Confidence serves Jacobs in win over VH
Jacobs girls basketball coach Ed Haugens says the thing his team needs most is confidence.
A few more games like Monday night's against Vernon Hills and the Golden Eagles will have plenty of it.
The Golden Eagles scored 24 points in the first quarter and cruised to a 58-35 nonconference victory over the Cougars in Algonquin.
"That was probably has been our best quarter," Jacobs senior Markie Rahn said. "Hopefully we come out with the same intensity every game from here on out."
With the game tied at 4-4, Jacobs (4-4) hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to spark a 13-0 run. Rahn got the run started with a 3-pointer from the right corner. Maria Tamburrino and Sam Vojtsek followed with 3-pointers. Tamburrino added a short jumper and Rahn hit a baseline jumper to finish the run and give the Golden Eagles a 17-4 lead.
"They were obviously hitting threes. To their credit, they nailed open jump shots," Vernon Hills Paul Brettner said. "We should at least contest those a little bit. We didn't necessarily do a very good job there."
The Cougars (4-6) got the deficit into single digits by scoring the next 4 points. But Tamburrino hit another 3-pointer to quickly increase Jacobs' lead back to 11, 20-9, with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter. The Golden Eagles led 24-10 after the first quarter and their lead never fell below 14 the rest of the game.
Jacobs went 9-for-18, including going 4-for-5 from behind the arc, in the opening quarter.
"We talked about attacking offensively," Haugens said. "The girls did a nice job of attacking the basket, finding the open people and taking good shots."
The Golden Eagles couldn't keep up the scoring pace in the final three quarters, but they did keep up the aggressive defense. Vernon Hills shot 13-for-51 from the field and committed 17 turnovers.
Amy Burton led the Cougars with 12 points.
Rahn led all scorers with 18 points, all in the first three quarters. Tamburrino added 12 points, 10 in the first quarter, and 7 rebounds. Katy Cook had 11 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.
"The girls need to know how good they can be," Haugens said. "I think when we do stuff like this, it builds their confidence."