Mixed results for Harper basketball teams

The Harper College men's and women's basketball teams kicked off their seasons Tuesday night with mixed results against the visiting Northwestern club team.

The women dropped a 54-51 decision but the men produced a 93-77 victory in Palatine.

Turnovers and missed free throws (11-for-22) doomed the Harper women's team.

"We did not defend well enough," women's coach Mark Smith said.

Northwestern club team's Jessica Garcia scored a game-high 26 points. With the game tied at 47-47 with four minutes go the Northwestern club team took the lead when it hit a 3-pointer and a Harper foul gave the visitors a 4-point lead.

"We are going to get better," Smith said of his team.

It was a back-and-forth contest for the first seven minutes of play in the men's game until Harper went on an 8-point run.

"We are capable of putting on spurts," Harper coach Tony Amarino said of the team's first-half run. "I thought we showed how athletic we can be."

Controlling the paint for the Hawks was sophomore Kevin Steele (Fremd) and freshman Paul Sanders (Glenbard East). Sanders scored a team-high 19 points and Steele added 13.

"We were not really challenged today," said Steele, because of the lack of depth on a Northwestern club team which had only seven players.

Brandon Bolger (Schaumburg) scored 15 points and hit three 3s, Kenny Smith scored 13 points and Floyd Battle chipped in 12 points for the Hawks.

Amarino was not happy with how his team played on the defensive end and said the Hawks can't play like they did Tuesday and beat the better teams on their schedule.

"Giving up low 60s is our goal," Amarino said of his team's defensive challenge. Both teams will travel to Elgin next Wednesday to play Elgin Community College.