Warriors shake off Chicago Christian
A couple things were working against the Wheaton Academy girls basketball team heading into Friday night's Private School League game against visiting Chicago Christian.
The Warriors had plenty of time to become rusty thanks to a six-day layoff. Then they lost their starting point guard when Leah Fortune suffered a broken right thumb while playing soccer.
However, all they wound up doing was playing one their best games of the season. Wheaton Academy dominated Chicago Christian from the start in a 49-36 victory in West Chicago.
The Warriors (6-4, 2-1) led by as many 26 in the second half.
"It was probably one of the best games that we've played thus far this year," said pleased Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell.
Not that sophomore guard Alexa Sharkey ever lacks energy, but she had it in abundance in leading her team's full-court man defense and transition offense.
Not only did Sharkey record a game-high 19 points, but she made a whopping 9 steals.
"Yeah, I was kind of excited," Sharkey said. "I wanted us to get out on the court and play because we hadn't had a game in awhile, so I was just excited and pumped up. And because they're one of our rivals. Last year we lost to them in double overtime."
Wheaton Academy scored the game's first 7 points en route to taking a 15-2 lead sparked by Sharkey and backcourt mate Jenn Lee, who finished with 10 points and 5 steals.
The Warriors took a 27-10 lead into intermission, then scored the first 9 points of the second half.
Chicago Christian (9-4, 2-1) had difficulty dealing with the home team's quickness. The Knights committed 31 turnovers.
"We played poorly," Chicago Christian coach Brad Engbers said. "We let them dictate the speed of the game, and that's not what we wanted to do. We were turning the ball over and even when we'd break their press we'd throw the ball away."
"I just thought we executed everything well offensively and defensively," Mitchell said. "Our ball pressure really gave them problems in the full-court press."
Mitchell said Fortune is probably lost for the season.
"We were able to execute without her being on the floor, but her energy and her passion for the game is irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned," Mitchell said. "The kids just stepped up."
-- Dave Miller
Montini 50, Rosary 40:ŒSometimes it's how you start, not how you finish.
Montini used that strategy to its advantage against host Rosary.
The Broncos stifled Rosary's offensive attack, out-rebounded the Royals and used their inside game to defeat the hosts 50-40 in Suburban Catholic Conference play.
"We just got after it. We went a little bit smaller and we pressured them," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "Tonight was more of a matchup thing. We started a little bit bigger, but then we spread it out and let our guards do some things and we let Michala (Johnson) work in the post. The key was forcing turnovers."
After Montini fell behind by four points, it responded quickly by forcing 7 turnovers and putting together a 15-2 run on baskets from Whitney Holloway, Johnson, Kiki Wilson, Chrissy Fletcher and Whitney Adams to pull ahead 15-6 with 1:52 left in the first quarter. The Broncos then held Rosary without a field goal until the 1:55 mark of the second quarter, a Jordan Rettig jumper, and led 31-19 at halftime.
"We had too many turnovers and you can't do that against a solid team like (Montini)," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "They've got too many weapons and they made us pay. The start was nice, but we kind of went to sleep and they took advantage."
Montini built its lead to as much as 17 points at 39-22 after a Johnson layup with 3:01 left in the third, but Rosary didn't give up. The Royals fought their way back to cut the lead to 9 twice in the fourth quarter after free throws from Victoria Alvarez and Faith Jones, but Montini held off the rally to earn the victory.
"I don't think we got lazy, we just picked up stupid fouls and sent them to the line (toward the end)," Nichols said. "We rushed our shots too much. We weren't lazy (because) our kids played hard, but they kept fighting."
Montini outrebounded Rosary 30-18, including 16-8 in the first half and forced 26 turnovers on the Royals. Johnson led the Broncos with 17 points and Holloway finished with 10 as the only other player to finish in double figures for Montini. Alvarez led Rosary with 12 points.
"We had too many mental lapses," Beebe said. "You can't do that against a team ranked in the state. We need to work on taking care of the basketball, staying aggressive and taking it to the basket. We can't score if we don't at least drive once in a while."
Montini improves to 6-4 overall and 3-0 in conference while Rosary falls to 8-4 and 4-1.
-- Kevin Shepke
Glenbard South 46, DeKalb 23:ŒGlenbard South was full of defensive surprises.
