Elk Grove beats Wheaton North in 2 OTs

Elk Grove's reserves played Monday afternoon like they want to start.

The Grenadiers' bench players outscored the starters by a point in a 61-58 double-overtime victory against Wheaton North in the first round of the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic in Wheaton.

"We had one of our freshmen step up and hit two 3s to send us to both of the overtimes," Grenadiers coach Ryan Kirkorsky said of Dani Goranson. "A little luck with the bank shot, but it counts."

Goranson hit three 3-pointers in the game to lead the reserves with 13 of the group's 31 points.

"Late in the game we gave up some uncontested 3s, which just can't happen, especially when you're up by 3," Falcons coach Dave Eaton said.

Junior center Ashley Capotosto represented the Elk Grove starters with a game-high 16 points to go with 12 rebounds.

"It was a battle for her," Kirkorsky said of Capotosto. "I'd say she earned every one of them. She was in a little bit of foul trouble in the first half, but she kept working. Even when she had a few plays that didn't go her way, she kept working."

Elk Grove (6-6) took a 10-point lead after one quarter and got the margin as high as 14 in the second before the home team cut the gap to 7 at halftime.

"We've done that a few times this year where we play a great first half and then get a little disorganized, a little rattled," Kirkorsky said. "But somehow we found a way to pull it out."

They pulled it out with help from the Falcons, the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

"It came down late - we've talked about it before - to executing," Eaton said. "We gave them some plays, didn't execute, didn't box out, gave them some offensive rebounds there. I thought our kids battled back well and got themselves back in the game after a slow start, but we need to work on playing 32 minutes. Right now we're playing a couple of quarters, but we're not playing a full 32 minutes."

The Falcons (7-5) graduated the core of last year's great team and are struggling a little this year to find their stride.

"I don't think it's confidence," Eaton said. "They've got to relax and play. They know they can do it, now they just have to go out and do it. There's no excuse for not executing plays when we run them every day in practice, and they know it."

If the Falcons continue to struggle, the win might help the Grenadiers move to the next level of play.

"We talked about one of the things we wanted to do was get into the winner's bracket, get on the winner's side," Kirkorsky said. "And we've seen Wheaton North, they're a quality team. It's the best win we've had this year."