Motivated Falcons win easily
West Chicago's misfortune was playing Wheaton North in the Falcons' first girls basketball game since their first DuPage Valley Conference defeat.
The Falcons weren't in the mood to be nice.
Wheaton North made sure of this game quickly, taking a convincing 56-26 victory Thursday in Wheaton and maintaining their hold on first place in the conference.
"Our girls, they were on a mission," Falcons coach David Eaton said. "We didn't play real well Saturday (a 63-56 loss to second-place West Aurora). We had a couple of turn of events here where we weren't real happy with how we were playing. Tonight they came out ready to go.
"I talked to them before the game about regaining their focus and regaining our intensity that we had at the beginning of the year -- I thought that had been lacking a little bit the last couple of games -- and they really came out with it today. They looked pretty strong."
The Falcons (15-6, 9-1) scored the first 16 points of the game and led 19-1 after a first quarter in which their full-court press produced 8 steals and allowed just 4 shots.
"That's the best I've seen us play defensively," Eaton said.
West Chicago (2-20, 1-9) didn't drain its first field goal until Quin Gable converted a three-point play at the 3:48 mark of the second quarter, making the score 28-5.
"We're not handling pressure right now," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "We've had that problem all year. We've been working a lot on that a lot in practice, so I thought we'd look a little bit better the second time around playing some of these teams, because in the first round we did not handle pressure real well. We've been working on it, and I was hoping I'd see a little bit of an improvement, but not tonight."
Allie Cerone led all scorers with 13 points, and Michelle Scandora added 8 points and 5 steals in limited playing time for the Falcons starters.
Both seniors said it was no problem finding motivation to play hard.
"That was a big loss for us," Scandora said. "After that loss it kind of just pumped us up to win the rest of the way."
"It definitely gave us the edge for this game, that's for sure," Cerone added.
-- Orrin Schwarz
West Aurora 70, Naperville North 60:After putting together an impressive 20-20 night, West Aurora's Kyra Watson was asked if she had ever before posted so many points and rebounds in the same girls basketball game.
She quickly replied something about 27 points and 23 rebounds last year against Naperville North and a monstrous 32-point, 25-rebound effort earlier this year, also against Naperville North. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the Blackhawks just so happened to be playing at Naperville North on Thursday night when Watson put up more big numbers, this time in a 70-60 win by West Aurora (16-6, 8-2).
"I love Naperville North," she said. "That's good (they don't seem to match up well). I love it."
With Watson making good on 4 shots in the first quarter, the visitors broke out to a 27-17 lead after a high-scoring opening quarter. The lead was 40-29 at the half as Watson had 9 points and 9 rebounds after two quarters.
But the 4-18 Huskies, who dropped to 3-7 in the DuPage Valley Conference with the setback, made a nice run at the Blackhawks in the third quarter, rallying to shave a 42-30 deficit down to 46-44 following a fastbreak bucket by the Huskies' Kaelyn Witkowski.
Witkowski scored 6 of her team-high 17 points during a 14-4 run that temporarily gave the Huskies all the momentum. Erica Schertz and Lauren Quinn each added putbacks for Naperville North during the streak. But following a Blackhawks timeout, Bri Tye and Tyronza McGowan each dropped in 3-pointers and Watson followed with a three-point play as West Aurora closed out the third quarter with a 9-0 run for a 55-44 lead that put the visitors back in control.
"I thought we had them frustrated," said Huskies coach Jay Wachtel, whose squad put a scare into the Blackhawks. "We had a ton of momentum, but they hit two 3s in a row, and then it seemed like we couldn't play through that adversity. We kept trying and we kept working hard."
Despite their efforts the Huskies just couldn't contain Watson or McGowan, who had 18 points and 5 steals. Schertz had 14 points and 11 boards for the Huskies.
"When we come here we struggle," Blackhawks coach Connie Siljendahl said of Naperville North. "They really hustle. Tonight they outhustled us."
But it is nice having Watson on your side.
"When somebody gets 20 rebounds a game…," Siljendahl said. "When she gets 12 or 13 she's depressed. Most people would be excited with that. She sets the bar so high."
Especially against the Huskies.
-- Stan Goff
Lake Park 62, Streamwood 31: According to 6-foot-4 Lake Park post player Samantha Arnold, Thursday night's contest at Streamwood was a must-win Upstate Eight Conference game for the Lancers.
That being said, Arnold did everything in her power to help the team to victory. Her double-double, which included a career-high 36 points and 14 rebounds, led Lake Park. The 36 points topped Arnold's previous best 33, set Tuesday night at Addison Trail.
"It felt good helping the team and hitting that mark, but more than anything it was a big team win for us," Arnold said.
The two teams got off to a fairly even start, exchanging baskets for the first four minutes of the play before Lake Park went on a 10-0 run to pull ahead 18-7 in the first quarter.
