Wrap-up: Kaneland, Wagner beat Glenbard S.
Kaneland was looking for a spark in its Western Sun Conference opener at home against Glenbard South.
Nick Wagner was just the man for the Knights' boys basketball team.
After starting the Knights' four Thanksgiving games, the senior was the first man off the bench Tuesday night in Maple Park.
"Just trying to mix things up a little bit," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said.
The senior scored on a putback at the first-half buzzer, and the Knights would never relinquish the lead again in their 52-47 victory over the Raiders.
Kaneland is 2-3 overall, 1-0 in the league; Glenbard South fell to 2-2, 0-1.
After converting the last of his 8 first-half rebounds to give Kaneland a 25-24 lead entering the break, there were two critical elements to the Knights' second-half performance.
The first came in the opening two minutes of the third quarter when Kaneland, which missed all 9 of its 3-point attempts in the first half, canned 3 of 4 from beyond the arc when the Raiders began the third in a zone.
"They looked like they were struggling from the field, and we decided to switch things up," said Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke. "They caught fire."
Three-pointers from Wagner, Ryley Bailey and Steve Colombe resulted in a 34-28 lead for the Knights, but the Raiders responded behind center Andy Manson.
The senior had a personal 6-point run for Glenbard South to keep the Knights' suddenly potent perimeter game in check.
Glenbard South climbed within 2 on a Dennis Bolton rebound conversion, but Kaneland would then lay the groundwork for the most critical run of the game.
Back-to-back field goals from Danny Arnold and Dave Dudzinski extended the Knights' lead to 40-33 late in the third, and Wagner started the final quarter as he began the second half.
Draining his second 3-pointer of the game as the centerpiece of his game-high 16-point night, Wagner launched a 7-0 burst in the first three minutes of the fourth to give Kaneland its largest lead of the game at 47-35.
"(Wagner) was all over the floor," Hansen said. "It was nice to see him out there playing like that."
The Wagner heroics, which included a game-best 11 rebounds, were needed as the Knights' other senior leader, point guard Kevin Green, left the game with a separated shoulder.
"We are so young," Hansen said.
Dudzinski, the Knights' imposing 6-foot-9 force inside, complemented Wagner with 15 points and 10 rebounds while holding Manson, who led Glenbard South with 13 points, scoreless in the fourth quarter.
"They wanted it more from the get-go," Hardtke said. "We struggled from the field."
Chase Madigan buried three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points for Glenbard South.
-- Kevin McGavin
Willowbrook 56, Sandburg 55: Willowbrook outscored Sandburg 17-5 in the fourth quarter to take third place at the Lemont-Stagg Thanksgiving Classic. Milton Colbert led the way with a game-high 25 points, and Kyler Market scored 16 for Willowbrook (3-1).
Glenbard West 48, Hinsdale South 43: In the West Suburban Conference crossover, visiting Glenbard West (3-1) outscored the Hornets 20-8 in the fourth quarter. Chris Watt scored 15 for the Hilltoppers and John Shurna, playing his first game of the season after a thumb injury, added 12 points. Devin Smith scored 20 points for Hinsdale South (3-1).
Bolingbrook 49, Neuqua Valley 46: Hosting the nonconference game in Naperville, Neuqua Valley (3-2) got 12 points from Derek Raridon and 11 apiece from Anton Wilkins and T.J. Jordan.
Downers Grove North 64, Addison Trail 53: Wesley Love's 20 points and 15 from Deon Thomas led Downers North (4-0) in the West Suburban Conference crossover. The Trojans made 27 of 33 free throws. Host Addison Trail (0-4) got 19 points from Matt Davies, 12 from Ian Horvath and 10 from Vince Noworyta.
Timothy Christian 58, Immaculate Conception 56: In a nonconference battle of Elmhurst schools, host Timothy Christian (5-1) led 23-10 after a quarter and hung on. Andrew Logan hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points, and Joel Sytsma added 12 points. Matt Purdom scored 18 to lead IC (2-2).
Girls basketball
St. Charles East 53, West Chicago 42:ŒYouth is being served this year at St. Charles East and West Chicago, where the schools' girls basketball teams are full of underclass and inexperienced bodies.
Both squads have had difficulty finding their way in the early days of the season, though based on Tuesday's nonconference performance, St. Charles East is on the way toward figuring some things out.
The Saints defeated the Wildcats 53-42 to improve to 2-4. West Chicago dropped to 0-6.
"The first quarter was a little shaky," St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said, "but I thought they did a really nice job tonight."
Both teams tried to do things defensively to shake up things. St. Charles East shifted from its man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone in the second quarter and West Chicago struggled to come to terms with the setup.
"It's such a young team, we keep telling them that you have to take it quarter by quarter," Drumtra said. "You can't be thinking about the fourth quarter in the first quarter. You go and try to win that first quarter and then move on."
The Saints' biggest margin of victory in any quarter was 15-5 in the second quarter. In that period St. Charles East dealt effectively with West Chicago's full-court press.
"They did some nice things getting over the top," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "We got caught a little too far up sometimes. But we also got some good things out of it, so it's a give and take."
