Jacobs enjoys Senior Night win over Dundee-Crown

Jacobs girls basketball coach Ed Haugens had to sit back and enjoy the moment.

After all, Friday night's 59-44 victory over Dundee-Crown was exactly what a Senior Night was supposed to be. The Golden Eagles got contributions from all 4 seniors playing their last game at the Eagles Nest to take the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game.

"We wanted to go out and have fun," said Amy Ritzke, who finished with 4 points, 5 rebounds a steal and an assist.

The fun took a little longer to reach the Golden Eagles (19-9, 7-3) than they would have liked. Dundee-Crown got a pair of 3-pointers from junior guard Megan Fasanella to cut Jacobs' lead to 27-20 with 4:08 left in the second quarter. Jacobs responded with a 12-2 run to close out the quarter and did not allow the Chargers (2-23, 0-10) another point until sending Fasanella to the free-throw line with 2 seconds left in the half. She converted 2 of 3 free throws, scoring all 8 of Dundee-Crown's second quarter points. She finished the game with 10.

"It was definitelyback and forth," said Fasanella, who shot 3-of-6 in the first half. "We'd make shots, then they'd make them right back."

Senior Night led to some extra emotions from the Golden Eagles, who trailed 4-0 early on in the game. Dundee-Crown was still within 21-14 after the first quarter, but as soon as the Eagles settled in with their second-quarter run, they never trailed by more than 10 points and led by as many as 26 points early in the fourth quarter.

"We came out a little slow because it was Senior Night," said Jacobs' senior Caitie Quitschau, who added 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists in the victory. "Once we started playing the game, we were fine."

Jacobs had several opportunities to make shots. The Golden Eagles finished with 49 rebounds, including 21 on the offensive end. Sierra Dunner (12 points) led all players with 11 boards, 8 offensive and senior Keri Bultman added 10 boards to go with a game-high 14 points. Dundee-Crown finished with 29 rebounds, 12 offensive.

"We gave them too many second and third shots," Chargers' coach Michelle Russell said. "That's to their credit, the rebounds."

Jacobs also got 8 points from senior Sam Vojtsek and 9 from junior Maria Tamburrino. Alex Lococo led the Chargers with 13 points to go along with 2 steals.

"This couldn't have worked out better," Haugens said. "We got an opportunity to play the seniors and they had a good time."