Wrap: Rosary dumps Wave in SCC

Senior Night turned into rebounding night for Rosary's girls basketball team Thursday night.

Rebounding from a 13-12 first-quarter deficit, the Royals outscored St. Edward 41-16 over the middle two quarters on their way to a 66-47 Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball triumph in Aurora.

While securing a second-place finish in the SCC with the victory, the Royals also decisively won the rebounding battle, 50-26.

"Rebounding was the thing that we missed the most tonight on both ends of the floor," said Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson. "They were getting too many second-chance shots. We were getting one look at the basket and we were done."

Trailing 15-12 in the opening seconds of the second quarter, the Royals responded with a 21-2 run to take control of the game.

"I thought we went out with a lot of excitement and then we were just like, 'now we really have to get back to business,'" said Kylie Schalz, one of five Rosary seniors playing their final regular-season game on their homecourt.

Victoria Alvarez (10 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals) and Jordan Rettig (game-high 20 points, 10 rebounds) combined for 14 second-quarter points as the Royals grabbed a 33-19 halftime advantage.

"In the second quarter, I really thought we picked it up a bit," said Royals coach Dave Beebe. "And in the third quarter, we went on a nice run to put it away."

After a 3-point play from Katie Yohn (14 points) and Kelly Knott's 3-point basket helped the Green Wave (10-11, 6-7) whittle the deficit to 41-29 midway through the third quarter, the Royals scored 12 unanswered points to expand their lead to 53-29 heading into the final period.

In addition to Rettig and Alvarez, seniors Faith Jones and Colleen Van Bogaert reached double figures with 13 points apiece, while Schalz added 6 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

"My main thing this season has been trying to get as many rebounds as I can," said Schalz, the Royals' leading rebounder for the season. "That's what I try to do as a senior."

"The most important thing for us tonight was not to let the whole Senior Night festivities thing get to us," said Jones. "We just needed to relax and calm down."

In the process, the Royals (20-5, 12-2) also tied a school record with their 20th victory.

"We tied it and we've still got Plainfield (Central) next week with regionals and sectionals, too," said Beebe.

"I was really happy for the seniors. You couldn't have asked for a much better game than this."

Celeste Von Ahnen led St. Edward with 18 points and 8 rebounds.

Boys basketball

Burlington Central 84, Marengo 53: Mike McCurdy hit for 32 points as the Rockets (14-5, 5-1) rolled over Marengo in the Big Northern East. Senior Jason Wagner (20 points) and Shane Larkin (14 points) also contributed to the victory.

Hampshire 59, Harvard 52: The Whip Purs (11-9, 5-2) defeated Harvard in the Big Northern East. T. J. Burzak led Hampshire with 19 points. James Goebbert also added 13 points to the board to help lead the Whip Purs to victory.

Girls basketball

Elgin Academy 41, Woodlands Academy 36: Elgin Academy (9-16, 5-7) defeated Woodlands Academy in the Independent School League. Bianca Swegler came ready in the second half as she posted 13 points for the Hilltoppers. Alyssa Pena also added 9 points while teammate Kyla Farquhar collected 7 points.

Stillman Valley 62, Burlington Central 47: In nonconference action the Rockets (16-8) fell to Stillman Valley. Melanie Laird (17 points) led Burlington Central. Cory Bazany followed with 16 points.

Hampshire 61, Harvard 30: Christine Schumacher and Alex Dumoulin each posted 10 points as the Whip Purs (17-7, 8-1) defeated Harvard in the Big Northern East. Cassie Dumoulin and Kelsey Watson added 8 points each for the Whips, who won for the seventh straight time and 12th in their last 13 games.

Huntley 61, Johnsburg 55:ŒKadie Lowery scored 15 points and Katie Bergquist added 13 to push Huntley past Johnsburg in the Fox Valley (Fox) Conference. Daisy Jara, Megan Martinez, and Shannon Callahan all added 6 points to keep Huntley (15-9, 5-2) hand Johnsburg its first conference loss.