Wheeling wins 17th straight
Wheeling's Bianca Szafarowicz will shoot, rebound and make behind-the-back passes, but she doesn't like to smile during a game.
"I don't like to smile during a game because it doesn't show good sportsmanship," Szafarowicz said. "We have to show class both on the court and off the court."
Szafarowicz did display a big smile after the game. She'd scored a game-high 23 points and dished out 9 assists as Wheeling defeated Grayslake Central 75-46 Saturday to win the holiday tournament hosted by Warren.
"I thought we started out slow in the first quarter, but then we manage to pick up the offense in the second quarter," Szafarowicz said.
Wheeling (5-0 in the tournament) tied a school record set in 2004 by winning its 17th game in a row, but according to Wildcats coach Shelly Wiegel this year is the more impressive feat.
"We think it's really exciting to tie the record," Wiegel said. "That year, we didn't have the strength in schedule that we have now. So to be 17-0 against the teams we've played , we're really proud of it. Our goals are big and we aren't even halfway through the season. We're happy with it, but we definitely know that we have bigger things to go after."
The Wildcats' Ashley Wilson also showed a strong game both on offense and defense by scoring 19 points and grabbed a game-best 14 rebounds. She also dished out 5 assists, had 5 steals and 2 blocked shots.
"It feels good that every game we play hard and of course the object of each game is to win," Wilson said. "We're aren't looking for any records. We have just two goals, one to win our conference and also to go downstate."
Stephanie Kuzmanic added 14 points for the Wildcats.
Wheeling led 20-12 in the first quarter, but then after the Rams Kaila Sparkman scored on a jump shot, the Wildcats scored 11 straight points to lead 31-16 and led 33-22 at halftime
Grayslake Central ( 7-6) finished the tournament at 4-1.
Kate Putkonen led Grayslake Central with 16 points while Allison Metzger added 10 points.
"I'm more happy that we got the opportunity against Wheeling because I know it's going to help us in the long run," Putkonen said. "We didn't get muich time to prepare for this game, but I think we did OK.
"We tried to do different things on offense and we knew we had to get on (Wheeling's) shooters on defense. We tried our hardest to prepare for this game, but they are good."
Despite the loss, Rams coach Roger Lass was happy with the way his team played. "The object was to win, but we played hard all game," Lass said. "(Wheeling) is a great team and I am proud of how our girls played in the tournament by winning four out of five games. We played hard and smart, but it was against Wheeling. They just overpowered us."