Scoring 17 of her career-high 36 points in the first quarter, Arnold accounted for every point in the 10-0 run.
"We got off to a good start," said Streamwood coach George Rosner. "Arnold got hot, and we could not stop her. She is one of the best post players out there and extremely difficult to defend.
"(Lake Park) did a very nice job of getting her open."
In addition to Arnold's efforts, Lake Park (16-6, 6-1) outrebounded the Sabres 15-6 in the first half.
"Our rebounding was phenomenal tonight," said Lancers coach Lisa Smith. "I was very pleased with our overall team performance. A lot of girls got some good quality playing time."
Streamwood (3-19, 0-7) put forth its strongest effort in the third quarter, rendering the Lancers scoreless for the first 5:30 and matching their first-half efforts on the boards with 6.
"The third quarter was a great quarter for us," Rosner said. "We gave Melissa some help, and we were able to frustrate Lake Park a bit."
But the Lancers didn't stay down long, concluding the third quarter on a 6-0 run, which they extended to a 19-0 run as the fourth quarter got under way.
"We came out of the locker room a little flat but bounced back and played a good fourth quarter," Arnold said.
Sarah Drozdowski came off the bench to contribute 8 points, 4 rebounds and a steal for Lake Park late, and Alyssa Stacy added 4 steals and 2 boards in the fourth quarter.
"We had a lot of goals we wanted to attain tonight," Smith said. "Streamwood always steps up and plays us hard, so I was pleased to see us reach a lot of those individual and team goals."
Streamwood's Krissy Kunavich went on a little tear of her own, scoring 5 straight for the Sabres in the fourth quarter to add to her team-high 11 points on the night. Melissa Oehlerking recorded 3 points and 5 rebounds, while Arielle Gallione scored 7 Sabre points.
"Right now, we lack consistency," Rosner said. "We can play some really good basketball, but you have to sustain it; especially against a great team like Lake Park."
-- Jen LaPorte
Wheeling 57, Buffalo Grove 49: Wheeling led 31-9 late in the first half of Thursday's Mid-Suburban League East Division showdown against Buffalo Grove.
But don't think for a second the Wildcats thought the game was over while playing in front of their home crowd of more than 2,000.
The hosts were well aware that they led 22-6 the first time the teams played at Buffalo Grove -- and they lost 43-34.
"We knew what happened that first game at their home," said Wildcats sophomore guard Janelle Cannon, who scored 23 points. "We played only two quarters. We had to come out and play to the end this time, and we did."
The Wildcats did it with a 57-49 victory as they maintained at least a 7-point lead throughout the third quarter.
They extended the advantage to 12 early in the fourth and then pulled out their first win over Buffalo Grove in the last five meeting to move into a first-place tie with the Bison in the East.
Both teams are 7-1, and Wheeling (22-3) can clinch its first appearance in the Mid-Suburban League title game by winning each of its final two conference games by 7 or more points.
Ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, Buffalo Grove (23-2) battled to within 5 points when Maggie Mocchi's layup made it 54-49 with 1:55 left.
With 1:44 left Loyola-bound Ellen Ayoub fouled out. Ayoub finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds.
Buffalo Grove had a chance to cut the lead to 5 when Kaitlin Hillner came up with a steal with 30 seconds left.
But Cannon stole the ball back at the other end of the floor, then came back for a driving 10-foot bank shot that made it 57-49 with 18 seconds left.
"We just did a better job on defense in the second half than we did the first time against them," said Purdue- bound Ashley Wilson, who added 15 points and 20 rebounds. "We had a few lapses in the second half, but we got it back and held our composure."
Ayoub and Maggie Mocchi each committed 4 fouls with 14 minutes left.
"Foul trouble has been getting the better of us," said Bison coach Tom Dineen. "And tonight it got us again.
"We put ourselves in the position to make it a one-possession game and then we turn the ball over."
Maggie Mocchi led the Bison with 17 points, while her twin sister, Allison, added 15.
Katie Lee came off the bench for Buffalo Grove and hit Buffalo Grove's first bucket of the fourth quarter.
But Wilson answered with a drive through the lane to make it 45-33.
-- John Leusch
Willowbrook 42, Rolling Meadows 29: Collette Williams scored 12 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter as Willowbrook (10-11) pulled away to the win in the Seasons End Tournament at Hersey.
Taylor Nelson drained three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points for the Warriors.
Coal City 50, Lisle 38:Colleen Drennan led Lisle (7-16, 6-3) in scoring with 14 points in its Interstate Eight Conference loss.
Coal City outscored the Lions 14-4 in the fourth quarter.
York 45, Downers North 33:Tom Judge poured in a game-high 19 points for the host Dukes (13-5, 5-1) in their West Suburban Silver Conference victory. Kameron Norton paced Downers North (7-12, 0-7) with 11 points.