Defensive intensity helps Fenton sink Larkin
Nothing in basketball pays quick dividends quite like a swarming, helter-skelter defensive effort that gets an opponent coughing up turnovers.
"That's what we like to do. That's our game," said Fenton's Brittany Potenza.
Fenton topped Larkin 53-42 in Bensenville on Monday, building a 29-13 halftime lead by getting steal after steal from the likes of Tricia Chiamas, Mia Sansone, Samantha Rubright, Stephanie Pingel and Potenza.
"It took us until the fourth quarter to finally do what we were telling them to do the whole game," Larkin coach Amy Silverman said of her squad. "We were not handling their pressure well. We kept trying to dribble through it."
"We're just finally figuring it out, offensively and defensively, what works for us," Fenton coach Tim Anderson said of his squad. "That may have been our best overall team effort."
Fenton led 14-7 after a quarter, with Chiamas scoring 7 points, and Larkin turnovers translating into Fenton points. Fenton (13-9) outscored Larkin 15-6 in the second quarter, and the Royals (3-15) had committed 15 turnovers by halftime.
"It's second nature now," Chiamas said of her team's scrambling defense. "Everyone knows where to be, and (Larkin) kept kind of pushing it to the same side, and we picked up on it."
Their aggressive and fast defensive play ran counter to the calm, cool, and collected offensive effort put forth by the Bison. With the composed guard play of Sansone and Chiamas leading the way, Fenton ran its half-court sets with patience throughout the contest.
"We've gone back to some old standards, offensively," Anderson said. "But they've bought into it. It's a little more controlled, but maybe that's what we need."
Fenton's Brittany Potenza found a hot hand at the start of the third quarter, and buried a bevy of 15-foot jump shots on the way to scoring 10 of her game-high 16 points.
"I've been working on my shot and it's finally starting to fall," Potenza said. "I just got it and let it ride."
"We try to get our kids shots from the elbow, or the top of the key, and (Potenza) has the best touch from the elbow," Anderson said. Rubright and Chiamas each scored 10 points, and Sansone netted 7 on the night.
Larkin finally began solving Fenton's pressure late, getting it into the frontcourt and dumping it into Sophie Sterricker, who scored 8 of her 15 points in the final quarter.
"Our middle started to come out higher," Silverman said. "We finally started handling that pressure, but by then it was too late."
Larkin was without leading its leading scorer, senior Alyssa Burns, who had to sit out the game after being whistled for two technical fouls and being ejected from the Royals' game at Bartlett on Saturday.
Lindsey Casebeer scored 10 points for the Royals, and Jennifer Koch scored 9 points on a trio of 3-pointers.