Defense lifts Cary-Grove to win at Jacobs
Cary-Grove girls basketball coach Rod Saffert and his team know how important it is to win on the road in the Fox Valley Conference. And with the Trojans playing four of their first five Valley Division games away from the friendly confines of their quaint home gym, getting off the bus ready to play becomes even more important for C-G.
The Trojans got a good start to the Valley season Tuesday night when they upended Jacobs 64-49 in Algonquin in the division opener for both teams.
"We know that we have four of these first five on the road. We feel we're a very tough team at home so we have to do our job on the road," Saffert said.
The Trojans (14-4) applied a pressure defense that Jacobs (12-7) just couldn't crack. The Golden Eagles, playing without junior starter Hailey Cnota (ankle, out 3 weeks) and freshman phenom Cassidy Sherman (ACL, out for the season), committed 18 turnovers in the first half and fell behind 32-20 by halftime after trailing just 17-13 after one quarter.
"That's just how we play," said Saffert of his team's pressing defense that several times stole inbounds passes. "They all trust each other and they all know where each other are."
C-G led by 16 after three quarters and still had a 15-point advantage at 52-37 with 5:39 left in the game when Jacobs mounted a comeback. Maria Tamburino (17 points) made a bucket and then hit a 3-pointer, then junior Katy Cook (8 points) scored on a putback to make it a 52-44 game with 4:16 to play. But that's as close as Jacobs would come. Cary-Grove sophomore Claire Jakubicek (16 points, 12 rebounds) made 2 free throws, Christina Bear hit a bucket and Jakubicek made a nice runner in the lane to give the Trojans a 58-44 lead with 3:18 left to play.
"The girls picked up the defensive intensity a little more in the second half but Cary's a good team," said Jacobs coach Ed Haugens. "We don't get pressed very much and they came out and played hard. We seemed a step slow tonight and we didn't really come to play.
Sophomore Meg Straumann led Cary-Grove with 23 points and 3 steals. She scored 13 of her points in the second half, including two of her three 3-pointers.
"We knew Jacobs is a good team and we just wanted to keep in mind that is was 0-0 the whole game," Straumann said. "We were focused on defense and we just wanted to play hard the whole game."
Cary-Grove also got 9 points each from Liz Bart and Tori Sandstrom, while Sam Vojtsek hit three 3-pointers to score 9 points for Jacobs.