St. Charles East junior Natasha Lalos got loose for 16 points.
"We had kind of a slow start, but it feels good to get another win under us," Lalos said. "We struggled a little in the first quarter, but afterward we started to work together."
Lalos scored steadily through the game, but she scored 7 of her team's 11 third-quarter points.
"My teammates were finding me really well down the floor on our breakaways," Lalos said. "I had some good passes too."
Given a chance to seal the game at the free-throw line, the Saints were deadly and converted 12 of 13.
"That's good to see because we haven't done that well in that area in the past," Drumtra said. "Those a.m. free throws are paying off, though they'll hate to hear that."
Jamie Rust added 11 points for the Saints.
Sophomores Jessica Baids had 9 points and Katie Staiton 8 points to lead West Chicago in scoring.
"This is such a young group," Wallner said. "You saw that out there when they switched to the 1-3-1. That kind of stymied us."
While the Saints performed well at the free-throw line, West Chicago struggled, hitting 4 of 14 free throws.
"No, we didn't lose it there, but we were 0 for 7 in the second half," Wallner said. "That could have maybe crept us closer."
The closest West Chicago got in the second half was a 5-point deficit with the ball early in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats turned over the ball and St. Charles East responded with a 6-point run.
-- Darryl Mellema
St. Charles North 43, York 38:ŒLike a bad cold, St. Charles North had problems shaking its opponent.
Overcoming shaky ballhandling, subpar free-throw shooting and a stubborn bunch of York underclassmen, the North Stars (4-2) held on for a 43-38 nonconference victory in St. Charles.
Fresh from a 2-2 finish at the prestigious Whitney Young tournament over Thanksgiving break, St. Charles North played inspired basketball at the outset.
Junior center Kelsey Smith, who led all players with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, hit her first three shots and tallied 8 points during the North Stars' 9-0 run in the opening five minutes.
Senior guard Nika Sircher took over in the second quarter, scoring 7 of her 8 points in the period -- including back-to-back steals that resulted in a pair of layups, which pushed the North Stars to a 20-11 halftime advantage.
"I thought we came out in the first half and played pretty well, especially with our defensive pressure," Smith said. "In the second half we didn't execute as well."
After misfiring on 12 of their 13 first-quarter shots and all 7 of their 3-point attempts in the opening half, the Dukes (2-4) suddenly found the range in the third quarter.
Three-pointers by freshman guard Meryl Cripe and junior forward Courtney Owens, and a steal and layup from Stefanie Matsas helped the Dukes pull within a point at 22-21 with 2:45 left in the third quarter.
But every time York got close, St. Charles North answered.
Sophomore point guard Kiley Hackbarth converted back-to-back layups to help the North Stars extend their lead to 30-24 after three quarters.
York's Brianne Graunke, who missed her team's first 3 games with an elbow/wrist injury, netted 8 of her team-high 14 points in the final period. Her 3-pointer from the far wing closed the gap to 34-31 with 5:33 remaining.
But the North Stars, who committed 8 of their season-high 24 turnovers in the third quarter and made just 6 of 15 free-throw attempts for the contest, countered with 6 unanswered points to finally put the game out of reach.
"We need to work on our consistency," said North Stars coach Katie Sauber. "It's hard for me to understand how we go from one extreme to another.
"We've got to take care of the ball. When we go up against some other teams, every turnover is going to count for two points at the other end."
York coach Ken Dowdy was pleased with his team's perseverance.
"After halftime I thought the defensive intensity was outstanding," Dowdy said.
However, the cold start proved costly.
"When you go up against a team that's ranked in the top 20 and has a player in the middle like Kelsey (Smith), I think there's an element of intimidation."
-- Craig Brueske
Glenbard South 64, Kaneland 52:ŒDanielle Pipal's 17 points led the Raiders (7-1, 1-0), who outscored Kaneland in every quarter in their Western Sun Conference opener.
Maja Despot added 13 points and Alicia Engelhardt chipped in 12 in the win.
Fenton 63, Ridgewood 43:ŒSamantha Rubright rang up 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Tricia Chiamas scored 15 and handed out 4 assists to power Fenton (3-3, 1-0) to victory in its Metro Suburban Conference opener.
The Bison made 9 of 10 free throws.
Hinsdale Central 54, Proviso West 25:ŒThe Red Devils (6-0, 1-0) led 16-3 after one quarter and 34-7 at halftime of their opening game in the West Suburban Silver.
Allison Pilcher notched a game-high 12 points and Toni Kokenis scored 11 in the victory.
Hinsdale South 53, Leyden 22:ŒThe Hornets (4-3, 1-0) cruised to a West Suburban Gold win behind Teresa McDonald's 12 points and Chloe Harris' 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Hinsdale South saw 10 players score.
Nazareth 57, Timothy Christian 45:ŒNazareth pulled away to a Private School League win with a 21-12 fourth quarter.
Timothy Christian (3-2, 0-1) received 15 points from Shannon McNeil, 13 by Lindsay VanderBrug and 10 from Katie Dirkse.