ECC starts fast then cruises by Waubonsee
A quick start was all the Elgin Community College women's basketball team needed Thursday evening.
The Spartans jumped out to a 22-2 lead in the opening 5½ minutes and cruised the rest of the way to a 63-52 victory over Waubonsee Community College at the Spartan Events Center.
"We've been doing that a lot," Spartans coach Jerry McLaughlin said of the hot start.
De'Larissa Morris hit 2 free throws, Jamie Jara nailed a 3-pointer, Jessica Turnage added an old-fashion 3-point play and Ariana Topps hit a bucket in the opening 2 minutes as ECC (11-11, 4-4 ISCC) took a 10-0 lead.
Waubonsee got on the scoreboard with 17:40 left in the first half on Carliegh Pagoria's basket. Then the Spartans scored the next 12 points, increasing their lead to 22-2.
The Spartans continued to pour it on and another 10-0 run capped by a Cristin MacCarthy 3-pointer gave ECC a 33-9 lead with 8:30 remaining in the half.
Waubonsee (4-13, 1-5) cut the deficit to 16, 37-21, going into halftime. But the Chiefs couldn't regain the momentum after the break. ECC scored the first 7 points of the half, including Karin Herrera hitting one of her four 3-pointers. The advantage increased to 25, 48-23, after a Turnage offensive rebound and putback with 16:50 remaining.
The Chiefs didn't give up and went on a 22-5 run to cut the Spartans' lead to 8, 53-45, with 5:40 left. Herrera responded with a 3-pointer from the top of the key as ECC's lead never fell below 9 the rest of the game.
"The execution was lacking," Waubonsee coach Brad Snead said. "We missed so many open shots. We missed five or six uncontested layups, which is the difference."
"I wasn't really worried when it got to (8)," McLaughlin said. "It's like how much you want to win by. I was just like let's get out of here with a win."
Herrera and Topps each scored 15 points to lead ECC. Topps added 12 rebounds. Turnage finished with 11 points.
Ashley Jones' 14 points and 11 rebounds led Waubonsee. Theresa Pryor added 12 points and 10 rebounds.