Tigers remain right behind Falcons
West Aurora rode an 11-game winning streak into a Saturday afternoon girls basketball game at Wheaton Warrenville South and left with a disheartening 63-46 loss.
The Blackhawks (17-7, 8-3) have used their athleticism and aggressive play to emerge as one of the top teams in the DuPage Valley Conference. But the Tigers negated each of West Aurora's strengths and dominated virtually every aspect of the game, and in doing so they broke the teams' tie for second place in the DVC. The Tigers are one game behind first-place Wheaton North with three league games to play. The two rivals meet Feb. 5 on senior night at WW South.
"They're a great team, and we got into some foul trouble and then we started playing tentative," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said.
On the defensive end the Tigers jammed passing lanes and kept West Aurora's Kyra Watson from taking over.
"The big thing was that we only turned the ball over twice in the second half," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We took care of the ball and played defense."
When they had the ball, the Tigers refused to let West Aurora's swarming pressure get to them and used sharp passes to overcome the Blackhawks' quickness and create scoring chances in the paint.
Though the Blackhawks never got into a rhythm, Watson and Briannica Tye staked their team to a 13-7 lead after one quarter.
That was as good as it would get for West Aurora, as Maddy Close fueled Wheaton Warrenville South's second quarter surge. By halftime the West Aurora lead was down to 25-23.
"We knew they were going to come out with everything they had," Close, who led the Tigers with 14 points, said. "We had to pick up the intensity."
The Tigers headed into the locker room with momentum on their side, and any possibility that it might dissipate during the break was erased when Taylor Nieling opened the third quarter by draining a 3-pointer.
"We talk about the importance of balanced scoring," Kroehnke said. "It was good to see (Nieling and Sarah Langlas) stepping up for us."
Langlas went to work inside, and when Nieling closed out the quarter just as she had started it, Wheaton Warrenville South led 42-33.
"It was about not letting up, and every single player contributed to that," Langlas said. "This win is huge because it keeps us in the running in the DVC."
The Tigers (16-7, 9-2) refused to let up down the stretch, closing out the game with a 21-point fourth quarter.
Nieling and Langlas each scored 13, and Owens added 11.
Watson led all scorers with 15 points.
"Our players are young and sometimes they underestimate an opponent," Siljendahl said. "It was a struggle today."
-- Henry Perez
Wheaton North 59, Glenbard East 37:ŒWheaton North senior Allie Cerone stepped up yet again for the Falcons.
Cerone scored 8 points in the third quarter against Glenbard East, helping give her team a 16-point lead and an eventual 59-37 victory in Wheaton.
With her perimeter game taking a hit, the 5-foot-7 Cerone decided to become more aggressive by taking the ball to the rim.
"I wasn't hitting my outside shots at all, so I decided to take it in instead," said Cerone, who scored 13 points. "It helps when we move the ball really fast and when the girls all spread out."
The Falcons (16-6, 10-1 DuPage Valley Conference) began the game strongly, shooting out to an 11-2 lead behind a pair of Jamei Shin 3-pointers. Yet Glenbard East (8-15, 2-8) battled back, staging a 7-0 run of their own to head into the second quarter trailing 18-13.
The Rams' 13-point first quarter would be their only double-digit quarter of the night, though, as Wheaton North dug in its heels on defense.
According to Falcons coach David Eaton, Wheaton North's defense picked up once his team began focusing on Rams junior guard Kelsey Taylor.
"We concentrated on her and just really tried to do a good job of defending her and not letting her get off to a hot start," Eaton said.
"When she gets hot, she can cause a lot of teams some fits, so we wanted to take her out of it early."
Cerone caused some fits of her own in the third quarter, opening the game for the Falcons offense. Her 3-pointer with 5:07 in the third gave Wheaton North a 34-19 lead, its largest advantage to that point.
"With Allie hitting that 3, I thought that really jumped us in the third quarter," Eaton said. "She's the captain of this team; she's the point guard, so she runs the show, so she just took it on herself."
Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller credited the Falcons with taking their time on offense in the second half, as well as feeding the ball to senior forward Michelle Scandora, who led Wheaton North with 15 points.
"They're a tough team. They can definitely fire on all cylinders, but I thought we came out and didn't give up," Miller said. "Scandora is tough inside, both offensively and her rebounding."
With the win the Falcons remain in first place in the DVC by one game over WW South.
-- Matthew McClarey
Glenbard South 58, St. Francis 45:ŒIt took 3½ quarters for host Glenbard South to finally shake St. Francis, yet the Raiders had a sense all along that they would win Saturday's nonconference game in Glen Ellyn.
That's not to say the Spartans did not throw a few scares into the Raiders (16-7) before eventually falling 58-45. After all, St. Francis senior Shannon Phillips drilled 3 straight 3-pointers early in the contest as the visitors went ahead 13-10 just 4½ minutes into the game.
