able to get the job done on the other end of the court, scoring only 8 points. Forward Lindsey Johnston did have a nice offensive board putback and guard Rachel Jefferson hit a jump shot after a steal. Johnston and center Chrissie Rovtar led the team with 8 points.
West Chicago got a solid contribution off the bench from sophomore point guard Katie Staiton. She saw more playing time while filling in for starter Kayla Radloff, who had a sore back.
Staiton scored all 7 of her points in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats pulled within single digits thanks to some turnovers created by a full-court press.
"Take nothing away from West Chicago," said Queen of Peace coach Rick Federici. "They could have folded the tent and gone home. They played hard until the end."
-- Brian Pitts
Waubonsie Valley 63, West Aurora 51:ŒEmily Collins and Danielle Brown each scored 18 points and Erin Decker added 11 for Waubonsie Valley (5-0), which captured the WarHawk Tournament title.
The Warriors led 21-15 after one quarter, 36-27 at the half and 52-40 after three quarters.
Collins also pulled down 10 rebounds.
Glenbard West 45, Downers North 28:ŒGlenbard West (3-3) rode a game-high 19 points from Kathryn Lux to a third-place showing in Glenbard East's Rachel Bach Memorial Thanksgiving Tournament.
Abby Hastings contributed 13 points for the Hilltoppers, who took a 37-17 cushion into the final quarter.
Missy Blazej's 12 points paced Downers North (2-3).
Glenbard North 51, Addison Trail 31:ŒMegan Ney's game-high 18 points lifted the Panthers (1-5) to their first victory and a fifth-place finish in the Glenbard East tournament.
Amoni Reynolds chipped in 9 points for Glenbard North, which used a 16-9 second quarter to go into intermission with a 25-18 advantage.
Addison Trail (2-5) received 14 points from Erika Spear.
Trinity 63, Naperville Central 49:ŒTrinity held leads of 19-12 after one quarter, 33-22 at halftime and 51-34 after three quarters in the title game of the Tip-Off Tournament at Naperville Central.
The winners drained 10 3-pointers and made 9 of 11 free throws.
Kelley Hendrick's 11 points and Katie Atwood's 10 led Naperville Central (4-1).
Hinsdale Central 53, Hinsdale South 24:ŒThe Red Devils (5-0) completed their dominating run through the Hinsdale South tourney powered by Allison Pilcher's 14 points.
Madison Whitley and Molly Kinsella chipped in 11 apiece for Hinsdale Central, which jumped ahead 15-5 in the first quarter and held a 25-10 lead at halftime.
Chloe Harris finished with 13 points for Hinsdale South (3-3).
Neuqua Valley 50, York 44:ŒNeuqua Valley (5-1) used balanced scoring to win and earn a second-place finish in the Hinsdale South tournament.
Erica Gittens scored 10 to lead the Wildcats. Katie Medvec, Courtney Palicka and Beth Goldberg added 8 apiece.
Courtney Owens dropped in a game-high 19 for York (2-3).