Warriors, O'Neill post impressive victory
When asked what the biggest difference was between his team and Maine West on Saturday, Evanston girls basketball coach Steve Wool had a quick answer.
"The post," said the Wildkits coach after a 53-37 loss to the Warriors in the second-round game of the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.
The main person in the post for Maine West was junior Megan O'Neill, who tossed home a career-high 22 points while also collecting 5 rebounds.
The Warriors (2-1) improved to 1-1 in the eight-team tournament while Evanston is 0-2 and 1-3 overall.
O'Neill, who averaged 12 points on the sophomore team last winter, has scored in double digits in all three of her varsity contests.
"Megan is coming into her own," said Hall of Fame Warriors coach Derril Kipp. "And today I thought it was our defense that stepped up. We were able to hold down their top two scorers, Collier Clegg and Krystal Prichett, to 4 and 5 points, so that was real good."
Meanwhile, the 6-foot O'Neill connected for 8 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws.
"I just had to concentrate," she said. "In practice, Mr. Kipp always tells me I must turn, square up and sweep the ball so defenders can't take it away. Then I shoot."
Her shots were falling often Saturday.
O'Neill's 12-foot bank shot in the first quarter gave the Warriors a 7-0 lead from which Evanston never recovered. The Warriors jumped ahead 15-4 when junior guard Sam Acosta (7 points) converted a driving layup with 4:49 left in the second quarter.
Evanston closed to within 7 points at the start of the second half but the Warriors went on a 12-3 run and never looked back.
"We focused on Acosta but their posts (O'Neill, Ellen Coogan and Kelsey Hargesheimer) really came to play," Wool said. "And we did not play well offensively."
Forward Hargesheimer (7 rebounds) and point guard Shaina Yalda each added 8 points for the winners while Alli Ellwood chipped in 6.
"Kelsey had her best offensive game," Kipp said. "She has to score for us."
"I thought we picked up our intensity from the other night (50-42 loss to Hersey)," said Hargesheimer, who will face her dad's team (Stevenson's assistant coach Jim Hargesheimer) today at 2:30 p.m. "We knew they would be physical so we had to play hard."
"Our guards did a good job getting the ball inside," O'Neill added. "Evanston does a good job pushing the ball down court and we had to hustle and get back on defense."
Stevenson 50, Maine W. 46: Stevenson is showing some resiliency and character.
The Patriots let a 14-point lead late in the third quarter disappear, but recovered for a 50-46 victory over Hersey at the Maine West Tip-Off Classic on Friday.
Michelle O'Brien scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Stevenson. Kelsey Simon added 11 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
"Good teams are definitely going to make runs at you and Hersey is a good team," Stevenson coach Trish Betthauser said. "We made a few mistakes in the fourth quarter handling their pressure, but we never really let them break our back and that was important. Our kids finished well."
The Patriots improved to 3-0, while handing Hersey (2-1) its first loss.
It's the Patriots' first 3-0 start in Betthauser's three seasons as head coach.
Simon put the Patriots up for good, breaking a tie by making the second of two free throws with 41 seconds remaining.
O'Brien added 2 free throws with 25 seconds left and Courtney Graber sank another with eight seconds to go.
O'Brien scored 14 points in the second quarter, helping Stevenson go into halftime with a 29-18 lead.
Hersey cut its deficit to 40-33 heading into the final quarter. The Huskies eventually tied the game at 46-46 with 52 seconds left.
"We have the pieces, but (Stevenson's) zone lulled us to sleep a bit," Hersey coach Mary Fendley said. "We were a little more aggressive in the second half. I think the press bothered (Stevenson) a bit and got us going."
Megan Rogowski scored 7 of her team-high 15 points during Hersey's fourth-quarter the run, and her sister Kelly added 11 points. They played the game with heavy hearts, as their grandmother, Rose Kingsley, passed away earlier in the week.
- Rusty Silber