Geneva romps in opener against Lakes

A 75-point effort was a great way for the Geneva girls basketball team to start the 2008-09 season.

Those 26 steals were a nice touch too.

Three players scored in double-digits for the Vikings, who beat Lakes 75-15 in the first day of Geneva's 21st annual Invitational Saturday.

"After three weeks of practice, it's nice to play someone else," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "I thought we did some things really well defensively. To hold a team under 20 points is a great accomplishment, but I was really impressed with their team work and team play out there. It was everybody."

As expected, Indiana State-bound Taylor Whitley scored a game-high 26 points. She and Lauren Wicinski each outscored Lakes themselves, as Wicinski scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. The other Viking in double-digits was Sam Scofield with 11 points off the bench.

Eight different Vikings recorded at least one steal. Kat Yelle led the way with 7, Whitley had 6, Kelsey Augustine had 4 and Emily Hinchman had 3.

"We are running a new defense and it seems to be working," Whitley said. "We really get after it on the defensive end and never give up. We are (also) a really aggressive team."

After Lakes' Kaitlyn Mulloy scored the first point of the game, Geneva (1-0) scored the next 11 led by three different players. After the first quarter, the Vikings led 27-7. With less than five minutes left in the second, they went on a 17-0 run and held the Eagles to just a field goal in that quarter.

At the half, Geneva (1-0) led 46-9, as Whitley already had 20 points.

The Vikings scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and ended up holding Lakes to just 6 points in the second half.

Of the 11 healthy players on Geneva's roster, 8 of them scored. In addition to Scofield off the bench, Sam Dudman scored 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

"It was nice to get those kids a ton of playing time," Nolan said. "Those who didn't score at least got shots off, but all in all, they got some experience under their belts."

Lakes had three different players score 4 points each. It finished with just 6 field goals total.

Tournament action continues Tuesday with Lakes playing Joliet Catholic at 5:30 p.m. and Geneva facing Oswego at 7 p.m.