The host Raiders, switching quickly from their "tang" or 1-2-2 defense to an aggressive switching man-to-man, befuddled inexperienced DeKalb and catapulted Glenbard South to a 46-23 Western Sun Conference victory.
"Our tang defense was effective tonight," said Glenbard South point guard Jess Muniz. "But we have a lot of trust in everyone's ability to cover her person when we switch to man. We haven't been converting on offense, but tonight we passed the ball well and had a good fastbreak."
The Raiders (9-3, 3-2) held the Barbs (3-9, 2-3) to single digits in every quarter, including a fourth quarter in which DeKalb failed to score from the field.
"We threw different looks at them," said Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda. "We made the zone look like a man-to-man and they were forced to adjust. In the second half our defense did a great job of keeping the ball out of the post."
The Raiders, whose only conference losses were in close games to Batavia and Geneva, were sparked on offense by Alicia Engelhardt with 14 points and Nikki Simpson, with 12, including a pair of 3-pointers..
"Our offense kept them stressed the entire game," Engelhardt said. "I have to credit our guards with giving me amazing passes."
In fact the crisp passing was the key to the Raiders' attack, as they registered 16 assists on 19 baskets, with Danielle Pipal dishing out 7 assists.
"We did a great job of driving and dishing," Fonda said. "We got the ball inside and Alicia was great around the basket, and that opened up the perimeter game. Danielle sees the court so well. She knows the offense so well and sees things developing before they happened. Our transition game was also strong."
Fonda is encouraged that her team was able to recover so well from each loss by following it up with an impressive win.
"As a team we bounce back well, especially from that overtime loss last week," Fonda said. "I was pleased with how focused they were when they came out tonight."
Glenbard South led 26-18 at halftime, as the Barbs, who were missing some key players due to illness and injury, battled them on the boards before the intermission.
Then a 6-point run on three baskets by Engelhardt in the second minute of the third quarter gave the Raiders a commanding 32-18 lead.
"Glenbard South did a nice job of switching defenses," said DeKalb coach Debbie Whitman. "But we just didn't play well. We just have to play through the adversity. Sometimes we look like we're making strides and then we have games like tonight where we take a few steps back."
-- Neil Shalin
Addison Trail 45, Morton 31:ŒJen Schulmeister poured in 21 points and Erika Spear scored 15 to lead the Blazers (3-10, 1-4) to their first victory in the West Suburban Gold. The winners jumped ahead 15-6 in the first quarter and later pulled away with a 13-6 fourth quarter.
Driscoll 57, IC 22:ŒDriscoll (8-1, 2-1) rolled in Suburban Catholic Conference action behind Courtney Lindfors' 12 points, Gigi DiGrazia's 11 and Bridget Delboccio's 10. The Highlanders made seven 3-pointers with Delboccio canning three of them.
Glenbard West 41, Proviso West 31:ŒKathryn Lux netted 13 points to lead the Hilltoppers (6-6, 3-1) to a West Suburban Silver victory. Abby Hastings and Nicole Hazemi chipped in 10 points apiece in the win.
Fenton 44, Ridgewood 12:ŒBrittany Potenza scored a game-high 12 and Samantha Rubright added 10 points for the Bison (5-6, 2-2) in their Metro Suburban Conference victory.
St. Francis 57, Aurora Central 34:ŒSt. Francis (5-6, 1-4) earned its first win in the Suburban Catholic Conference behind Alex Morris' game-high 12 points. Cara DiBona hit three 3-pointers for 9 points for the Spartans, who led 19-5 after one quarter and 30-13 at halftime.
Timothy Christian 43, Lisle 38:ŒTimothy Christian (6-5) recovered from a 12-5 deficit in the first quarter to win the nonconference contest. Katie Dirkse's 8 points topped a balanced scoring effort. Sara Urban scored 19 and Liz Todd added 12 for Lisle (5-8).
Proviso East 73, Willowbrook 56:ŒProviso East (8-2, 4-0) held a 25-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter on the way to posting a West Suburban Gold win. Willowbrook (6-6, 2-2) received 11 points from Colette Williams and 10 from Angela Domin.
Oak Park 53, Downers North 48:ŒOak Park rallied for a West Suburban Silver triumph by outscoring the home team 19-11 in the fourth quarter. Missy Blazej's 17 points paced Downers North (5-6, 2-3).