On top of that, after Glenbard South had built up double-digit leads for much of the afternoon, St. Francis (10-14) closed the gap to 38-35 late in the third quarter and got within 43-40 with just over six minutes left to play in the fourth following a 3-pointer by freshman Kelly Reinke.
"A lot of the girls know each other from playing together in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "We kind of let them back in a couple of times, but it was nice to see us step up and be passionate after they had their runs."
When Phillips' trio of 3s and a pair of baskets inside from Jennifer Eldridge staked the Spartans to an early lead, the Raiders closed the first quarter with a 10-0 run for a 20-13 lead. It was 33-25 Glenbard South at the half as Danielle Pipal tallied 9 points and Jess Muniz 6 in the first two quarters. But Jamie Stefely helped keep St. Francis close by scoring 7 of her 11 points off the bench before the break.
With the guard trio of Nikki Simpson, Muniz and Pipal each scoring in double figures -- along with 13 points and 6 rebounds from forward Alicia Engelhardt -- the Raiders seemed to take control of a Spartans team playing without ill point guard and team leader Catherine Culligan. But Reinke, who's learning about varsity basketball on the fly in Culligan's absence, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second half along with 4 free throws to finish with 13 points and help keep the visitors close until the end.
"Our freshman played well," St. Francis coach Leslie Fay-Dehn said. "With Culligan not here she's getting a lot of minutes. And as a team our kids are hitting a lot more shots."
But it was the Raiders who hit more shots, especially when it was time to answer a run by St. Francis. Additionally, Muniz and Pipal each had 3 steals, usually picking just the right time to swipe a Spartans pass and convert it to a quick basket on the other end.
"Our defense was big," Muniz said. "They had some runs, but we felt like we were in control."
-- Stan Goff
St. Charles North 66, Lake Park 50:ŒThere are quality wins, and there are impressive wins.
St. Charles North accomplished both during its 66-50 home triumph over Upstate Eight Conference foe Lake Park.
Not only did the North Stars (19-4) rely on a total team effort to gradually pull away from the Lancers (16-7, 6-2), they improved their conference record to 9-0 and helped set up a late-season showdown with co-leader Waubonsie Valley on Friday night in Aurora.
"This (win) puts us in a good position for Friday night," said North Stars coach Katie Sauber. "We have a lot of work to do obviously. Waubonsie is pretty solid, but it puts us in a nice spot."
Jumping out to a 15-4 start after the first six minutes left the North Stars in a nice spot against the Lancers.
Junior center Kelsey Smith, who led the North Stars with 27 points and 11 rebounds, scored 7 of her 9 first-quarter points during her team's early surge.
With guards Kiley Hackbarth, Anna Conrad and Nika Sircher looking to push the ball downcourt, the North Stars got quality looks at the basket.
"That's something we want to use to our advantage whenever we can," said Smith, who finished 11 of 20 from the field. "We work on our transition game pretty much every day."
The North Stars also came up with an interesting strategy while trying to defend Lake Park junior forward Samantha Arnold.
Despite giving up 10 inches to the 6-4 Arnold, Sircher took on the defensive assignment against the Lancers' leading scorer.
"We tried Kelsey on her last year (in a loss) and I didn't want to pull Kelsey away from the basket too much because of her rebounding," Sauber said. "We knew we were going to play extremely tight on Sam and that she was going to work really hard to get her points.
"And we knew if Nika was on her (Arnold) was going to try and post her up -- which was fine with us because when she turned to the middle, Kelsey was going to be there."
While Arnold poured in a game-high 29 points, 15 of those points in the fourth quarter after the North Stars had already built a 48-35 cushion.
"There was a huge height difference, but I was excited to play," Sircher said of the challenge. "I told coach Sauber before our game with Naperville North (Tuesday), 'I want to play her and I promise you I'll do the best that I can.'
"My nose is probably broken (from an inadvertent elbow) but that's OK."
St. Charles North, which led 32-23 at halftime, saw its lead trimmed to 7 late in the third quarter before junior Alex Messacar came off the bench to nail back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 53 seconds of the period.
"Those two 3s came at the best time -- nice job on her part," Sauber said. "Alex knows her job is to shoot and she did a good job of that tonight."
Sarah Drozdowski scored all 13 of her points in the first half for the Lancers.
"Today was St. Charles' day," said Lancers coach Lisa Smith. "I thought every player on their team had an impact, and unfortunately, not every player on our team had an impact.
"When you looked at the end of the first half, we only had two players score -- which is very unusual for us. I thought that hurt."
