R-B catches Fenton down the stretch
Fenton lost to Riverside-Brookfield on Wednesday, but you might not find a girls basketball coach anywhere who wrings every last bit of potential from his players the way Fenton's Tim Anderson does.
Just ask Riverside-Brookfield coach Larry Rocco.
"Tim is an outstanding coach. He gets everything out of his kids," Rocco said. "This is our first road game, and (Fenton) came to play."
The Bison held a big lead early before the Bulldogs rallied to a 55-40 win in Bensenville, in a Metro Suburban Conference opener for both teams.
Fenton (1-5, 0-1 MSC) led 18-5 on a Sam Rubright 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but Riverside-Brookfield (5-0, 1-0) took over from there, taking its first lead at 35-34, late in the third quarter.
A 10-0 Bulldogs' scoring run in the fourth effectively buried the home team. The game capped a tough early-season run of games for a young Bison team, but afterward Anderson pondered whether to take the half-empty or the half-full approach.
"Should we be happy that we hung with them, or did we let an opportunity get away?" Anderson asked.
Fenton built its early lead by hitting its open shots and protecting the defensive glass. Rubright scored 11 of her team-high 17 points in the first half, and Melanie Borshell was active early during the Bison run.
"We were making our shots. When we got the open looks, we hit them," Rubright said.
The Bulldogs threw a full-court press at Fenton early in the second quarter, and it began to pay dividends.
"We're a running team, and we like to trap and pressure," said Bulldogs assistant Randy Ramsey. "Those turnovers led to easy baskets."
Point guard Aneysha Klingler led the Bulldogs with 19 points, while teammates Rachel Buccieri and Jessie Hutchens helped key the comeback.
Fenton also fell into a bad habit.
"Poor shot selection," Rubright said. "It was catch and shoot, instead of running the offense and getting a better look."
"To a certain point in the season, I can say that that's lack of experience," Anderson said. "At this point it still is-but pretty soon I'm not going to use that as a reason or an excuse."
Rubright also pulled down 10 rebounds, and Fenton got 8 points apiece from Borshell and Danielle Smirat.
"We did a nice job on the boards in the first half, but the erosion started when we started forcing our shots," Anderson said. "They went to a zone, and we should have still been able to get the ball inside and outside.
"But we stopped doing that in the second half, and then it was one pass and a shot."