Burlington Central blitzes Streamwood
Burlington Central's defensive and offensive schemes were about as slick as the roads they traveled to Streamwood for a 56-42 nonconference winter-wonderland win.
Alternating between man and a zone defense, the Rockets kept Streamwood on their toes, often dismissing the Sabres' attempts to get on top.
Streamwood led early responding to a Cory Bazany game-opening basket with six unanswered points to go up 6-2, but would trail for the remainder.
Bazany and sophomore guard Jordan Maisto (11 points, 7 steals) alternated offensive first quarter efforts to turn things around giving the Rockets a 15-10 lead.
"Jordan plays better than a sophomore," said Burlington coach Darlene Guyett. "She took care of the ball down the stretch when we needed her to, and hit some timely shots for us.
"Our post-play was another key."
After the first 16 minutes of play, it remained anyone's game as Streamwood trailed the Rockets 30-21 at halftime despite 13 first-half steals from Burlington.
The bulk of the Sabres' highlights came via freshman Emma Schmidt who led the team with 16 points.
"Anytime you get 16 points out of a freshman, it's great," said Sabre coach George Rosner. "Emma established herself as a force inside scoring 16. This was her most consistent game."
Burlington Central (5-3) started to pull away early in the second half scoring six points before Streamwood (0-7) had an opportunity.
Bazany, who led all scorers with 21 points, scored on a nice feed from Brianna Conran (3 points), and followed that with two more points off of a Streamwood turnover.
"We got off to a good start, but they got to us and we started turning the ball over," said Rosner. "I felt good at the half, but the third quarter was the turning point of the game."
When all was said and done, Streamwood had turned the ball over 28 times.
"We've got to handle the ball better," Rosner said. "The turnovers we are committing are fixable. We just need to put it together.
"Burlington has a couple of really nice players. They had three players scoring in double figures who they can count on in any game."
In addition to Bazany's big game, counter-part Melanie Laird added 13 points, 5 blocks, 2 steals and 7 rebounds to the Burlington attack.
For Streamwood, Danielle Cizowski contributed 6 points and Krissy Kunavich racked up 5 points. Melissa Oehlerking had a big day on the boards pulling down 7 rebounds.
"Streamwood played tough," said Guyett. "We like to face them because they have to compete in every match. They always give us a great nonconference contest.
"I was very happy with our overall performance, and was very pleased with our defense. Offensively, we are showing a ton of progress."
Geneva 57, Yorkville 45: Taylor Whitley paced Geneva with 19 points and 4 assists. Lauren Wicinski tallied 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. The Vikings improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the WSC.
Batavia 48, DeKalb 45: Natalie Tarter led all scorers with 21 points in the Bulldogs' WSC win in DeKalb.
Aurora Christian 54, Serena 51: Lauren Heck scored a game-high 28 points as the Eagles (5-4) beat Serena in Aurora. Rachel ŒMertens added 13 points and 9 assists.
Men's basketball
Waubonsee's Walker Wins Region IV Award: Waubonsee Community College's Johnny Walker has been named the NJCAA Region IV Division II District B Player of the Week for his performances in the Chiefs' two games during the last week of November.
Walker (West Aurora) led the Chiefs to an 88-60 blowout victory over College of DuPage and a 73-66 triumph over the Trinity International University Junior Varsity.
Against DuPage, Walker made all nine of his field goals and scored 24 points. He also grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, and recorded 3 steals. In the win over Trinity, Walker grabbed 8 more boards, totaled 5 steals, and hit a pair of 3-pointers, scoring 14 points.