Kaneland learning to finish

The Kaneland girls basketball team won back-to-back games for the third consecutive time this season with Western Sun Conference wins against Yorkville and Rochelle last week.

The Knights played well as a team, had balanced scoring and were able to finish their games, something they've struggled with at times throughout the season.

"(Winning) is definitely awesome and it feels great, but we should have finished the other games," Kaneland senior Lesley Winslow said after the Yorkville game. "We've been practicing with the coaches with finishing games, so that's helped a lot."

The win against Yorkville snapped a 4-game losing streak. The win 51-37 win against the Hubs avenged an earlier-season loss by the same score. Kaneland is 8-15 overall, 3-9 in the conference.

"It's a big weight off our shoulders," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "We played pretty well (against Yorkville) … in prior games, we would have been looking around, but (against Yorkville), there was a calmness."

Against the Foxes, Winslow, who usually starts, did not. She came off the bench to score 7 of her 11 total points in the fourth quarter, when the Knights needed it most.

"We went to a different lineup because we wanted to play a little different defense and trap them early," Colombe said. "Les said earlier she was comfortable coming off the bench, and I thought that was mature for her. She's a mature kid. When she came in, she did all the small stuff. She looked confident out there."

Rosary:ŒEven though the Royals won both Suburban Catholic Conference games last week against Immaculate Conception and St. Francis, they weren't exactly thrilled with the way they played, especially against the Spartans in their 59-46 win.

"I don't think we played like a No. 1 seed," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said.

The Class 3A Royals are the top seed in the Yorkville regional. They are ahead of Oswego, Sandwich, Yorkville and IMSA. This regional feeds into the Rochelle sectional, which will take on the winner of the Kaneland regional.

Still, Rosary is just fine with its 18-5 overall and 10-2 conference records. They take on rival Aurora Central Catholic today.

"We are pretty happy, but we think we could be doing better," senior guard Faith Jones said. "But overall, we are happy. We can't complain."

Aurora Christian: When Lauren Heck, the Eagles' leading scorer who averages 16 points, graduates, who will step in?

"We definitely have other people on the team who can score," Aurora Christian senior Casey Smar said.

Smar was referring to junior Rachel Mertens, who is second on the team (and ninth in the Tri-Cities Area) in scoring at 10.2 points per game. She's also first on the team and second in the area in steals (4.1 spg) and fifth in assists (3.2 apg).

Heck has led the way in scoring for most of the games this year, but Mertens has had her days as the leader as well.

"(Rachel Mertens) has that mentality (to score) and is really growing in that area," Aurora Christian coach Dan Stone said.