-- Craig Brueske
Hinsdale Central 47, Buffalo Grove 43:ŒEver since defeating Schaumburg in the championship game of the Wheaton North Christmas tourney, Hinsdale Central coach Steve Gross said his Red Devils have been a different team.
"Since then they realized if we play together and work hard together, we can play with the good teams," he said.
The Red Devils (24-1) showed they could play with the one of the best in the state.
Buffalo Grove (24-3), ranked No. 1 in Class 4A to start the week, came into its game with the Red Devils (24-1) undefeated in the Sweet Sixteen tourney at 4-0.
Hinsdale Central was 3-1.
But the DuPage County power was up to the challenge with a 47-43 front-running victory, meaning that Hinsdale Central, Maine West, Fenwick, Lake Zurich, Buffalo Grove and Schaumburg all finished with 4-1 records in the tourney.
Fenwick was awarded the title due to point differential among the tied teams.
Sophomore point guard Toni Kokenis led the Red Devils with 13 points while junior Katie Delaney added 10 and senior Molly Kinsella 8.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kokenis gave Hinsdale a 21-12 lead with 2:29 left in second quarter and Buffalo Grove never got closer than the final score.
"We knew they had great 3-point shooters," Kinsella said. "We couldn't give them any easy layups or 3-pointers. We didn't feel they could match up with us down low. So we were trying to get it inside."
Buffalo Grove was led by Maggie Mocchi's 16 points and 10 from Ellen Ayoub, who hit two 3-pointers in the final 29 seconds to help get the Bison close at the end.
"You've got to give (Hinsdale Central) credit," Ayoub said. "They played great defense and we didn't execute.
"Obviously, we've got to put this behind us and learn from it. Playing the good teams will only help us.
"Better to lose now than the regional or sectionals," Maggie Mocchi added. "Our last three games have been poor. We've got to recover. It's like we're a totally different team right now but I'm pretty confident we'll snap out of this funk."
Bison coach Tom Dineen said that junior guard Kaitlin Hillner was take to the hospital emergency room after suffering asthma problems in the first half.
"Hinsdale Central is good," Dineen said. "I knew coming here they were one of the best teams and they proved me right. They have a lot of weapons inside and out and are well-coached.
"This was not a good week for us. Yeah, we're a good team. But we have some weaknesses and they were exposed this week."
-- John Leusch
Bartlett 46, Streamwood 36:ŒIt was the old tale of two halves at Bartlett.
The host Hawks started off slow, scoring only 14 points in the first half against rival Streamwood.
But then freshman Jacki Gulczynski and senior Katie Koster took over, and the Hawks took a win away from the Sabres.
Gulczynski scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the final 16 minutes and Koster notched 10 of her 14 in that same time span as Bartlett came away with a 46-36 win over Streamwood in an Upstate Eight Conference game.
"We got yelled at at halftime and we needed it. We came out a lot harder in the second half," said Koster, Bartlett's only senior who is just now rounding into shape after missing much of the season with a knee injury.
Koster and the 6-foot Gulczynski were the perfect tandem to lead the Hawks (8-16, 4-4) to the come-from-behind victory.
Trailing 19-14 at halftime, Bartlett fell behind 28-20 after a basket by the Sabres' Melissa Oehlerking with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
But then, with Koster not only running the offense but also leading a stellar defensive effort, Bartlett went on a 13-0 run with Gulczynski scoring 9 of those points, and grabbed a 33-28 lead after a basket by Alexa Tovella with 54 seconds left in the period.
-- John Radtke
Driscoll 55, Willows Academy 39: The Highlanders won their 20th game of the season. Taylor Reaber scored 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, Courtney Lindfors had 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Gigi DiGrazia added 10 points in the nonconference game for the Highlanders (20-4).
Willowbrook 58, Leyden 23: Angela Domin had 13 points, 6 assists and 3 blocked shots as Willowbrook (11-12, 5-5) won easily in the West Suburban Gold. Sophomore Nicole Interrante came off the bench to score 8 points and grab 10 rebounds, and sophomores Danielle Muhlena and Krystle Eskridge each added 7 rebounds.
Neuqua Valley 60, South Elgin 57: Neuqua Valley weathered a 23-point South Elgin fourth quarter to win the Upstate Eight Conference game in Naperville. Viv Kindt led the Wildcats with 20 points, followed by Beth Goldberg with 13 and Katie Medvec with 11.
Glenbard North 46, West Chicago 35: Glenbard North's 23-11 first-half lead was the difference in the DuPage Valley Conference contest in Carol Stream. The Panthers' Megan Ney scored a game-high 14 points. West Chicago was led by Chrissie Rovtar with 9.
Wheaton Academy 52, Newark 47: Alexa Sharkey's 23 points led all scorers in the nonconference game in Newark, followed by Meghan Grant's 15 for Wheaton Academy (15-8). Sharkey also had 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.