Cannon fire helps Wheeling top Montini
The Wheeling girls basketball team has been playing without a Division I recruit, but you wouldn't have guessed it Monday night.
Janelle Cannon made sure of that.
The 5-foot-9 sophomore guard was a virtual one-girl wrecking crew in leading the Wildcats past Montini 57-46 in the 18th Annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park.
"She kind of took matters into her own hands," Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel said.
Cannon registered a triple double with a career-high 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals.
"We knew they were going to be tough so I came out playing my hardest to do anything to get this win," Cannon said. "After the first couple of times they ran the play I knew what they were doing so I kept reading their eyes and stealing the passes."
With Cannon creating all kinds of trouble for Montini's ballhandlers, Wheeling badgered the Broncos (16-5) into 23 turnovers.
"I told the kids that we should be embarrassed the way we played," said Montini coach Jason Nichols, whose club's winning streak ended at 13. "Today was not good."
Wheeling (20-3) played without Illinois-bound 6-foot-3 center Lana Rukavina, who's been sidelined by a concussion.
Montini used a 9-2 run capped by a Cootie Leeberg 3-pointer to take a 22-21 lead with 2:20 left in the second quarter.
But Wheeling closed the half with 11 unanswered points to claim a 32-22 advantage. Cannon converted back-to-back 3-point plays in the run.
The Wildcats led by as many as 18 in the second half.
Bianca Szafarowicz finished with 12 points and Ashley Wilson added 10 points and 9 rebounds for the winners.
Montini's Michala Johnson scored a team-high 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. The sophomore center also collected 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals.
Clearly the aggressor, Wheeling outscored the Broncos 20-1 from the free-throw line.
Wiegel deemed Rukavina's chances of returning for Thursday's Mid-Suburban East showdown against Buffalo Grove as "50-50."
"We'll see," Wiegel said. "Her health is more important than any one single game, especially with concussion-type symptoms. We just want to make sure she's ready."